Book Review: Inferno. Writer: Dante Aligheiri.

 

There was an era when poetics were an extremity. Heaven was full of felicity and glory and hell was an embodiment of human depravity. Dante Aligheiri's 'Inferno', the first part of 'The Divine Comedy' trilogy is just that. A poem of imageries. Religion created the concepts of heaven and hell. Believers live by it, atheists call it a metaphor, and agnostics are self-proclaimed opportunists who only invoke the holy scriptures at the time of their need. 'Inferno' is an epic about a theist.

Dante travels through seven hells, in accordance with the seven deadly sins, and is guided by the Roman Poet Virgil. As Dante and Virgil encounter every level of hell, they see people who are almost on the verge of perish and self-destruction and as he confabulates with them and interrogates them, they tell him of the despicable lives they had lived and why they are suffering for their sins, and more importantly why they deserve it. 

'Inferno' is a poem about why people deserve the sufferings that they sometimes have to endure, and why do people sometimes deserve what they get. The book is not at all in keeping with the Biblical times where even taking on an experiment such as depicting hell and suffering itself was considered to be an act of revolution. As Virgil guides Dante and travels with him through seven hells, Dante experiences a farrago of emotions in his encounters with a motley of people. 

The poetic work echoes the sentiment as expressed by Aristotle in his classic, 'Poetics' that a poetic work (especially an epic) has to be dramatic in nature, and not in a monologous, but a dialogous form, involving active connotations. This is exactly how 'Inferno' is narrated. It is a reader oriented poetic work and were it to be performed as a play, it is an audience oriented epic that touches all the right chords. It evokes feelings of anger, grief, sorrow and even pity. 

The fact that there are no metaphors in this epic is very striking. The reader is able to understand what the poet means because of his refreshingly straight forward tone. In the Bible, the Lord said, "he who is without sin may cast the first stone". The reality is that no man is without sin and no sin goes unpunished. 'Inferno' is a great anthropological expose that was way ahead of its time. It shouldn't come as a surprise because Dante himself was very critical of the ruling forces back in his time, so much so that he had to flee his village and he wrote "Inferno' in his escapade when he was a marron and in hiding. 

Lord Alfred Tennyson, an English poet said, "the spectre of death touches kings and peasants alike". In a way, 'Inferno' echoes that sentiment, as well. The sins of a king and that of a peasant are equally damnable and culpable. 

The writing style of the book, needless to say as it was in the 1500s is archaic and pretty Biblical. The reader can almost travel back in time because of the vivid imagery and scenarios created. The style is crude and rustic, and that is its charm. 'Inferno' dazzles, fascinates, intimidates and even rouses a faint sense of schadenfreude in the minds of the good, that the bad are paying for their sins. 

Writers like Dostoevsky, and fictional characters like Professor Snape always justified their own disappointments under the garb of life's unfairness. But, Dante way back in the Biblical times roused an indirect optimism by portraying that even though life isn't and cannot be fair, death is fair to all. Although Dante only converses with the sinners in the various levels of hell, the interaction is only restricted to the conversation. In no way does the poet aim to be preachy or sanctimonious. The reality of the imagination is characterised in an "as is" form, rather than "what ought to be". 

'Inferno' is a disquisition for its rustic dramatic element as well as a certain nonchalant simplicity. The seven hells depicted by Dante directly are metaphorically portrayed in films like 'The Platform (2019)' and 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)'. The very idea that the unjust who often sleep more soundly than the just, but the fact that God notices everything and no sin goes unpunished is itself sanguine. It seems like Dante composed this work as an innuendo with an aim to critique the authorities. 

The book is a classic for a justified reason: the power of imagination. Should the reader feel like travelling to the pre-Victorian times when other kinds of literature from many different parts of the world were equally celebrated and held to be equally important, 'Inferno' is a perfect read. It is a poetic work that would make the reader travel back in time to an era where humanity was direct enough to call a spade, a spade! 

Overall, the poetic work is a must-read as far as diverse literature is concerned. Full of vocabulary enhancing words and dramatic narration, it will definitely adorn the reader's bookshelves and make them think before committing an act that they know or believe to be unfair or disadvantageous to others because, crime never pays and sin begets sin. 

MY TAKE: 9/10. 

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Author: Ms. Radhika Sunil Vaidya. 

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