Hell Unearthed charts Dante's journey, guided by his hero, Virgil, through the underworld. In this modern version of Inferno, the cast of sinners Dante meets includes gangsters, dictators, pop stars, sports stars, princes and princesses. These characters' stories will be familiar to many and they sit alongside sinners drawn from classical mythology as well as the heroes and villains from Dante's contemporary medieval Tuscany.

Characters are positioned in Hell according to the gravity of their sin and are tormented by weapons such as fire, boiling blood, sticky tar or ice. Some are stuck headfirst in holes with their legs wriggling about in the air; others are clawed or hooked by demons.

The tormented souls we witness in Hell Unearthed prompt questions about life, happiness, greatness, our relationship with society and with our friends and family. Do we really suffer for our wrongdoings after we have died? What is happiness? What is it to achieve greatness in life, and how is that greatness viewed in the afterlife? How should we live our lives to ensure happiness or salvation after we die? What makes society and local communities strong? The message remains the same as Dante's original. Happiness is achieved through peace and stability in government with clear moral guidance coming from a spiritual power. We need to nurture our relationships with others in society and be mindful of causing harm. What we achieve in life, and how, will ultimately be judged by God.

Hell Unearthed expands Dante's world to show that people across geographical, cultural and religious divides can be guilty of the same human failings. Recognition of the universality of sin should be a unifying process and that was certainly also Dante's intention with Inferno.

Formato	Tapa suave
Número de Páginas	220
Lenguaje	Inglés
Editorial	Choir Press
Fecha de Publicación	2021-09-01
Dimensiones	9.21" x 6.14" x 0.46" pulgadas
Letra Grande	No
Con Ilustraciones	No

McElwaine, Hilary

Hilary McElwaine was born in Horsham, West Sussex in 1972. She attended St Leonards-Mayfield School in East Sussex and went on to read French and Italian at Oxford. She spent a year living in Siena where she furthered her Italian studies, enjoying the art and architecture on offer throughout Tuscany. A highlight of life in Siena was the build-up to the Palio, a bareback horse race between the town's seventeen "contrade" around the central Piazza del Campo. On graduating, she spent ten years working in the City in investment banking until the arrival of her first children, twins who arrived ten weeks early. She wrote a book about her experience with prematurity and the proceeds went to support the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Neonatal Unit who looked after the twins for seven weeks while they were in intensive care. She dedicated herself to their early years and then qualified as a teacher of French and Italian, teaching in both primary and secondary schools for ten years. She lives in Wandsworth with her husband, Simon, and their three children, Ollie, Clarissa and Hugo.