Review: The History of Hell by Alice K. Turner

Product Summary

From the beginning of recorded history people all over the world have believed in an afterlife with two principle destinations, and Hell has inspired more interest than Heaven, especially among painters and poets. This is an illustrated survey of how religious leaders, artists, writers and ordinary people in the West have visualized Hell.

First Impressions

Last Judgement by Jan van Eyck

I bought The History of Hell on a whim about a year ago when I was on a Dante's Inferno kick. I was a bit reluctant at first--I wasn't quite sure what to expect from an author more famous for their Playboy articles than their non-fiction--but I found that my hesitations were pleasantly put at ease when I began to read her work.

While this isn't a scholarly piece of literature by any means, it is still incredibly informative and well researched; it is evident that Alice Turner has taken no shortcuts in the construction of this book.

The accompanying artwork has been carefully selected, highlighting the diversity of artistic conceptions of Hell over the centuries to the present day. This is not only limited to paintings: Turner includes a great deal of mural work, pottery, sculptures, woodcuts and early sketches.

The History of Hell follows a natural progression from our earliest accounts of the great below--the Sumerians and the Mesopotamians--to the Zoroastrians and Egyptians, which give way to our more recognizable imaginings of Hell influenced by famous Greco-Romans poets and philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and Virgil. Once the classical period is fleshed out Turner moves to the monotheistic religions, beginning with the Judaic concept of Sheol (which is distinct among monotheistic religions for having an afterlife that none are exempt from, be they virtuous or damned).

She also takes the time to explore the less commonly known belief systems (such as those of the Gnostics and the Manichaeists), before getting to the meat of the book: Christian accounts of Hell. This section is especially well researched and deserves repeated readings.

What really tickled my fancy is that Alice didn't end after outlining the monotheistic interpretations of Hell, rather, she then expands on some of the most common infernal imagery, particularly accounts of the descent into Hell, apocalyptic tours of Hell, purgatory and changing conceptions of Hell through various periods of history (the Middle ages, the High Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Romantics, et. al). There is also a portion of the text reserved exclusively for the classical works of Dante, Milton, and Faust. Finally, Turner explores more abstract subjects such as the Mechanical Universe, Universalism, and the changing perception of all things infernal in the wake of Freud.

Final Thoughts

The History of Hell is a wonderful reference guide for students, artists, and infernologically minded individuals--it is easily my favourite desk reference for Hell since Jeffrey Russell's five volume history released in the 80's.