ABSTRACT
Many works of American science fiction echo or cite the Commedia, often to express outrage at injustice, to imagine retribution, and to outline the costs of cruelty and selfishness. Dante Pilgrim’s katabasis into the ultimate dystopia and his anabatic trasumanar into a cosmic utopia (and true eutopia) are just two of the most obvious aspects that appeal to writers, readers, and viewers of this genre. This chapter presents three American science-fictional works that were inspired by the Commedia, with particular focus on the earliest of the three, Harlan Ellison’s 1967 short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.” The other two are John Sayles’s 1984 film Brother from Another Planet and the TV series Westworld (2016–). In all three, Dante’s poem—especially the Inferno—serves as a point of reference that augments the narrative’s gravitas and sense of the eternal struggle humans face with one another and within their own selves. This chapter also cites a few other works of American science fiction that have markedly integrated Dante’s thought, and ultimately asks us to consider what both Dante and science fiction ask us: who has the right to power and judgment over whom?
