Author Dan Brown appeared on The Today Show this morning to announce the title of his new book. “Inferno,” a book about Dante. "Inferno" will again feature Brown’s favorite protagonist, Robert Langdon. The book will be published by Doubleday and will be on the market May 14, 2013. The character of Langdon has starred in the last three Brown books, “Angels and Demons,” “The DaVinci Code,” and “The Lost Symbol.”
In a statement today, Brown said, “although I studied Dante’s 'Inferno' as a student, it wasn’t until recently, while researching in Florence, that I came to appreciate the enduring influence of Dante’s work on the modern world. With this new novel, I am excited to take readers on a journey deep into this mysterious realm…a landscape of codes, symbols, and more than a few secret passageways.”
The book is expected to be set in Italy. It seems clear the title is a reference to the Inferno portion of Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” The poem from the early 1300s depicts Dante being led through the levels of Hell (the inferno), Purgatory and Heaven by the poet Virgil. “The Divine Comedy” represents the journey of the soul towards God, with the opening section, Inferno, describing the recognition and rejection of sin. Dante’s original manuscript did not survive.
Amazon’s blurb shares, “Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust… before the world is irrevocably altered."
Brown’s fourth novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” was a New York Times bestseller from the first week of its release in 2003. Brown’s books have now sold more than 200 million copies. Tom Hanks starred in two films based on Brown's books.
Suzanne Herz, Doubleday’s Senior Vice President said, "Dan Brown's enthusiasm for puzzles, codes and symbols is a passion shared by his readers. That passion was on display on The Today Show as fans tweeted and Facebooked their guesses as to the title, which was eventually displayed using the profile photos of the guessers.
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