Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part B

· I could write about the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, and have it continue telling of the minotaur’s descent into hell. That sounds horrid, though. I’m not sure I want to write anything about hell, actually, so perhaps this was a poor choice of reading.

· I want to know why Chiron had his head bowed to his chest. Could I write a backstory about that?

· I didn’t know the thing about Alexander and his troops encountering raining fire.

· It stands out to me that Capaneus is proud and spiteful even in death, so that I doubt he would accept paradise were he offered it.

· He talks about spirits purifying themselves by absolving their guilt with penance. What if there was a world where that was accurate, and you really had to be penitent enough to be absolved of guilt? What a horrifying thought. What if I wrote about that? Any mess up would have to be paid for, and there would be no grace.

· I love that thought: shame that makes the servant brave in the presence of a worthy master.

· I want to know why it’s called Malebolge.

· I could write about Jason. I feel like him abandoning Medea is well known, but I know next to nothing about Hypsipyle, and I could invent.

· Ouch Alessio was a contemporary of his? So, was he alive when Dante wrote this? Cause if so, that’s rough, man.

· Wow, I want to weep for evil.

· I don’t even really know how to talk about what stands out to me, because the things that stand out to me are not things I want to write about. Caiaphas stood out to me.

· Oooh it could be really cool to write about the last journey of Ulysses, and when they sailed through the strait of Hercules.

(Illustration by di Fruosino)

Bibliography:  Dante's Inferno, by Dante Alighieri, translated by Tony Kline.