Inferno (Niven and Pournelle novel)

1976 novel by Larry Niven

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Inferno

First edition

Author| Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle
Cover artist| Harry Bennett
Language| English
Genre| Fantasy
Publisher| Pocket Books

Publication date

| 1976
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages| 237
ISBN| 0-671-80490-1
OCLC| 2328489
Followed by| Escape from Hell

Inferno is a fantasy novel written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and published in 1976. It was nominated for the 1976 Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel.[1]

## Background

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The book drew inspiration from the geography of Dante's Inferno and the theology of C S Lewis's The Great Divorce, which is that salvation and entry into paradise, via self-knowledge and repentance, can be achieved by all.[2] However, most of Hell's denizens in the novel either deny their sins or feel they deserve their fate.

## Plot summary

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Inferno is based upon the hell described in Dante's Inferno. However, it adds a modern twist to the story. The story is told in the first person by Allen Carpenter (who spelled his name "Carpentier" on his novels), an agnostic science fiction writer who died in a failed attempt to entertain his fans at a science fiction convention party. He finds himself in a Djinn-bottle in the Vestibule on the outer edge to Hell; he spends a vast amount of time there, but is released when he finally calls upon God for mercy. Allen is met by Benito, a Virgil-like figure whose full identity is not immediately apparent. Benito offers to take Allen out of Hell by bringing him to the center.

At first, as Allen and Benito travel through Hell, Allen tries to scientifically rationalize everything he sees, renaming his surroundings as 'Infernoland', a high-tech amusement park some thousand years in the future. It isn't until he sees a man recover from incineration and his own leg heal from a compound fracture that he starts to actually believe that he is in Hell. From this point on, as Allen travels through the inner circles of Hell, he sees how he is guilty of each of the sins in some fashion, commenting to himself that he is in no danger from ditch 3 of circle 8 (simony) only because he has never had any holy offices to sell. At first Allen views the punishments for these sins as far surpassing the crime, repeatedly thinking, "We're in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism", although he comes more and more to accept the justice of the situation as he realizes that it is their continuing denial of their sins that keeps many of the condemned in hell. Eventually Allen takes over Benito's role in helping reformed souls proceed on to Paradise via Purgatory, allowing Benito to move on towards Purgatory himself. It is revealed that Benito is actually Benito Mussolini, the former dictator of Italy.

Along the way Allen meets a number of his Californian acquaintances and notable people from history (e.g. Epictetus, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Bob Ford, L Ron Hubbard, Henry VIII of England, Vlad Tepes, Aimee Semple McPherson, William M. Tweed, Al Capone) and from classical mythology (e.g. Hector, Aeneas, Charon, Minos, Phlegyas, Geryon). Due to the long time he spent bottled up in the outer vestibule he also meets some people from the future of 1976, such as a Space Shuttle pilot.

## Reception

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The authors said that Inferno was far more successful than they predicted, and they were told that it inspired a resurgence of interest in Dante amongst college students and a new print release of John Ciardi's translation (whose quotes appear in the novel).[2] Pournelle reported in January 1984 that he and Niven planned to write the script for a text adventure based on the novel.[3]

## Sequel

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The sequel to Inferno, Escape from Hell, was released in February 2009. Its working title was "Dante meets Vatican II".

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "1976 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
2. ^ a b Inferno notes, 2008 edition of novel, ISBN 978-0-7653-1676-9
3. ^ Pournelle, Jerry (January 1984). "Too Many Leads, or What in *;?!#"*? Goes First?". BYTE. p. 61. Retrieved January 20, 2015.

