Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

Dante in Vietnam

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In a review by Susan Ellingwood of ‘Dispatches,’ by Michael Herr

“Here’s what the 1977 Times review had to say about this book: ‘If you think you don’t want to read any more about Vietnam, you are wrong. ‘Dispatches’ is beyond politics, beyond rhetoric, beyond ‘pacification’ and body counts and the ‘psychotic vaudeville’ of Saigon press briefings. Its materials are fear and death, hallucination and the burning of souls. It is as if Dante had gone to hell with a cassette recording of Jimi Hendrix and a pocketful of pills: our first rock-and-roll war, stoned murder.’ ”    –Susan Ellingwood, The New York Times, September 15, 2017

Midtown NY Election Party Hell

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“The Crossroads of the World will be turned into the Seventh Circle of Hell on election night when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump host dueling ‘victory’ parties about 20 blocks from each other.

“He’ll spend the last night of this ugly campaign at the Hilton on Sixth Ave. She’ll be at the Javits Center. You’ll be stuck at the corner of W. 46th and Deliverance.

“Even under the best circumstances, Midtown Manhattan is New York’s no-fly zone, the place where no real person goes unless he has tickets to a play or somehow ended up leading out-of-town relatives through the biggest tourist trap this side of Patpong Road.” [. . .]    –Gersh Kuntzman, New York Daily News, November 4, 2016

The Nine Circles of Campaign Hell

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“You aren’t imagining things — this campaign season has been hell on earth.

“During the State Dinner the White House hosted for the Italian prime minister Tuesday, President Barack Obama compared presidential campaigns to Dante’s Inferno.

“If choosing the punishment for this circle of political hell were up for a vote, having to sit in the front row of a never ending presidential debate seems like a pretty strong contender.” [. . .]    –Brenna Williams, CNN, October 19th, 2016

You can read the full list here.

David Brooks and Dante’s 7th Circle

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brooks“On Meet the Press this morning they were discussing whether Donald Trump has the temperament fit to be president. Alex Castellano was trying to make a comparison between Clinton and Trump as ‘old testament’ vs. ‘new testament’, and right around 41:30, Brooks disagrees and says it’s more like we’re in Dante’s Inferno in the seventh circle of hell…”    –Allen Yu (Bowdoin, ’14)

Meet the Press, July 31, 2016

Hillary’s Hell

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“When the story of Hillary Clinton’s second run for the presidency is written, it may come to resemble Dante’s Inferno more than a customary campaign book. We’ve seen greed — lots of greed (the fourth circle). We’ve seen the destruction of material, the failure to live up to her agreement with the State Department and misleading tax returns from the Clinton Foundation. In Dante’s hell, the corrupt politicians got to the eighth circle. We’ve seen flashes of anger (“At this point what difference does it make!”) — that’d be the fifth circle.” [. . .]    –Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post, May 14th, 2015.

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How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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