Malign Fiesta

The third novel in Lewis' Human Age series takes us straight to Dante's Inferno. And, indeed, if we don't realise this, both Lewis and the denizens of Hell point this out to us. Indeed, Satan (or Sammael, as he prefers to be known) and his assistants make several references to Dante, pointing out that they have created a Lake of Blood (but with red paint, rather than real blood) as well as having tortures akin to those described in Dante, such as a Paolo and Francesca cell. However, this novel is not the English public school novel of the first two books but is full of quite brutal violence. The novel starts as Pullman and Sattersthwaite accompany the Bailiff on a journey at the speed of light from the Third City, where they had been in the previous book, to Matapolis, one of the cities of Hell. Lewis brings us a conclusion, with the inevitable battle between Heaven and Hell.

Though this is the last book published by Lewis in this series, a planned fourth book "The Trial of Man" was to have been set in Dante's Paradise.