daybreakacademy | Cryptoliterature class 1

"Dante Aligheiri wrote the Divine Comedy not long after being exiled from his native Florence in the late Middle Ages. It's considered one of the first and greatest poems written in the Italian language. It also takes the prize for the first self-insert fanfiction in history. In it, Dante the Pilgrim has to descend through the levels of Inferno in order to reach the other side of the world, and hopefully the mountains of Purgatorio and the gates of Paradiso. It's pure allegory, however he describes this decent level-by-level in exquisitely gory detail, and each circle punishing a particular sin in a fitting way. Heretics who insist that the body has no soul were trapped in burning tombs, killers were submerged in blood, sowers of discord that would spit apart families and political parties were chopped in half over and over, and so on."

She sashays to the whiteboard, and points out the diagram of the nine circles.

"Of course, that isn't to say it's a very GOOD descriptor of the nature of Inferno. It's far too cramped and organized, and there aren't enough tentacles... But I digress. Dante implied a hierarchy of sins by placing what he considered the worst transgresses closer to the center of the Pit. As he had been a victim of betrayal himself that led to his exile, naturally he placed betrayers and falsifiers, liars and evil councilors near the center of the Pit, while your average glutton or violent sinner would be closer to the edge and their punishment less severe. It's worth mention that lawyers and government officials go here, somewhere in between." He adds, helpfully. "Dante was quick to add his own personal enemies into the appropriate circles and to mention them by name, because there were no such things as Libel laws back then, and if you'll notice, none of these circles deal with pettiness."

Are there any that deal with Sass?

"Anyway. Your assignment is to read Cantos one through twenty. We'll get into a breakdown of the circles in the next class. Also... as homework I would like each of you to design your own personal hells: Think of your own hierarchy of sins. What do you consider unforgivable? What do you simply consider annoying? Your answers might surprise you. Give them their own levels, and describe what punishment you would exact. You don't have to be tethered to the laws of reality here, Dante certainly wasn't, and I'll be nice and not read them aloud to the class... at least, not this time."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Want to ask something specific? Now's your chance. ]

[Normally Souji doesn't chime in much during class, but this seems relevant enough. He raises his hand and waits to be called on, at least.]

So what would be a good description of Inferno? Besides tentacles.

[She pauses, to properly put it into words... Or at least try to.]

Imainge a cruel and formless void, freezing, boiling, burning, stinging. Now imagine huge rocks and jagged asteroids chaotically meandering in that void, smashing into each other, getting snared by dreadnoughts roughly the size of this little school and used for ammunition against each other. Now imagine that on those rocks, live the pissiest reality show contestants imaginable and that EACH of them, each and every one, would devour your very soul if given the slightest chance. That should give you an idea.

[Souji just kind of stares forward at that desciption.]

That does sound pretty bad. Is that a place we're going to need to go, or...?

[Gongenzaka's first language isn't English. It's not even his second- and it shows when he speaks. But, he seems to make up for it with rather well written papers all things considered, provided it's judged against his age group.

Doesn't help him much when he has to ask a question.] Auh...how precise, or...'situational', [He begins, pausing momentarily to make sure he has the right word,] Can a 'sin' perhaps, be?

[He's trying, though, and doing pretty well all considered. She's not going to dumb down her words or sentence structure (that's not going to help him learn) but she's going to try to maybe meter her speech a little so he can keep up.]

I left it open to interpretation for that reason. It can be as petty or as universal as you want. If the writers of the Renaissance can damn their pet peeves, then so can you!

[...That sounds weirdly liberating, doesn't it?]

AUH!

I... I see!

[BUT CAN GONGENZAKA SEE THAT PET PEEVES DESERVE ALLEGORICAL HELL MORE THAN HIS OWN PERCEIVED VICES?? ~~probably not~~] Understood then! Thank you!

[At least he'll work hard.]

[This is another class Toki absolutely did not sign up for, but Bayonetta may even be more attractive than White Chain. So he's here to watch mainly, and occasionally pose a "slightly related to the material" question.]

Do you think there's actually a hell!? If you do, do you think it's like Dante's circles thing or something else!? What do you think about the idea that this is hell, right here, right now, and we're all already dead and just don't know it!?

[Wow, take it easy kid. She's not covering Decarte for another 2 weeks or so...]

Oh, Inferno exists, and it's
nothing like this diagram. That's really the point; reading these books will usually tell you more about the people who wrote them, than the real thing. And if this world were Inferno, then you'd have bigger problems than just homework...

...It's not a bad question though. Really, how CAN you tell? You wouldn't know any better if you spent your whole life here... Tell me, can you think of any proof one way or another? Give it a go.

[He has far bigger problems than homework, and he may accidentally be blurting some of them out to her, because of the subject matter at hand.]

That's what I want to know! How can you tell!? There's no proof! How do you know you're even alive, or ever were alive!? Am I dead!? Because I don't feel any connection to this! This isn't real, or I'm not real, or this 'reality' exists on a different plane than I do! How do you explain that!? If this is hell, or something like it, then what was life before it!? WAS there life before it!? HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU EXIST!?

[That last question has been constantly on his mind for over half his life, and he really just wants a concrete answer.]

[ So what do you little Candles think is the worst kind of sin? Which ones aren't so bad? Tell her aaaaaall about it, and don't forget to think up a punishment~ ]

In the right context, all "deadly sins" can be equally dangerous. The desire to act in a "sinful" manner and impose those behaviors on those you hold power over can lead to abuse in any circumstances. If one sin were to be considered the least bad, it would probably be sloth - being lazy or indolent is the least likely to cause harm to anyone outside yourself. Greed, Pride, Lust, Envy, and Wrath, all of these can lead to aggression and harm to others in pursuit of these twisted desires.

As to punishment, whatever form it takes is immaterial. The demands of justice are that those who have been wronged can be made whole and that those who wronged them must confess and repent their crimes before the world.

[ Sitting in on her class? Have something else to talk about? Cereza lingers after class, making her own notes on a tablet and cleaning up the whiteboard. ]

Cryptoliterature class 1 - Dante's Allegory

Questions

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Homework meme?

no subject

Lurking and after-class threads