## External links

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* Inferno title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* Known Space: The Future Worlds of Larry Niven
* Inferno at Worlds Without End

* v
* t
* e

Bibliography of Larry Niven

Known Space|

* World of Ptavvs (1966)
* A Gift from Earth (1968)
* Neutron Star (1968)
* Protector (1973)
* Tales of Known Space (1975)
* Flatlander (1976)
* The Patchwork Girl (1986)
* Crashlander (1994)

Ringworld|

* Ringworld (1970)
* The Ringworld Engineers (1979)
* The Ringworld Throne (1996)
* Ringworld's Children (2004)

Man-Kzin Wars1|

Fleet of Worlds2|

* Fleet of Worlds (2007)
* Juggler of Worlds (2008)
* Destroyer of Worlds (2009)
* Betrayer of Worlds (2010)
* Fate of Worlds (2012)

The Magic Goes Away|

* The Magic Goes Away (1976)
* The Magic May Return (1981)
* More Magic (1984)
* The Burning City (2000)
* Burning Tower (2005)
* The Seascape Tattoo (2016)

Written with
Jerry Pournelle|

* Inferno (1976)
* Lucifer's Hammer (1977)
* Oath of Fealty (1981)
* Footfall (1985)
* Escape from Hell (2009)

Moties3|

* The Mote in God's Eye (1974)
* The Gripping Hand (1993)

Heorot4|

* The Legacy of Heorot (1987)
* Beowulf's Children (1995)
* Destiny's Road (1997)
* Starborn & Godsons (2020)

Dream Park4|

* Dream Park (1981)
* The Barsoom Project (1989)
* The California Voodoo Game (1992)
* The Moon Maze Game (2011)

The State|

* A World Out of Time (1976)
* The Integral Trees (1984)
* The Smoke Ring (1987)

Co-authored novels|

* The Flying Sorcerers (1971)
* The Descent of Anansi (1982)
* Fallen Angels (1991)
* Building Harlequin's Moon (2005)
* Bowl of Heaven (2012)

Other collections|

* All the Myriad Ways (1971)
* The Flight of the Horse (1973)
* Inconstant Moon (1973)
* A Hole in Space (1974)
* Convergent Series (1979)
* Limits (1985)
* N-Space (1990)
* Playgrounds of the Mind (1991)
* Bridging the Galaxies (1993)
* Rainbow Mars (1999)
* Scatterbrain (2003)
* The Draco Tavern (2006)
* Stars and Gods (2010)
* The Best of Larry Niven (2010)

Short stories|

* "At the Core"
* "The Borderland of Sol"
* "Death by Ecstasy"
* "The Defenseless Dead"
* "Flash Crowd"
* "Flatlander"
* "Grendel"
* "The Handicapped"
* "The Hole Man"
* "The Jigsaw Man"
* "The Magic Goes Away"
* "Neutron Star"
* "Procrustes"
* "The Return of William Proxmire"
* "The Soft Weapon"
* "What Good Is A Glass Dagger?"

Essays|

* Niven's laws
* "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex"

TV episodes written|

* "The Slaver Weapon" (Star Trek: The Animated Series)
* "Downstream" (Land of the Lost)
* "Hurricane" (Land of the Lost) with David Gerrold
* "Circle" (Land of the Lost) with David Gerrold

1. Collections by Niven or others
2. With Edward M. Lerner
3. Set in the CoDominium series
4. With Steven Barnes

* v
* t
* e

Dante's Divine Comedy

Characters
and locations|

| Inferno|

* Acheron
* Bertran de Born
* Bonturo Dati
* Brunetto Latini
* Caiaphas
* Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti
* Capaneus
* Cerberus
* Charon
* Chiron
* Ciacco
* Ciampolo
* Cocytus
* Dis
* Farinata degli Uberti
* Filippo Argenti
* Francesca da Rimini
* Geryon
* Gianni Schicchi de' Cavalcanti
* Great refusal
* Gualdrada Berti
* Guido Guerra of Dovadola
* Guido I da Montefeltro
* Iacopo Rusticucci
* Malebolge
* Minos
* Nessus
* Paolo Malatesta
* Phlegethon
* Phlegyas
* Pietro della Vigna
* Plutus
* Pope Boniface VIII
* Pope Nicholas III
* Ruggieri degli Ubaldini
* Satan
* Styx
* Ugolino della Gherardesca
* Ulysses
* Vanni Fucci
* Virgil

| Circles of Hell|

* First
* Second
* Third
* Fourth
* Fifth
* Sixth
* Seventh
* Eighth
* Ninth

|

Malebranche|

* Alichino
* Barbariccia
* Cagnazzo
* Calcabrina
* Ciriatto
* Draghignazzo
* Farfarello
* Malacoda
* Rubicante
* Scarmiglione

