The Nation, “Tankers’ Inferno” (2015)
“Dante’s Divine Comedy is an allegory of the progressive purification of a God-seeking soul, from the nine earthly ‘circles of punishment’ (limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery), to the grim mount of purgatory and finally, to paradise. To find heaven, man must purge himself of all carnal dross. Comedy was Dante’s contribution to medieval stick-and-carrot evangelism.
“Not so, today Tankers’ inferno, which in Lagos has assumed added hellish fury, these last seven days. These secular infernos, which reckless fuel tanker drivers perpetrate, have nothing to do with the afterlife. It is rather cumulative driving indiscipline, which end in hideous fatality and wanton wastes: in lives, limbs and property.” —The Nation (June 9, 2015)
Sighting Citation:
“The Nation, “Tankers’ Inferno” (2015).” Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Elizabeth Coggeshall and Arielle Saiber, eds. May 7, 2025. https://www.dantetoday.org/sightings/the-nation-tankers-inferno-2015/.
Posted May 7, 2025