# Rewriting Dante's Inferno.  Praise or 'Heresy?'

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewriting-dantes-inferno-praise-or-heresy/270698>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 22, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewriting-dantes-inferno-praise-or-heresy/270698 "2004-10-22T23:59:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewriting-dantes-inferno-praise-or-heresy/270698/1 "2004-10-22T23:59:02Z")

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OK, So. (sorry, had to start the thread that way) I’m sitting here at work trying desperately to get nothing done, and so my mind turns toward a book I glossed over in college almost 20 years ago: Dante’s _Inferno_.

IIRC, _Inferno_ and _Purgatorio_ contained a lot of slang and references to publicly important individuals, all of which were contemporary with Dante. That was a long time ago. Much of the charm of those references was lost on me simply because my understanding of that period was necessarily limited given the scope of the class. Nevertheless I found it a facinating trilogy (Paradisio was a bit more straight laced as I recall).

I see some of you nodding off so I’ll get to the point: How would you receive an “updated” rendering of The Divine Comedy, provided it remained as true as possible to the spirit of the original work. by updated I mean of course current public figures and phrases to which most people can relate.

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**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewriting-dantes-inferno-praise-or-heresy/270698/2 "2004-10-23T00:05:49Z")

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> [@Inigo Montoya](#):
>
> I see some of you nodding off so I’ll get to the point: How would you receive an “updated” rendering of The Divine Comedy, provided it remained as true as possible to the spirit of the original work. by updated I mean of course current public figures and phrases to which most people can relate.

I’d like to see how it was done before I’d pass judgment.

Part of the problem is that Dante had a very precise measuring stick for determining the worth or failure of individuals. When he condemned popes to hell, he did it with the assurance of condemning them with their own dogma. There’s no such agreed-upon standard, now – you’d have to pick one (or condemn each person for hypocrisy to their own code).

As for not knowing who those people are, a good set of footnotes or endnotes helps. Learning about Ghibellines and Guelphes (white and black) may be a little confusing at first, but once you understand it – and a little about the political climate in Florence at the time – it makes a lot more sense.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewriting-dantes-inferno-praise-or-heresy/270698/3 "2004-10-23T00:19:08Z")

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It’s been done. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote [Inferno.](http://www.troynovant.com/Grube/Niven-Pournelle/Inferno.html)😃