The Inferno is the story of man's journey through hell at a point of uncertainty in his life. It details the punishments given to a variety of sinners in a plethora of colorful descriptions and dated references that can only be explained by reading the annotated version.
All in all it was quite disappointing. Although some of the descriptions were delightfully disturbing, as a whole, Dante used the book as a smear campaign against his political enemies and those he felt were hypocrites in Italy. It's somewhat akin to if Neil Gaimen were to write one of his typically macabre stories, but instead of having a decent plotline he simply included a litany of what he thought George Bush deserved in hell. It was a fun read, but when put in context, it's really just annoying. Thanks Dante. Way to take the greatest literary form (see poem, epic as epitomized by Milton and Virgil) and make it lame.
--Mistress Foo
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