Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“Limbo: Reserved for those who observe the mess that climate science has become, subservient as it is to politics, and wonder whether redemption and a return to a true science-serving path is ever possible.
[. . .]
“Sixth Circle: Miscreants in the Sixth Circle of Hell should be forced to sit while unable to move or speak and repeatedly watch others being lauded in their place for their work, stolen and used without attribution.” –Anthony Watts, WUWT, December 27, 2012
“Dante has nothing on Jason Greene, who stood in line at the DMV for an entire day… With three kids.
“Dante once wrote that Hell had nine circles within its depths. Dante’s Inferno is an amazing literary work that describes in great detail the horror of a place where no person wishes to go. Dante must have been inspired by a trip to the local DMV.
“We recently bought a new vehicle and we needed to get new plates. The month had been difficult and harried and we didn’t get the title from the dealership until our temporary tags were almost set to expire. Unfortunately, only a short time before, I lost my wallet and everything in it. I ordered a new license, but since it had not arrived and the tags were set to expire the next day, we had no choice but to try to register without it. The story gets more complicated; my wife had to leave town at the last minute for business and the title is in both of our names.
“Now, none of that should have been a problem. Before my wife left, she signed all the necessary paperwork, including a form that gave me the right to make all decisions on her behalf. We even had contacted the DMV to make sure that we were walking in with all the correct paperwork and to verify that I could do the deal without a license. They assured us that all would be fine.” [. . .] –Jason Greene, The Good Men Project, September 15, 2012.
All was not fine for Jason Greene at the DMV. Read Greene’s account of the circles of DMV Hell here.
“The Nine Circles of Hell for Whiteys in South Africa” is a comic posted by Alastair Laird, commenting on the different levels of racism for white people in South Africa. The comic is full of South African slang that may be difficult to understand for someone outside of that culture, but a few searches on the internet can help a reader decipher the words.
This comic was posted on Mahala, “a free South African music, culture and reality magazine that strives to report and represent what’s really happening along the fault line and in the trenches of South African culture. Mahala is home to challenging and incisive political and social commentary and strong, fearless opinions. We promote freedom of thought and expression. We’re available online, on your mobile and in print. We’ll always be free, gratis and Mahala. Because you deserve quality information, opinion and entertainment for free! Thought is free!” — cited from Mahala’s About page
Read the full comic here.
Posted on the blog Ink & Snow (December 21, 2012).
“Commenter Firescorpio takes us on a (somewhat misspelled) journey through the nine circles of Xbox Live hell, a path that transforms an innocent online gamer into a foaming, frothing, enjoyment-destroying fuckwit in today’s infographic-tastic edition of Speak-Up on Kotaku.” –Mike Fahey, Kotaku, January 16, 2012
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.
