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HOW DANTE’S ‘INFERNO’ STILL CAPTIVATES—AND HORRIFIES

Friday, October 21, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we explore Dante’s enduring ‘Inferno’, shudder at a Mexican mummy fight, witness Superstorm Sandy’s effects a decade later, celebrate good over evil on Diwali … and discover the world’s biggest marine reserve is blossoming. Plus, can you guess the location of a striking photo in our weekly quiz?

An illustration of a man holding a book

SCALA, FLORENCE

The quick-tempered poet and soldier was banished, permanently exiled from his beloved Florence, forever forced to spend his life, as he put it, “going down and up another’s stairs.”

No wonder that Dante imagined traveling through nine circles of hell, discovering demons, the cursed, and a few people he didn’t like. Who knew that his frightening narrative poem Inferno, part of his epic Divine Comedy, would endure for seven centuries? Did Dante (shown above with hell and purgatory behind him) ever find paradise?

Read the full story here.

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An illustration of the nine circles of hell

ILLUSTRATION BY SANTI PÉREZ

Those circles of hell: To Dante, they are the abode of the damned, who are assigned to eternal punishment for their sins. In the illustration above, Dante, accompanied by the poet Virgil, stands at the precipice of this scary underworld. Read more.

Related:
— Mexico’s mysterious mummies and the fight over their dignity
— The last hours of the doomed Titanic
— The werewolf that horrified Europe
— 10 things you didn’t know about the Day of the Dead
— See these 16 spooky sites worldwide (if you dare!)

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

A photo of a reef and colorful fish

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW GRAY, NOAA

Good news: The world’s biggest marine reserve is blossoming (pictured above, a variety of fish swim in the U.S. Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, in the Pacific)

Bad news: A new, deadlier variant of monkeypox

More than a billion people will celebrate good over evil starting this weekend

A new generation of psychedelics is emerging—without the bad trip

’Everywhere the glint of gold.’ How Tut’s tomb was discovered.

The next subvariant of COVID-19 taking over the U.S.

New Emmett Till statue rises in Mississippi Related: Why America should remember its ugly moments

WHERE IS THIS PHOTO FROM?

A photo of a large boat sitting on land between tall buildings

PHOTOGRAPH BY JASSEN TODOROV, @JASSENSF

Where is this boat-shaped mall? Hint: It was built in what used to be a working dock in this seaport—and the image was taken from a helicopter with its doors off. Can you guess the city? Click here to find the answer!

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A before and after image of a destroyed and repaired amusement park on a pier.

TOP: PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIO TAMA, GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM: PHOTOGRAPH BY GREG KAHN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Before and after: Since Superstorm Sandy made landfall 10 years ago, cities like New York have taken new steps to protect themselves from the ocean. Changes include retractable sea walls, man-made dunes, raised houses, and extra green spaces, Nat Geo reports. These two images above illustrate the changes. (Top: The amusement park at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, in 2012 two days after the storm made landfall. Bottom: Today’s pier was shortened to withstand future storms. A new roller coaster replaced the one Sandy destroyed.)

REBUILDING SMARTER—AND HIGHER

LAST GLIMPSE

A painting of a woman wearing a dress and frilled neck collar

PHOTOGRAPH BY KEITH CORRIGAN, ALAMY

We couldn’t resist: On this frightful Friday, what’s up with the serial-killing countess? Or was Hungary’s Elizabeth Báthory set up and imprisoned by rivals? Biographer Tony Thorne says you can’t whitewash the crimes of a woman he calls Countess Dracula. “There are plenty of male representations of spectacular evil. But few very well-known evil females,” Thorne tells us. “Báthory fills a gap in the iconography of horror.” Read more.

Related:
- Vlad the Impaler's thirst for blood was an inspiration for Count Dracula
- Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, and created modern horror

We asked, you answered: A story yesterday about the things that ancient Egyptians carried with them in their tombs struck a chord with readers. Wrote Peggy Cafferty: “The only thing that I wish I could have in my Afterlife are memories.” Sue Crane wants to be buried in her Jack Lambert Steelers jersey and have a passing-on party that ends with Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” Aletheia Kallos asks: “How will you deliver your daily newsletter to my afterlife?” Awwww!

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Sydney Combs, Jen Tse, and Heather Kim. Have a suggestion? Let us know at [email protected]. And thanks for reading!

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