Dante's Death Mask, Or an Intermedial Treasure Hunt in Dan Brown's Inferno

  • Caroline Fischer Université de Pau
Keywords: Dante, Dan Brown, Intertextuality, Intermediality, Intericonicity, Transcodification

Abstract

This article aims to show how Dan Brown's thriller Inferno incorporates elements from the Divina Commedia and re-elaborates both the historical and literary figure of Dante. At the center of this investigation, largely designed as a close reading, is the intermedial dimension of the paper chase that drives the novel’s plot.

In a race against time to dismantle a biological weapon that threatens humanity, art history professor Robert Langdon comes across a series of complex objects and artifacts. Their complexity is both technical and semiotic, since they modify or combine existing media in a number of original ways, thus activating an intricate web of intermedia references. By analysing the intermedial structure of these objects, I propose to contribute to the description of the dense intertextual and intermedial network that structures the novel.

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References

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Filmography

Inferno, Dir. Ron Howard, USA, 2016. 

Published
2020-11-30
How to Cite
Fischer, C. (2020). Dante’s Death Mask, Or an Intermedial Treasure Hunt in Dan Brown’s <em>Inferno</em&gt;. Between, 10(20), 244-266. https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/4211