Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
In 2014, the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise released a set of trading cards called “Duelist Alliance.” The set featured characters from The Divine Comedy, including Dante (“Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss“), Virgil (“Virgil, Rock Star of the Burning Abyss“), and Malebranche demons like Graff (“Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss“).
Contributed by Ramiro Castillo (University of Texas at Austin, ’17)
In the Japanese anime One Piece, there is a prison called “Impel Down” with five levels.
“Impel Down seems to be heavily based on how Hell is described in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Both are level-based, ‘inescapable’ prisons with unique forms of punishment per level, and the lower one traverses, the worse the punishments become.” —One Piece Wiki
Contributed by Nicholas Hentges
Considered one of the most important authors of Japanese manga, Go Nagai is creator of a Dante-inspired comic series called Mao Dante (also known as Demon Lord Dante in English). Nagai published the first series in 1971, and he has revisited these Dantesque themes, characters, and images in several series since (among them his 1972 anime series Devilman). Nagai’s illustrations were originally inspired by the dramatic 19th century lithographs Gustave Doré produced for the Divine Comedy. In 2017, it was announced that J-Pop would re-release Mao Dante (see here).
See also Dante Today‘s posts on Nagai’s Dante Shinkyoku and Devilman Lady.
Click here for a discussion of Go Nagai’s work in relation to three other Dante-inspired graphic novelists (article in Italian).
Contributed by Andrea Sartori
Contributed by Victoria Rea-Wilson (Bowdoin, ’14)
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.
