Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“When we got to the gift-shop, we discovered an improbable set of children’s picture books that retell Dante for young people: it’s called Dante for fun and it comes in three volumes (naturally): Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.” –Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing, February 18, 2014
Contributed by Gabrielle E. Orsi, Ph.D.
“I sometimes wonder what Dante or Milton or any of those guys would make of the modern appetite for the young-adult epic. It wasn’t always a lucrative thing, writing grand, sweeping, fantastical stories, you know. It was a job for nose-to-the-grindstone, writing-for-the-ages types, and worldly rewards were low. Milton died in penury, blind and obscure; Dante met his maker in literal exile. Would they look with envy upon their celebrated and moneyed modern analogues– your J. K. Rowlings, your Suzanne Collinses?” –Michelle Dean, “Our Young-Adult Dystopia,” New York Times Magazine, January 31, 2014
Eric Spitznagel, The New York Times, December 22, 2013
“. . . I cannot recall a time when I didn’t know the story of A Christmas Carol. The images and themes have delighted or haunted me since my childhood, either in the form of the ‘Dickens Village’ adventure at the mall or the hundredth or so viewing of the Muppet version. (Michael Caine, you will always be my Scrooge.) So when I studied Dante’s Commedia in college, it was no leap for me to recognize the countless similarities between the two stories. I would write C.C. in the margin every time I came across another bit of Dickens in Dante. At long last, I can pitch some these ideas to the wider world.” –Kathyrn (blogger), Through a Glass Brightly, December 18, 2013
Contributed by Patrick Molloy
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.
