Post by Julia Pugachevsky for BuzzFeed Media (February 4, 2014).
Take the quiz here.
Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“The Dante’s Inferno Test was born in March, 2003. Since then, literally millions of people have taken the test and had their souls damned to hell. Links to the test sprung up immediately after it was put up. Sites like fark.com sent thousands of people to see which level of hell they would spend eternity in. During the first few days, the server ground to a halt under the volume of test-takers. The code had to be quickly revised to allow only 28 people to take the test per minute. Beyond that number, server performance would begin to degrade (keep in mind we have other things running on this server as well). In those early days, that quota would be maxed out within the first 10 to 15 seconds of each minute.
“After the first month, traffic began to drop and then level off. The test now averages about 4,000 takers each day. Links to the test appear on countless blogs and message boards. Many people paste their results into online profiles. The test ranks number one in Google for ‘dante’ and ‘dante’s inferno’ and number two for ‘divine comedy.’ Test takers hail from all around the world, including such countries as Denmark, Germany, Brazil, India, and Malaysia.
“In December 2005 a companion test was created, the Seven Deadly Sins quiz, so that you can see which of these mortal sins you are guilty of.” — Dante’s Inferno Test, Background Information, 4degreez.com
Take the test here.
In March 2018 Reddit user The2500 posted the following Writing Prompt: “Dante’s Inferno as written by Dr. Seuss.” Here is a selection from the first entry:
And gave poor Dante a very big fright
And scared, Dante was, in the woods called sin
Fret not, Virgil said, and gave him his hand.
‘For together we must travel throughout the land!
Through Hell and Eden, Purgatory and all!’
Dante gasped, ‘But why upon me must this fate befall?
Oh me, oh my, I think I might cry!’
Virgil smiled and shook his head.
‘O ’tis Beatrice’s call,’ he plainly said.
‘Beatrice?’
‘Oh yes! She wishes your spirit to be put to the test.’
Dante jumped, he leaped, he punched the sky.
‘Joy upon joys! I’ve been graced. I’m so happy, I think I might die!’
Virgil grabbed him, ‘Then let us make haste, this duo of you and I.’
And so they walked, en route to limbo.
They braced and prepared to go low. Low upon lows, through Hell and their foes.”
— “Dante’s Inferno As Written By Dr. Seuss” on Reddit.com
Contributed by Jessica Beasley (Florida State University ’18)
On January 1, 2018, Pablo Maurette tweeted an invitation to a “massive, open, simultaneous reading” of the Divine Comedy, one canto each day, for the beginning of the year 2018. #Dante2018 sparked a viral phenomenon, in which readers across Latin America posted quotes, images, photos, reflections, and other comments on their reading as they kept up with the canto-per-day challenge.
See the tweets at #dante2018.
See also this article in La Stampa about the phenomenon, especially in Latin America and with Spanish speakers (in Italian).
And see Jorge Carrión’s reflections on the viral phenomenon in the NYTimes Spanish edition (essay in Spanish).
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.