A descent into discovering different versions of hell and its
realms of torture around the world across literature, religions,
culture, and folklore, gorgeously illustrated and accompanied by writing
on the origins and details of each hell.
Whether it's a real place, a human construct, an idea, or a
superstition, hell is a grotesque demimonde in literature, cultures,
religions, and folklore throughout the ages. There are many different
hells to be found, each one distressing in its own way. But they all
share the same essence: they are terrible places guarded by one or
more evil spirits, where punishment is split into various levels of
damnation.
Those who wish to venture on this dangerous journey beyond the gates of
the underworld will find their guide in two extraordinary authors and
graphic designers: Steven Heller and Seymour Chwast. And like Dante in
the footsteps of Virgil, they will be able to navigate their way through
the burning (or icy!) dark realms that lurk in the heart of the human
imagination--the Jewish Gehenna, the Sunni Jahannam, the Swahili hell,
the Mayan myth of Xibalbá, and many others--as well as all the
characters who have created hell, visited it, or been involved in more
or less fortunate descents into it.
Equally appealing to fans of the literary hellscape of Dante's
Inferno, the bright utopia of The Good Place, and the dark humor of
Edward Gorey, Hell offers a feast of chillingly hilarious graphic art
and illuminating content that comprehensively plumbs the multiple depths
of the underworld.
