Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. 2002. 694p. ISBN 0-385-49698-2. Available at 458 DAN or as an audiobook on Overdrive.
The poet Dante wrote the Divine Comedy over 700 years ago, and this trip of salvation from the depths of Hell to Paradise has struck the imagination ever since. The vivid descriptions of Hell, present in The Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy, have illustrated the Christian world’s understanding of the life of a sinner and the consequences of unrepentance.
Lost in the forest on the eve of Good Friday, Dante meets the ghost of Virgil, sent to guide him through Hell then on to Paradise so he can write about his experience and let his contemporary know the power of God. The gates of Hell are clearly labeled “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Dante and Virgil travel through the nine circles of Hell and confront limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery, before encountering Satan himself and departing out of Hell.
An allegory of sin, Dante’s Inferno continues to promote debate about the meaning of Hell and its place in today’s secular societies.
No comments:
Post a Comment