IS THE DIVINE COMEDY DARK-ACADEMIA?

Is the Divine Comedy dark-academia? No! I hear you cry. Well, hold your horses - while not technically DA, it’s considered a foundational text and major visual inspiration for the subculture. Oh yes, and it also contains nearly every major dark-academia theme including, amongst others, sin (yes), redemption (yes!), religious imagery (yes, yes!) descent into darkness (yes, yes yes!), and poetic language (ha!).  

Dark-academia is a cultural and aesthetic genre centred around classical literature, intellectual obsession, tortured souls, moral ambiguity and romanticised learning. These, set against a bleak, sombre backdrop of gothic architecture, Latin texts, melancholia and intellectualism. Think ancient castles, candlelit libraries and tormented university lecturers pacing around in their tweed jackets.

Religious imagery - a typical dark-academia element - is, of course, all over The Divine Comedy. From sin, redemption, ascension and salvation to angels, demons, saints, sacramental pageants, Virgin Mary and the big guy Himself. It doesn’t get more religious than that. DA readers love themes of art, literature and philosophy. At every turn, Dante examines these through conversations he has with the dead, specifically Virgil and Beatrice but also philosophers, fellow poets, saints and warriors. Sometimes these depictions are visual e.g. friezes showing the religious virtues, or music by virtue of the Symphony of the Spheres. He witnesses metaphorical representations including the Schismatics who caused divide amongst men in life. Their punishment in death? Physical dismemberment, decapitation, mutilation; division of the body. On the Mountain he hears tales of St Nicholas, King Midas, John the Baptist and Niobe. Without doubt, all three realms of the afterlife are dripping in religious imagery.

When we look at the artistic depictions of Hell (see previous blog  https://www.alexlmoretti.com/post/how-dante-rocked-the-art-world ) there are real parallels with what we've read, seen and know about Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker's writings. Substitute a Gothic cathedral or bat-infested castle for the funnel of Hell and you’re there! See what I mean? Field Dante for tortured and troubled souls Frankenstein and Dracula... it’s a neat fit wouldn’t you say. Did Dante sign a Faustian pact? We’ll swap him for Dorian Gray if you agree that in committing to his quest in exchange for a final kiss with his beloved muse Beatrice, he did.

Gothicism is a major element of the dark-academia subculture, and the visuals play a huge part. If we steer away from the specifics - cathedrals, fashion, art and instead focus on its more general components and characteristics i.e. doom, gloom, mystery, misery and the grotesque, you’d likely agree that Inferno is a pretty solid contender. Add in other traditional DA themes of romanticism and the supernatural and we’ll chuck in Purgatory and Paradise too.

Dark-academia readers are typically searching for emotionally intense books combining a mixture of atmospheric storytelling through intelligent fiction and literary fantasy. Dante plunges a living, everyman poet into the depths of Hell; the only mortal man amongst millions of dead in the torturous, terrifying and apocalyptic Inferno. He doesn’t know it yet, but this miserable and vanquished soul (in the early stages he's a morally ambiguous one too) has been sent on an epic quest to save mankind from spiritual destruction. He witnesses the punishment of sin in its most vile and horrific forms, beyond what the living (or dead for that matter) can endure. Surviving Hell, he battles in pilgrimage up the Mountain of Purgatory redeeming himself through penance, which provides spiritual cleansing enough to enable ascent to the wonders, beauty and perfection that is Paradise. If that doesn’t cover every major dark-academia theme then I don’t know what does! Throw in giants, griffins, centaurs, talking eagles, angels and she-wolves and we’ve got the fantasy element covered down pat.

By categorising The Divine Comedy - and Beyond The Inferno - as dark-academia, we’re telling contemporary readers these books are literary, dark, philosophical and aesthetic. I know which camp I’m in. What about you?

Modern takes on dark-academia include The Secret History by Donna Tartt, If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and Babel by R.F. Kuang