The Inferno is a 14th-century epic poem by Dante Alighieri recounting the narrator's tour of hell. Midway through life, the narrator is lost in a dark woods. The Roman poet Virgil saves him, leading him into the underworld, past the river Acheron, into hell itself. Virgil explains the sinners and punishments, each of which are proportional and similar to the sins committed. The pair travel through the nine rings of hell, through limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud and finally treachery, where Satan tortures Brutus, Cassius and Judas.
"Distant View of a Minaret" is a short story by Alifa Rifaat. Like many of Rifaat's stories, the story deals with issues of religion, femininity and loss in Egyptian society, criticizing aspects of the patriarchy through a religious lens. The story is told from the point of view of a wife having unenjoyable sex with her husband. Afterwards, she prays, reflecting on how religion is more important to her than her alienated relationship with her husband. After the husband dies of a heart attack she is surprisingly unfazed.
Lieutenant Nun tells the story of Catalina de Erauso (1592-1650. Born in Spain and placed in a convent at the age of four, Catalina de Erauso ran away at the age of fifteen and sailed to South America. Disguised as a man, she fought in the Arauco War against the Mapuche natives and was never recognized by her own brother, who was one of her captains. After being severely wounded, she revealed her sex and eventually returned to Europe where she became famous.
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" is a short story by J. D. Salinger about John Smith, a man living with his step-father in New York after the death of his mother. Desiring to escape his situation, he pads his resume and is accepted as an instructor at an art academy in Montreal. Examining students' art by mail, Smith dismisses two of the students and encourages a nun, who later cuts off her correspondence. The short story centers around Smith's aesthetic epiphany towards the end, with themes of beauty, independence and egoism.
For Esme - With Love and Squalor is the story of Sergeant X, a soldier in the Allied Forces during World War II. While training in Devon the sergeant meets an English girl named Esme who has been orphaned by the war. He is deeply moved by her bravery and fortitude. Later, suffering from a nervous breakdown after the war's end, he is helped toward recovery by a letter from the same girl.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction is a collection of two novellas by American author J. D. Salinger. The first novella, raise high the roof beam, is about Buddy Glass dealing with the fallout of his brother's failure to show up for his own wedding. Seymour: An Introduction is the story of Buddy's brother, Seymour, and Buddy's reflections on his life in the wake of Seymour's suicide years after the failed wedding.
The Purgatorio is the second book in the three-part Divine Comedy by the 14th-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri. After the first book, the Inferno, which tours hell, the Purgatorio tells the story of Dante's travels through purgatory. Virgil eventually passes Dante off to Beatrice, but before then, they travel up the the seven layers of punishment and spiritual correction of sins before they can come to the Earthly Paradise. Purgatory is depicted as a mountain in the Southern Hemisphere with tiers for correcting each of the seven deadly sins.
Paradiso is the third part of Dante's Divine Comedy. The poem follows Dante's journey out from Earth and into the heavens. He is guided on this sojourn by Beatrice, a figure representative of Christian theology. He moves through concentric spheres representing the planets of the solar system, experiencing the wonders of the universe before being brought into the heavenly realm of the Empyrean. The poem represents the soul's transmigration from Earth to God.
Teddy is the story of the title character, a ten-year-old boy considered a mystic by the elite of his time. Paraded around by vapid socialite parents, Teddy is in fact enlightened and brilliant. He perceives the world with Zen-like detachment contrasted against the social climbing of his parents and the spoiled behavior of his younger sister. Throughout the story, set aboard a cruise ship, Teddy reflects on the inevitability of his own death.