Apocalypse Now

For all those students who have been pained in the past by the extremely tedious Environmental Education syllabi that our “Indian” education system served on an ill-planned platter, “Inferno” by Dan Brown comes a bit late. But as the adage goes “better late than never” and true to the adage, Brown drives home the point that the sophomoric environmentalists had been droning on and on about for the past few decades with surprising and ruthless clarity.

In a heady mix that could only have been brewed by the “master” of conspiracy theories and controversies, “Inferno” by Brown is an intoxicating cocktail of art, ancient history, world literature with more than a splash of the great Dante Alighieri, genetic engineering, biological advancements and one of the greatest and most serious conundrums faced by the world today. In fact through the adventures of the protagonist Robert Langdon, Brown manages to seamlessly merge the past with the present as well as the future, and at the same time stressing on the Armageddon that faces the human civilization.

As is characteristic of a Brown novel, “Inferno” too is set within a time span of 24 hours within which Langdon must beat the clock, locate and decipher codes which more often than not bear a connection with the works of Dante , decide whom to trust and whom to avoid all to save the human civilization from annihilation . Brown manages to capture the attention of the reader from the very first line of the story when Langdon wakes up from a slumber with his memory worth two days missing. The story hence keeps flitting between the past and the present as well as different locations, a branched narrative as is characteristic of a Brown novel. 

Set mainly in Florence, the story traces Langdon’s journey from the hospital bed in Florence with nothing but a groggy memory of a white-haired woman, a pile of dead bodies and the ominous Biblical phrase “Seek and ye shall find” to guide him to unearth the truth behind his missing past and decode the future with the help of Dr. Sienna Brookes. Langdon’s adventures take him on a fast-paced and edgy ride to old Florence, through churches and museums, to tombs and palaces all the while being inexplicably chased by an army which seems to be baying for his blood. In a narrative that could have gone horribly wrong, Brown admirably manages to stitch together all the acts of the drama without for once revealing the true intentions of the characters ensuring that the reader keeps on turning the pages. In fact, through the extensive and effective use of deceptive writing Brown lends an edge to the story that propels it from being an ordinary mystery story to a novel that manages to thrill, all the while not forgetting the message that is alarmingly made crystal clear through the story. 

The settings are immaculately and extensively well-researched and the descriptions of the various cathedrals and churches, tombs and mosques, piazzas and museums and all the small anecdotes associated with them lend credence to Brown’s fast growing reputation as a lover of the fine arts , In fact even the most ardent hater of school-taught History cannot help but feel impressed by Brown’s work.

However to think even for a moment that “Inferno” is all about history and Dante will be a huge mistake because intertwined with the past lies the future as is made clear by Dr. Bertrand Zobrist and all those who make the mistake of ignoring either are in grave danger of being engulfed by both. In fact genetic engineering and the advancements in the biological sector form a parallel, if not ‘the’, plot-line of the story. In fact the questions that Zobrist poses to Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey , director of the WHO , and hence to the reader deserve food for thought and definitely more importantly immediate and drastic action. The future that Brown paints in “Inferno” through the “eyes of death” is a scary one and indeed the novel transcends being just an adventure story to a commentary on the inability of human beings to control themselves , resulting in the earth turning into Dante’s Hell , as Zobrist puts it. The truth is hard to accept even when it is staring us in the face, Whatever Brown says in “Inferno” is nothing we don’t know yet but so far we were walking through a dark tunnel towards the light at the end of it but now the light at the end of it rushing towards us at breakneck speed as should the headlights of a train. The end is coming and it’s coming faster than anticipated and we can do little to stop it. But Brown’s message is very clear; our “little” might make a “huge” difference in the end….

“If not you , then who? If not now , then when?”