The Divine Comedy of Dante

It’s time for another one of my favorite things: Dante’s Divine Comedy

I was first exposed to this work when I read the novel “inferno” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. In this book, science fiction writer Allen Carpenter dies and finds himself in Dante’s Hell. Led by Benito Mussolini, he travels all the way to the bottom of Hell, trying to figure out what the purpose of Hell is. I liked the book so much that I decided to check out the original, which turned out to be interesting and even fun.

Most people seem to prefer the Inferno. The Purgatio and Paradiso are considered less interesting than the torments of the damned. I don’t agree. Each section has its points of interest. The Purgatio offers hope and relief after the dismal landscapes of the Inferno. My favorite part of the Divine Comedy is towards the end of the Paradiso when Dante finally see God in all His Glory.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows pt. 1

We watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows pt. 1 Friday evening. It was a grim movie, but then it was a grim book.

Canada PM Stephen Harper May Get Conservative Majority

From Human Events, I got this good news about our neighbor to the north. I haven’t been following Canadian politics, and I really have no excuse not to, but I seem to recall that the Progressive Conservatives were demolished at the polls back in 1993. The Conservatives in Canada have since regrouped and formed the Conservative Party of Canada, whose leader Stephen Harper has been Prime Minister since 2006, even though his party does not have an absolute majority. It seems likely that this year he might get that majority and be more able to get his agenda passed.