INFERNO, Episode 229. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 32 - 34

We finish off reading through INFERNO in my English translation, a celebration of our slow-walk through the first third of Dante’s masterpiece, COMEDY. We pass the treacherous souls, hear from the unforgettable Count Ugolino, and grab hold of Satan to make our way out of hell—all before coming out to see the gorgeous stars in the heavens once again.

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INFERNO, Episode 228. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 29 - 31

We’re reading straight through INFERNO, the first third (or so) of Dante’s masterpiece, COMEDY (or “The Divine Comedy,” as some insist on calling it, although he never did). In this episode, we follow Dante the pilgrim and Virgil through the last pit of fraud, the one with the sickening falsifiers, then on down to the giants who line the final circle of Cocytus.

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INFERNO, Episode 227. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 26 - 28

We’re reading straight through Dante’s INFERNO, the first third (or so) of his masterpiece COMEDY, as a celebration of our having slow-walked through the entire piece. Here, we’re at Cantos 26 - 28 of my English translation: the false counselors and the schismatics. These are two nasty pits of fraud. And they contain some of the most interesting characters in all of INFERNO.

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INFERNO, Episode 225. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 21 - 23

To celebrate the finish of our slow-walk through INFERNO, the first third of Dante’s masterpiece, COMEDY, we’re reading straight through INFERNO without any interpretive blather or critical assessments. Here, we’re at Cantos 21 - 23: Dante and Virgil among the demons in the fraud’s fifth evil pouch of the barrators, then down with them into the sixth pouch of the lead-gold hypocrites.

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INFERNO, Episode 224. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 18 - 20

As a celebration for finishing our slow-walk through INFERNO, the first third (or so) of Dante’s masterwork, COMEDY, we’re reading straight through the text in my English translation without any interpretive blather or commentary. In this episode, we’re in the first four evil pouches of fraud in the eighth circle of hell—that is, INFERNO, Cantos 18 - 20.

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INFERNO, Episode 223. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 14 - 17

We’ve finished a passage-by-passage slow-walk through Dante’s INFERNO and now we’re enjoying it for what it was all along: a plot. That is, the story of a lost guy who gets an impressive if fallible guide to lead him across the known universe and to that elusive place called “home.” In this episode, INFERNO, Cantos 14 - 17, in my English translation.

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INFERNO, Episode 221. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 8 - 10

Having walked through Dante’s INFERNO passage by passage, we’re now reading it straight through in my English translation to see the work for what it is: a story, the narrative on one man’s walk across the known universe. Here, we’re at INFERNO, Cantos 8 - 10: across Styx, before the walls of Dis, through the gates of the city, up to, and then beyond the heretics.

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INFERNO, Episode 220. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 4 - 7

A reading of INFERNO, Cantos 4 - 7, not a series of interpretive knots, classical allusions, or meta-poetical games. Rather, a reading for what it is: a story. Or the story of one person’s walk across hell—and eventually, his known universe. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for my translation of INFERNO, Cantos 4 - 7, with nothing more than the text itself.

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INFERNO, Episode 219. Reading INFERNO, Cantos 1 - 3

We’ve walked through INFERNO point by point. We’ve discussed so many angles. We’ve tried to untie so many knots. But we’ve missed something: the narrative through-line. As a conclusion to the first canticle of Dante’s masterpiece, COMEDY, let’s read through INFERNO. Here’s the first part: Cantos 1 - 3 in my English translation.

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INFERNO, Episode 215. The Way Down Is The Way Up: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, Lines 70 - 93

Dante the pilgrim and Virgil pass the middle point of the universe—which is Satan’s anus. Or maybe his genitals. Does Satan need a digestive tract? Do angels need genitals? And while we’re at it, why is Satan the center of the universe? Because he’s the way out. Because he’s the axis on which the heavens turn. Because the way down has been the way up all along.

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INFERNO, Episode 214. Noshing On The Worst Sinners In Hell: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 46 - 69

The last vision of hell: Satan’s mouths stuffed with the three worst sinners. Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius. Wait . . . what? Brutus and Cassius. Walk with me through the last moments in hell: a backward glance across Cocytus (the ninth circle) and a troubling passage that leaves us with lots of questions as well as a typical moment of Dantean bawdy humor, here at the bottom of everything.

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INFERNO, Episode 213. A (Very) Brief History Of Satan Up Until Dante's Vision

Dante the pilgrim has the final vision of INFERNO: Satan, stuck in the ice of Cocytus. But perhaps it’s wise to step back and talk about this figure of Satan, both from Hebraic traditions and in medieval thought. It’s hard to see Satan without the Reformation and even modern horror movie depictions of him in our heads. But perhaps we should, to try to see Dante’s vision of this grandiose figure.

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