Purgatorio|

* Alagia Fieschi
* Arnaut Daniel
* Beatrice Portinari
* Beatrice d'Este
* Belacqua
* Bonagiunta Orbicciani
* Bonconte I da Montefeltro
* Casella
* Cato the Younger
* Conrad Malaspina
* Eunoe
* Forese Donati
* Gaia da Camino
* Garden of Eden
* Gherardo III da Camino
* Giovanna da Montefeltro
* Guido Guinizelli
* Hugh Capet
* Jacopo del Cassero
* Giovanna Visconti
* Lethe
* Manfred
* Marco Lombardo
* Matelda
* Nella Donati
* Nino Visconti
* Oderisi da Gubbio
* Omberto Aldobrandeschi
* Pia de' Tolomei
* Pope Adrian V
* Sapia Salvani
* Sordello
* Statius

Paradiso|

* Adam
* Bernard of Clairvaux
* Bonaventure
* Cacciaguida
* Charles Martel of Anjou
* Constance I of Sicily
* Constance II of Sicily
* Cunizza da Romano
* David
* Empyrean
* Folquet de Marselha
* Gabriel
* God
* Hierarchy of angels
* Imperial Eagle
* James the Great
* John the Apostle
* Justinian I
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Peter Damian
* Peter Lombard
* Piccarda
* Ripheus
* Solomon
* Saint Peter
* Thomas Aquinas
* Trajan

Concepts|

* Contrapasso
* Terza rima
* Great refusal

Verses|

* "Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe"
* "Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi"

Adaptations|

| Architecture|

* Palacio Barolo (Palanti, 1923)
* Danteum (Terragni, 1938)

|

Cinema|

* L'Inferno (1911)
* Dante's Inferno (1924)
* Dante's Inferno (1935)
* The Dante Quartet (1987)
* A TV Dante (1989)
* The Deep and Dreamless Sleep (2006)
* Dante's Inferno (2007)
* Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
* La commedia di Amos Poe (2010)
* Dante's Hell Animated (2013)
* Botticelli Inferno (2016 documentary)

Comics|

* Demon Lord Dante (1971)
* Jimbo's Inferno (2006)
* Dante's Inferno (2023)
* Gert's Inferno (2023)

Illustrations|

* Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli (1485)
* Jean Giraud (Paradiso, 1999)

Literature|

* The Story of Rimini (1816)
* La Comédie humaine (1830–1850)
* Earth Inferno (1905)
* The Cantos (1917–1962)
* As I Was Going Down Sackville Street (1937)
* The System of Dante's Hell (1965)
* Inferno (1976)
* The Dante Club (2003)
* Inferno (2013)

Music (classical)|

* Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (Liszt, 1849)
* Dante Symphony (Liszt, 1857)
* Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky, 1876)
* Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninoff, 1904)
* Francesca da Rimini (Zandonai, 1914)
* Gianni Schicchi (Puccini, 1918)
* The Divine Comedy (Smith, 1996)
* Inferno (Ronchetti, 2020)

Music (modern)|

* Inferno (1973 album)
* "Dante's Inferno" (1995 song)
* Dante XXI (2006 album)
* A Place Where the Sun Is Silent (2011 album)

Paintings|

* The Barque of Dante (Delacroix, 1822)
* The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides (Blake, 1827)
* Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil (Scheffer, 1835)
* Dante in Hell (Flandrin, 1835)
* The Barque of Dante (Manet, 1850s)
* Pia de' Tolomei (Rossetti, 1868)
* Paolo and Francesca da Rimini (Rossetti, 1885)
* La barca de Aqueronte (Hidalgo, 1887)
* La Laguna Estigia (Hidalgo, 1887)

Sculptures|

* The Gates of Hell (Rodin, 1917)
* The Kiss (1882)
* The Thinker (1904)

Video games|

* King of Demons (1996)
* Devil May Cry series (2001)
* Bayonetta series (2009)
* Dante's Inferno (2010)
* The Lost (cancelled)
* ULTRAKILL (2020)

Related|

* Cultural references
* English translations
* In popular culture

* Category

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