Monday 10 June 2013

The Geography of Hell: Resources


You can find Inferno online at World of Dante, your one-stop-source for everything Dante, including extensive galleries of artwork that tackle The Divine Comedy, from Dore to Dali.

Dante's World includes art, audio, and notes on the text.

Dante Today tracks mentions of his work in contemporary culture. It's still influential.
Concept art for video game version of Dante's Hell
For Milton, see the website Paradise Lost. There's annotated text and even a sample of the great poem in plain english, for people like me who are easily confused.
William Blake's take on the big bad
William Blake, John Martin, and Dore's work can be found here. Considering the fun you can have with the visuals, it's amazing more artists don't tackle the material. It's not just for goths and video game developers.
John Martin's vision of Pandemonium, capital of Hell
John Martin's pieces are particularly magnificent. A 19th Century Roland Emmerich, he owned epic disaster scenes.

Best of all, there is Lego Hell by Romanian artist Mihai Marius Mihu, who created scenes from every circle of Dante's Hell. Just what you want for Christmas! I'd buy a set. More on the project here.

The bottom of Hell: Satan embedded in the ice.
IV Ledge: Greed
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's 1976 novel Inferno throws a sci-fi writer into Dante's Hell, but updates the Infernal Realm to incorporate our latest sin innovations. Rather than meeting Italians from the 14th Century, he meets contemporary Americans. Fabulous book. The sequel's not as interesting, but still worth a read.

Some insightful commentary on Inferno can be found here.

Bartolomeo's Inferno