Dante’s Inferno and Ninth House:
Maybe Dante is a Ladino-Speaking Young Woman
Justine De Vour
the devil knows your name now, galaxy stern
Dante’s Inferno changed a lot that we know about literature. It is the most famous example of the first works written in conversational Italian as opposed to Latin, it shaped much of how we view hell in the Christian canon, its protagonist is (for all intents and purposes) ordinary, and it immortalized real people from Dante’s time who would not have otherwise been; namely Francesca. It should come as no shock that it is continuously used to inspire and referenced in many works since its publication, all the way to the modern day. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is one such work.
Alex Stern serves as Dante for the Lethe, a governing body for Yale’s magical fraternities. Her mentor is referred to as Virgil, and he is Alex’s informant and guide about the magic societies contained in the dark underbelly of Yale’s most elite. Alex (short for Galaxy) does not seem the type to join Lethe house, let alone attend Yale University in the first place. She, like Dante, has suffered all her life, and it was her one great love (albeit platonic), her best friend Hellie, that ultimately places her in this position. In the second canto of Inferno, Dante asks Virgil why he was chosen for this journey. He is unlike the heroes Virgil wrote about, and he both feels inadequate and afraid of the task that lays before him. Virgil tells him of his summons by the Virgin Mary, who was convinced by Beatrice (Dante’s life-long love) that Dante should be saved from greater suffering. Alex’s path to her role as Dante has similarities. She has been able to see grays (ghosts) her entire life and had been convinced she was crazy. She used drugs to suppress her ability and became a part of a dangerous community as a result. In a cruel twist of fate, Hellie, the one bright spot in Alex’s life, died of a fentanyl overdose after being assaulted by a drug dealer. Alex did not even realize that Hellie was dead when she first woke up next to her, but when she did, she was distraught. Alex’s friend Len and the drug dealer attempted to remove Hellie’s body to throw her in the garbage, but Hellie found a pull to Alex’s body. At this moment Alex realized there was more to her abilities than she had thought. Hellie possessed Alex’s body and murdered every man still in the apartment, only leaving Alex when they were sure no one could trace the killings back to her. Due to these events, the Lethe became aware of Alex, and drew her to Yale to serve the Ninth House.
Darlington, Alex’s Virgil, is an expert on all things Lethe. He is a vault of more general knowledge as well, speaking Greek and Latin among other languages, he can quote famous poets and philosophers at a moment’s notice, and he only takes joy in learning more. However, he, like Alex, does not quite belong at Yale. He had a troubled childhood and his family, while once wealthy, had long run out of money by the time Darlington inherited his grandfather’s house. In a similar vein, Virgil in Inferno is also an outsider due to his lifetime occurring before the birth of Christianity, which is the reason his soul typically remains in purgatory. Despite this, Virgil is still the best guide for Dante, just as Darlington is for Alex. Virgil and Dante have a spiritual connection deeper than between most two souls, illustrated by Virgil’s ability to mind Dante’s mind. “[Virgil’s] power of telepathy is limited to Dante, since access to the pilgrim’s thoughts is the most important kind of knowledge for the success of Virgil's mission” (Rendall 135). Darlington and Alex also develop a unique bond in the sequel Hell Bent, explained by Darlington when Alex asks about new markings on his wrists, “I’m bound to you, Stern. To the woman who brought me out of hell” (Bardugo 412). Darlington became trapped in hell before the events of Ninth House, but his guidance is revealed in flashbacks. Even so, he did not have as much time to guide Alex as he would have wanted, things may have turned out better if he had.
With Darlington missing, Alex becomes the main Lethe liaison, though her true foray into this world does not occur until she has a real motive. This comes to her in the form of a dead girl. Tara was killed just off Yale’s campus. She was not a student, she was not from money, and (as the Lethe would like to assume) she had nothing to do with the magic that takes place in their societies. But Alex had seen this happen too many times. She herself would probably be dismissed in the same way if she had been the one found dead. Tara’s importance to Alex appears to have ties to Francesca’s appearance in Inferno. Both women have no business being featured, but they are. Both were murdered in cold blood, both were in love with the wrong person, and both made mistakes that led directly to their deaths. Francesca has inspired many artistic works, and it puzzles me that given the societal attitudes towards women during and since the century Inferno was written in, so many people latched onto the story of a woman who committed adultery. Francesca is a sympathetic character, even though she is in Hell, even though she made poor choices, even though (before Dante) she was unimportant. Tara in Ninth House is the same, and our main characters (Dante and Alex) lead us to them and say look, pay attention, have empathy. Tara and Francesca are brought to the foreground to demonstrate the flaws in the way some view morality. “It is not only human weakness sanctioned by divine justice that Dante takes issue with here… but also the relationship between profane aesthetics and Christian ethics. In other words, he problematizes courtly love as the way to moral perfection, the very basis of his 'dolce stil novo' aesthetics” (Jongeneel 138).
Ninth House is simply one example of Dante’s legacy, and it will continue to bring inspiration to powerful stories. In this case it gave a struggling young woman the reins to the plot. Just as Dante did, Alex steers the readers through this world. One right beneath our feet, and more terrible than we likely imagined, but filled with the stories of those who do not often get to share them. And we are better for having read them, as with those in Inferno.
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante, et al. “Inferno”. Bantam Books, 1982.
Bardugo, Leigh. “Hell Bent”. Flatiron Books, 2023.
Bardugo, Leigh. “Ninth House” Flatiron Books, 2021
Jongeneel, Els. “ART AND DIVINE ORDER IN THE ‘DIVINA COMMEDIA.’” Literature and Theology, vol. 21, no. 2, 2007, pp. 131–45. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23926935. Accessed 17 Nov. 2023.
RENDALL, THOMAS. “‘Natura Non Sal Tum Facit’: Virgil’s Telepathy in the ‘Commedia’ Reconsidered.” Italica, vol. 91, no. 2, 2014, pp. 125–44. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24368477 . Accessed 17 Nov. 2023.
PhantomRin, “Untitled Sketch of Darlington”, X, December 16, 2019,https://twitter.com/PhantomRin9/status/1206635354419318784 October 29th, 2023
PHY-BE, “Untitled Sketch of Alex Stern”, Do You Permit It?, November 11th, 2022, https://phy-be.tumblr.com/post/700664228203397120/the-devil-knows-your-name-now-galaxy-stern, October 29th, 2023