History Literature / Inferno

''Inferno'', by Creator/LarryNiven and Creator/JerryPournelle, is a [[RecycledINSPACE modern retelling]] and {{Deconstruction}} of the first part of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', with OntologicalMystery elements. The protagonist is a science-fiction author named Allen Carpentier (real name Carpenter - [[MyNaymeIs he added the "i" to sound more interesting]]), who finds himself consigned to Hell after drunkenly falling off a window ledge at a convention. A mysterious figure called Benito (whom he calls "Benny" for short) rescues him from imprisonment in a brass jar, and then begins leading him to the exit Dante used at the very center of Hell, which is supposed to lead to Purgatory.

While the basic structure of the Inferno follows that laid out by Dante, Niven and Pournelle come up with interesting twists, and much is made of the ValuesDissonance between the nature of Hell itself and Carpent(i)er's secular morals, as well as his attempts to explain Hell with science-fiction tropes. For an interesting review which compares and contrasts this work with the original (contains spoilers), see [[http://www.marypat.org/stuff/mywords/dante.html here]].

A sequel, ''Escape from Hell'', was published in 2009. Not to be confused with the first third of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', the second novel of the Literature/{{Indigo}} series, also called ''Inferno'', or the fourth novel in Creator/DanBrown's Robert Langdon series, likewise titled ''[[Literature/DanBrownsInferno Inferno]]''.
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!!This work contains examples of:
* ArcWords
** "This has been willed where what is willed must be": From the original ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', this served to pass many barriers. Which makes sense because if you live in Hell, you really don't want to make waves with those serving the will of God or Heaven.
** "Pay it forward": From the sequel, where Allen realizes that he must pay his debt to Benito to others in need.
** "For the love of God" / "For God's Sake": Allen is originally released from his bottle prison when he unintentionally prays, "For the love of God, get me out of here!" In the sequel, perhaps realizing his duty, he will ALWAYS lend a hand if someone invokes God in this way, even if betrayal is certain.
* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: One man is hooked up to a bicycle to power all of hell because he convinced many people that a Fusion powerplant was dangerous, despite knowing it was perfectly safe, drawing analogies to fission plants in spreading fear and panic. Considering some of those analysis linked from here don't understand the difference and think the man was right, it shows all too much the fear and panic. (This is also a WriterOnBoard moment.)
* AuthorAvatar: Carpent(i)er, arguably. (He even alludes to works of his that contain similar ideas to ones the authors have actually written.)
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Carpent(i)er's pseudonym is a mild example.
* BambooTechnology: Carpent(i)er builds a fairly effective glider out of some plants found in the River Styx, although he thinks it looks like a CargoCult artifact.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Benny is really [[spoiler:Benito Mussolini]], seeking to redeem his sinful record as an EvilChancellor by guiding lost souls.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: This being Hell, everyone is more or less corrupt. Except those on the first circle who were non-believers and don't believe themselves to be in hell.
* CallARabbitASmeerp: Not wanting to admit he's in a genuine supernatural Hell, Carpent(i)er refers to God as "The Builders" or "Big Juju" and calls a demon a "capriform humanoid". He even [[LampshadeHanging mocks himself for this tendency]].
* CelestialBureaucracy: An Infernal variant, of course, staffed by lost souls as well as demons. Notably, human soldiers take the place of the original's centaurs in guarding the violent in the Seventh Circle of Hell.
* ConscienceMakesYouGoBack: [[spoiler: Carpent(i)er throws Benny into the Pit of Evil Counselors upon finding out who he actually is, but goes back when he realizes Benny was trying to redeem himself, had been nothing but helpful to him, and that betrayers of friends are put in the lowest circle of Hell.]]
* CuckoosNest: One of Carpent(i)er's explanations for his plight is that he's been revived from HumanPopsicle status and placed in a futuristic insane asylum, where some inmates think they're in Hell.
* CulturalTranslation: Times have changed since the 14th century, so Niven and Pournelle's attitudes (and those of the society they live in) are different to Dante's. Hell is largely the same in geography, but the inhabitants that we see are different, and the place has changed with the world. This is most obvious in the Wood of Suicides, where in Dante's time, suicides were punished by being turned into trees that bled when broken, with a sideline in the profligate and "violently wasteful" being chased through the wood by wolves. Now, the wood is greatly reduced, but the profligate are much more numerous, and are hunted by sentient bulldozers.
* DeadpanSnarker: Carpent(i)er's narration in many scenes; this attitude may be the only way he can keep his sanity and avoid a HeroicBSOD.
%%* DeconstructorFleet
%%* EarnYourHappyEnding
* FlatEarthAtheist: While Carpent(i)er remains a skeptic for most of the story, his personal experiences of Hell's power - such as being severely burned and healing in minutes - challenge his scientific explanations. However, some of his explanations are almost as implausible as the supernatural itself, showing a degree of ArbitrarySkepticism.
