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daybreakacademy2019-01-26 01:05 pm
thedevilwearsgucci) wrote in daybreakacademy2019-01-26 01:05 pm
Entry tags:
Cryptoliterature class 1 - Dante's Allegory
"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."
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."
no subject
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.]