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Louis de Bernieres, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (1994)

On page 23 of the 1994 novel Corelli’s Mandolin, a gay Italian soldier fighting in WWII contemplates the treatment of homosexuals in Dante’s depictions of Hell. De Bernieres makes specific reference to the Seventh Circle of Hell and the punishment of the sodomites (as well as the usurers). The author also incorporates a quote from Canto XVI of Dorothy Sayer’s 1950 translation of Dante’s Inferno: “It makes me heartsick only to think of them.”

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was published in the United States under the title Corelli’s Mandolin (also in 1994). Then in 2001, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was adapted into an eponymous film, directed by John Madden and starring Nicholas Cage and Penélope Cruz.