“A few photos from the filming of the sixth season of Mad Men hit the web today, and one of them showed Don Draper indulging in a not-so-light beach read alongside his wife, Megan. The book? Dante’s Inferno. The version in Don’s possession is John Ciardi’s English translation–specifically, the paperback version, which was first published in 1964. (The hardcover came out a decade before.) Ciardi’s version remains highly respected and is still in print. So why is Don reading it? And when?” […] –Aisha Harris, Slate, October 25, 2012
See Also:
– Vulture, October 25, 2012
– “Don as Dante, Stuck in a Revolving ‘Doorway'” by Lori Rackl, Chicago Sun Times, April 7, 2013
– “Dan Draper Does Dante” by Katherine Boyle, The Washington Post, April 8, 2013
– “Talking ‘Mad Men’: A Knee-Jerk Reaction” by Sloane Crosley and Logan Hill, The New York Times, June 10, 2013
– “Matthew Weiner Discusses the ‘Mad Men’ Season Finale” by David Itzkoff, The New York Times, June 24, 2013
– “Why did we see Don Draper reading Dante’s Inferno in Mad Men?” by Marta Bausells, The Guardian, April 5, 2015
Contributed by Steve Bartus (Bowdoin, ’07); Rebecca Ruquist; Fred Robson (Stanford, ’18)
