The Inferno

"You, my love, will be poor, so as to be more like all other women. In order for us to live together I shall work all day and so be your servant. You will work affectionately for us both in this room - and in my absence there will be nothing beside you but the pure, simple presence of your sewing machine. You will practice patience which is as long as life - and maternity, which is as heavy as the world." The Inferno, otherwise translated as Hell, is the controversial novel by Henri Barbusse. A lone young man spies through a hole in the wall of his hotel room. Through it he witnesses all possible events of life, such as marriage, death, lesbianism, adultery and incest. The story was condemned on its English release as gross voyeurism, but can also be read as the education of one isolated individual in the tragedy of life.