Found at The New Yorker.
Contributed by Aisha Woodward (Bowdoin, ’08)
ABC Series “Lost”
“In the most recent episode (aired March 14) one particular bit of dialogue rang particularly true to me of Dante’s ideas of Purgatory and Paradise:
Kate: Why would you want to come back?
Mikhail: You would not understand.
Kate: Try me.
Mikhail: I misspoke, what I meant to say is you are not capable of understanding.
Kate: And why am I not capable?
Mikhail: Because you are not on the list.
Kate: What list?
Mikhail: The man who brought me here, who brought all of my people here, he is a magnificent man.
Mikhail: I will try to make this as simple as I can. You are not on the list because you are flawed, because you are angry and weak and frightened.
Much like the virtuous pagans who died before Christ and those whose souls have not been purified by the purgation process cannot comprehend Paradise, it seems as if, at least in the minds of “the Others” those who are not on the list, which seems to be comprised of only those who they deem good, cannot comprehend the goodness of the island. Of course, this would make the island some odd hybrid of Purgatory (since the inhabitants do seem to relive their past mistakes and, in some way, atone for them) and Paradise, since the others view the island as their paradise. Of course the others are no angels (wow that was a bad joke)–they seem to be willing to go as far as murder to protect their paradise. Perhaps this bit of dialogue is evidence that the writers were inspired by aspects of the Divine Comedy.” –Charlie Russell-Schlesinger
Contributed by Charlie Russell-Schlesinger (Bowdoin, ’08)
Neocommedia: Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise (2002)
“An immersive adaptation of Dante’s Divine Comedy exploring the modern deity of Information.” —iKatun
“iKatun’s Paradise is based on Dante’s Paradise from the Divine Comedy, however, this Paradise is not about perfect morality but about perfect information. iKatun’s Paradise alludes to instant availability and perfect knowledge; a single data point of infinite density; the faultless model of information to which all media systems aspire; the space where entropy does not exist.” —iKatun
Rings Designed by Anne Fischer
Anne Fischer’s Works
“And even as a second ray is wont to issue from the first, and mount upwards again, thus of her action, infused through the eyes into my imagination, mine was made, and I fixed my eyes on the sun beyond our wont, I did not endure it long, nor so little that I did not see it sparkle” (Par. I). Translated by Charles S. Singleton. —Moss Online (retrieved on September 15, 2006)
“Gloom of hell, or night bereft of every planet under a barren sky … never made a veil to my sight so thick nor of stuff so harsh, … as that smoke which covered us there, so that it did not let the eye stay open; wherefore my wise and trusty escort drew to my side and offered me his shoulder. Even as a blind man goes behind his guide that he may not stray or knock against what might injure or … kill him, so I went through that bitter and foul air, listening to my leader, who kept saying, ‘Take care that you are not cut off from me.'” (Purg. XVI.1-15). Translated by Charles S. Singleton. –This Next
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