Manila upset at Dan Brown's 'gates of hell' line in Inferno
Officials in the Philippines are up in arms at Dan Brown's description of the capital Manila as "the gates of hell" in his latest book.
Mr Tolentino objects to Manila being defined by what he calls terrible descriptions of poverty and pollution Photo: Bloomberg
By Associated Press
4:09PM BST 23 May 2013
Brown's book, which is being sold in the Philippines, includes a character who is visiting the city and taken aback by poverty, crime and the sex trade.
The chairman of metropolitan Manila, Francis Tolentino, wrote an open letter to Brown on Thursday, saying that while "Inferno" is fiction, "we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis."
Mr Tolentino objects to the "gates of hell" description, and to Manila being defined by what he calls terrible descriptions of poverty and pollution.
He says the novel fails to acknowledge Filipinos' good character and compassion.
Earlier this month the cultural guardians of the Italian poet Dante, said that the Divine Comedy would survive being mangled by Brown in his new blockbuster novel.
Scholars at the Italian Dante Society said they welcomed the new book, no matter how populist or filled with historical inaccuracies, because it would bring the poet's work to a much wider audience.
"The Divine Comedy is 600 years old. It can survive a few mistakes being made by Dan Brown," Eugenio Giani, the president of the Italian Dante Society, told The Daily Telegraph.