* GenreSavvy: An interesting subversion - Carpent(i)er constantly invokes sci-fi tropes such as SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, RidiculouslyHumanRobots, LostTechnology, and LegoGenetics to explain Hell as a scientific creation, but his explanations always fall short. He could also be called WrongGenreSavvy, being trapped in the world of an allegorical religious work.
* HealingFactor: Everyone in Hell has the ability to heal rapidly after injury, [[GoodThingYouCanHeal so they can be hurt again]].
* HeavensDevils: The Demons in Hell openly identify as servants of God, diligently working to reap justice without mercy onto the damned and take obscene pleasure in doing so. They even ask Carpent(i)er to relay the message to Heaven and its offices that they continue to serve faithfully.
* HeroicBSOD: Carpent(i)er starts going into hopeless despair at realizing he's really dead and in hell. Until he finds Creator/KurtVonnegut's Tomb with lavish decorations and a blinking neon sign that says "So it goes." [[note]] "So it goes" is said literally every single time someone dies in Creator/KurtVonnegut's ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive''. [[/note]] Pure speechless rage actually saves him from being trapped there.
* InThePastEveryoneWillBeFamous: Called by name by both Benny and Carpent(i)er. Most examples of the different layers are either someone famous (Billy the Kid in the 7th) or someone known to Carpent(i)er such as a couple with extreme opposite environmental beliefs. Seems to be done on purpose to better illustrate the nature of Hell. (Or to allow Niven and Pournelle to zap someone with a TakeThat.)
** If you know late 20th century science fiction authors, many characters not specifically named are apparent.
** "Benny" is actually [[spoiler: Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator during World War 2.]]
* IronicHell: Deconstructed, presenting some unusual interpretations of the original's sin-categories. For instance, a man who was obsessed with health food is condemned as a glutton, and a teacher who "predicted" that some of her students had learning disabilities because they were too much trouble to teach properly is counted among the false diviners.
** Consider gluttony as described in ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'' (where it's less about eating too much and more putting matters of the stomach over matters of the soul) and the health nut's situation makes much more sense. When the man tells Allen and Benito that he shouldn't be with the gluttons, Benito tells him "It is the fixation, not the amount."
* MyNaymeIs: Protagonist Allen Carpentier is really named "Carpenter". He added the extra "i" to sound more interesting and exotic. Towards the end, when Hell has stripped away his illusions and pretensions, he reverts to calling himself Carpenter. From then on, it's plot-relevant when a demon refers to him by the old spelling.
* OccamsRazor: Being an atheist and a science fiction novelist, Allen tries rationalizing Hell as a sort of "alien theme-park" with [[ClarkesThirdLaw incredibly advanced technology]] used to explain the unexplainable, only to abandon his "Infernoland" Theory when the logic-defying lengths the hypothetical theme-park owners would have to have gone to make the whole thing work go past his suspension of disbelief.
* SoulJar: It seems self-centered, waffling unbelievers end up trapped inside metal "djinn bottles" in the Vestibule of Hell -- forever, unless they ask God to let them out. These also appear to have {{Hammerspace}} aspects, since to the soul inside they seem like an infinite void with nothing visible. A SubvertedTrope in that [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality and invulnerability has long ceased to be an issue for these souls]].
* StrawmanPolitical: Both radical environmentalists (of the AnimalWrongsGroup sort) and environment-destroying CorruptCorporateExecutive types are condemned to Hell; some of them compete to build and destroy bridges on the River Styx, while the worst environment-destroyers run through a poisoned wasteland, pursued by sentient automobiles. Another example is one man who shut down a nuclear fusion power plant he knew was completely safe because of the political power his organization amassed. Subverted with two Senators from both parties in an eternal debate on ABM due to both supporting the party position over their own feelings; they are trapped in the Circle of Traitors, encased in ice up to their heads, because they both betrayed their own views on what was best for the nation to support their party's position instead.
* TakeThat: While (like the original) ''Inferno'' is full of this sort of thing, [[ChurchOfHappyology L. Ron Hubbard]] is [[{{Series/Firefly}} burning in a very special level of hell]]. Creator/KurtVonnegut has the biggest tomb in the 6th layer for heretics (due to the religious parodies in ''Literature/CatsCradle'' and ''Literature/TheSirensOfTitan''). That Carpentier makes no effort to hide how much he despises Vonnegut just adds to the TakeThat.
* TheThemeParkVersion: Lampshaded - Carpent(i)er speculates that he's trapped in "Infernoland", a sort of SadistShow made by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, but it's very real.
* UndignifiedDeath: Carpentier dies by falling out of a window while doing a stupid party trick for fans at a convention. Worse, no-one's even watching; their attention has been diverted by the entrance of Creator/IsaacAsimov.
* WriterOnBoard: Pournelle and his wife have a hobby horse about the overdiagnosis of dyslexia; here, he takes it out on the teacher mentioned in IronicHell above.
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* OccamsRazor: Being an atheist and a science fiction novelist, Allen tries rationalizing Hell as a sort of "alien theme-park" with [[ClarkesThirdLaw incredibly advanced technology]] used to explain the unexplainable, only to abandon his "Infernoland" Theory when the logic-defying lengths the hypothetical theme-park owners would have to have gone to make the whole thing work.