Thoughts on Dante's Inferno- By Think Tank Correspondent Maya Wahrman

I've read a lot of literature that I've liked in school, but after recently reading Dante's Inferno, I have to say that this has been one of my favorites (it is,
however, impossible to beat the immortal To Kill a Mockingbird). Not only is it not as dense as other literature can be at times, it is an incredible insight to the world of Dante, the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It includes known and less known characters from literature and history: the Bible, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid are just a few of the works. Also, it helps us compare older values to newer values, and perhaps appreciate our own world even more.
The most striking thing to me about Inferno is how influential it was to everything! Upon reading Inferno, I came upon Bolgia Ten of Circle 8: The Evil Impersonators. And how surprised I was to find Gianni Schicchi there, the main character of the opera I saw only two weeks ago! At first I was weary, unsure if this was the same Gianni Schicchi I knew well (and everyone, even non-opera lovers know Gianni Schicchi, for on of the most sung soprano arias comes from it: "O Mio Babbino Caro" which means "Oh My Beloved Father") and found out it was the same one by Dante's description: "That incubus, in life, was Gianni Schicchi... just as the other who runs with her [Myrrha], in order that he might claim the fabulous lead-mare, lay under disguise on Buoso Donati's death bed and dictated a spurious testament to the notaries." And, the opera is based exactly on this description of Schicchi. The Donati family (which Dante married into) wants their dead uncle's will to change in their favor, and Gianni Schicchi agrees to impersonate Buoso to the will-makers, only to snatch Buoso's best treasures for himself. Thus Dante lands Schicchi deep down in hell, but that statement is already untrue. My dad and I did some research as only modern day people do research... Google. We discovered that the entire opera is based upon Dante's depiction of Schicchi!! Wow. Now I know Dante is not the only has had his literature immortalized in opera -- Shakespeare's had quite a few hits. But I've known who Shakespeare was every since I can remember. I only truly knew who Dante was when I went to Italy two years ago and saw where Dante lived, many immortalizations (word?) of him in art, and even a statue impersonating Dante which my sister and I got photographed with (great pictures). Then I knew who he was and what he wrote, but only upon reading Inferno did I actually discover him. How influential a work! I've known about Gianni Schicchi for years, even before I sang the famous "O Mio Babbino Caro". Yet now I finally know its origins, just weeks after I see Depauw University's version of it, with Matt Patterson playing a hilariously fantastic Gianni Schicchi. Dante is reaching my own life all the time. I thought this connection was fascinating -- it's excited me for days -- and I continue to look for connections in my world back to Inferno. If you haven't read it, I recommend that you do for three reasons: 1) You should as an educated person, 2) It's a good read, and 3) It will enlighten so many things in your life.