Life, 1910-09-08 · page 17 of 40
Life — September 8, 1910 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a literary satire reimagining Dante's *Inferno* as a contemporary American summer resort—specifically Jersey's Shore. The poet is guided through concentric circles of torment, paralleling Dante's structure but substituting spiritual sins with modern wealthy idleness. The satire mocks the leisure class: vacationers suffer "torture" seeking nature while remaining enslaved to wealth and consumption. Each circle depicts a specific vice—compulsive spending, all-night revelry, gambling, and materialism disguised as pleasure. The "bridge fiends" hide from daylight; wealthy women ("Like Lot's wife") look back longingly at forbidden indulgences. The central joke is that modern capitalist excess has become its own inferno. Pearls and jewels don't liberate but burden ("golden chain each drags about"). The "pay as you enter here" sign replaces Dante's famous gate inscription, suggesting commercialized damnation. The illustrations reinforce this: opulent resort imagery contrasts sharply with the text's condemnation of hollow hedonism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ng, The Poet, having toured the Paradise ¢ deserted town, boards the acro- which is steered by the Angel the several stratas of the Inferno is described as Summer Resort FYETWEEN dim stars we floated, then sombre wood eddied and wheeled Beneath tied a dark and unrelenting cliff Beaten by salt sea winds that sped our ship The Angel's steady Vith wireless cable caught a passing star s we swung, anchored between he worlds. Pony “MERE SiT THE BRIDGE PIENDS * shore below loomed near and then more near, parkling with lights from cupola and stately palace homes, terraced and lawned Within hydrangea hedges, set about i and at the entrance gate \cross a noble arch in gold was writ ssage brief: PAY AS YOU :R HERE! The Angel spoke: the point “We now approach rom which the perfect spiral. circles wn ch varying stratas to those lower INTELLECT DISPORTS "* LIFE Modern Inferno “THE REGION KNOWN AS JERSEY’S Coast’ Where summer board rs lurk in agony During vacation a Their torture doubled in the fancy wild That they are getting nearer Nature's heart. But to this magic city by the sea Come those who weary of the clink of coin; Seck in their play to scatter it about To purchase pleasure at the market-place ‘Trying to paint with gold this giant rock, Heedless of the kind ministering sea That bathes the sordid stain, fans it with sun and wind Keeping it perfect till Eternity Shall merge this apex to a lower Heaven Where souls that toil and sweat the sum- mers through Will loiter in an endless holiday. Observe the several stages, pit on pit, Where weary dancers whirl the whole night long And others feast until the dawn looks in, To shame the candles, wan with rosy light. aces from town, “Here sit the bridge fiends, haggard, fever-eyed With curtains drawn to keep the sunrise out While some more bold, on yachts set eager sail Hoping escape but doomed to quick re- turn, Bound by the golden chain each drags about Link upon link, one heavier than the next And constant adding to its clumsy dower Until it bears them limping to a gra\ Still glittering with jewels, hung with pearls. “ Note that veiled group of women—each her face Turns backward while her body stalks ahead, Ladies who holding highest state and wealth Like Lot’s wife look into forbidden lanes, ting that their gems will find them ou So they all eat and drink and play at love Much as they play at cards, each for a stake— To win and lose and eat and drink ag: Until existence blurs to commonplace And endless hunt for things material ; Keener sensations, failing as they tire ‘Till naught és left of pleasure or of pain Close by the lettered gate there sat a- crouch “ SECURES A CELL"? comicbooks.com