Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“As Lucifer works to perfect his own garden of Eden within his newly-created universe, evil forces begin to work against him and the Archangel Michael finds himself torn between his service to God and to his brother Lucifer.” —Mike Carey, <em>Lucifer Vol. 4: The Divine Comedy</em>, Amazon, April 2003 (retrieved February 21, 2024)
“We’re taking part in a divine comedy and we should realise that the play is always a comedy, in that we’re all ultimately ridiculous.” —Max Hastings, Editor: An Inside Story of Newspapers
Read more about Max Hastings’s memoir, covering his editorship of The Telegraph from 1985 to 2002, in The Guardian (“The view from Hastings,” October 12, 2002).
Selection from Divina Commedia – Inferno by Graba’
Selection from Divina Commedia – Purgatorio by Graba’
Selection from Divina Commedia – Paradiso by Graba’
View Graba”s full gallery here.
“Gojira may have put the brakes on the new full-length album that was rumored for release this year, but that doesn’t mean 2020 will be completely devoid of new music from the French foursome: the band has posted a new live performance video, shot at the Duplantier brothers-owned Silver Cord Studio in New York City, of a previously unreleased song called ‘Inferno,’ originally written in 2003.
“The song was inspired by the 1925 film Maciste All’inferno, which also happens to be the name of a live recording Gojira made in 2003 while playing along to that very movie. Wikipedia tells us that the album was recorded live while a projection of the film was running at the Rock School Barbey in Bordeaux, France, on May 29, 2003. That recording, which was never officially released, ran for 50 minutes and consisted of 15 individual tracks, while the selection Gojira have released today is just under four minutes — maybe it’s one of those 15.” [. . .] –Vince Neilstein, “Gojira Post Previously Unreleased Song, ‘Inferno’,” MetalSucks (October 30, 2020)
Watch the video on YouTube.
Contributed by Pete Maiers
“Dante (ダンテ, Dante) is the central antagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 anime series, first introduced in Episode 32. She is a heartless elderly woman and a formidable alchemist herself. Posing as the master and the benefactor of the Homunculi, Dante is responsible for setting in motion the events of the series and the challenges its protagonists must face along the way, and orchestrates her agenda within the shadows of the Amestrian government and military.
[. . .]
She may be named after the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, famous for writing the Divine Comedy, a three-part poem with the first chapter, Inferno, taking place in the Nine Circles of Hell. In fact in the Italian dub of the episode title ‘Dante of the Deep Forest’ was translated to ‘Dante Della Selva Oscura’ (lit. ‘Dante of Dark Forest’ [sic]), a reference to the beginning of Alighieri’s poem.” —Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki, February 24, 2020
Learn more about the Fullmetal Alchemist series here.
Contributed by Andrea Beauvais (Luther College)
Originally posted January 26, 2010. Post updated September 4, 2020.
All submissions will be considered for posting. Bibliographic references and scholarly essays are also welcome for consideration.
Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.
