{"id":60722,"date":"2013-09-30T17:16:54","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T21:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=60722"},"modified":"2014-03-08T15:03:50","modified_gmt":"2014-03-08T20:03:50","slug":"fall-sweeps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall Sweeps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DanteDetailLarge\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic pruning, the process by which your brain eliminates neurons that don\u2019t get any exercise. And whether or not there\u2019s any truth to this neurological use-it-or-lose-it theory, you\u2019ve nonetheless come to the conclusion that your brain is on the brink of self-destruction. Which is to say: it will get rid of every neuron that hasn\u2019t got anything to do with watching Netflix, looking at Buzzfeed, or eating food that\u2019s terrible for you past 3 A.M.<\/small><\/p>\n

You want to watch Boardwalk Empire<\/em>\u2014what will happen to Nucky Thompson, or Richard Harrow? You want to catch up on The Walking Dead<\/em>, but then you remember that synaptic pruning, and a frightening question about the difference between you and an actual zombie floats through your head.<\/p>\n

The convenience of hour-long shows is that they often air on Sunday night, when you have nothing to do. We have a compromise. Don\u2019t spend an hour on the latest would-be cable sensation; instead, tune in for the first season of The Divine Comedy<\/em>, the hot, new (relatively speaking) series by Dante. Every week, ideally on Sunday at 9 P.M.<\/small>, read one canto\u2014often less than 140 lines!\u2014of what may be the best poem ever written. Season 1 is called the Inferno<\/em>\u2014think of it as your new Home Box Office.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there isn\u2019t a teaser with fast cuts and a voice over about one man\u2019s trip through hell that can be embedded into this post, but here are some positive early reviews:<\/p>\n

\u201cDante\u2019s masterpiece is one of the supreme works of art that the ages have witnessed.\u201d \u2014Theodore Roosevelt<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Dante almost as much as the Bible. He is my spiritual food, the rest is ballast.\u201d \u2014James Joyce<\/p>\n

\u201cDante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them; there is no third.\u201d \u2014T. S. Eliot<\/p>\n

And just as every landmark show requires a thorough recap (had you really seen<\/em> an episode of Mad Men<\/em> until a a blogger pointed out all the \u201cthemes\u201d?), so too will we bring you Dante recaps every week. Go to Barnes & Noble, or BookCourt, or use your parents\u2019 Amazon Prime membership, and pick up the Inferno.<\/em> We prefer the Hollander translation<\/a>. The premiere is this Sunday.<\/p>\n

To catch up on our Dante series, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Alexander Aciman is the author of <\/em>Twitterature<\/a>. He has written for the <\/em>New York Times, <\/em>Tablet, the <\/em>Wall Street Journal, and <\/em>TIME. Follow him on Twitter at @acimania<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic pruning, the process by which your brain eliminates neurons that don\u2019t get any exercise. And whether or not there\u2019s any truth to this neurological use-it-or-lose-it theory, you\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[11951,2930,11950,54,7592],"class_list":["post-60722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-alexander-aciman","tag-dante","tag-divine-comedy","tag-television","tag-tv"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFall Sweeps by Alexander Aciman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"September 30, 2013 \u2013 Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fall Sweeps by Alexander Aciman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"September 30, 2013 \u2013 Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-30T21:16:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-03-08T20:03:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"390\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexander Aciman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexander Aciman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alexander Aciman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ed568ba52b1fc3e70ec2043f18e06041\"},\"headline\":\"Fall Sweeps\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-30T21:16:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-08T20:03:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/\"},\"wordCount\":442,\"commentCount\":12,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"alexander aciman\",\"Dante\",\"Divine Comedy\",\"television\",\"TV\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts & Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/\",\"name\":\"Fall Sweeps by Alexander Aciman\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-30T21:16:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-08T20:03:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"September 30, 2013 \u2013 Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fall Sweeps\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ed568ba52b1fc3e70ec2043f18e06041\",\"name\":\"Alexander Aciman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0ab098cf359985358dcb130f2519adc3b0ae96b2429eeb02e85c20fbba24e86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0ab098cf359985358dcb130f2519adc3b0ae96b2429eeb02e85c20fbba24e86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alexander Aciman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/aaciman\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fall Sweeps by Alexander Aciman","description":"September 30, 2013 \u2013 Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fall Sweeps by Alexander Aciman","og_description":"September 30, 2013 \u2013 Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2013-09-30T21:16:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-03-08T20:03:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":390,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alexander Aciman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alexander Aciman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/"},"author":{"name":"Alexander Aciman","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ed568ba52b1fc3e70ec2043f18e06041"},"headline":"Fall Sweeps","datePublished":"2013-09-30T21:16:54+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-08T20:03:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/"},"wordCount":442,"commentCount":12,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg","keywords":["alexander aciman","Dante","Divine Comedy","television","TV"],"articleSection":["Arts & Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/","name":"Fall Sweeps by Alexander Aciman","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg","datePublished":"2013-09-30T21:16:54+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-08T20:03:50+00:00","description":"September 30, 2013 \u2013 Something is gnawing at the nape of your skull: on the one hand, your favorite fall shows are coming back. But you just read an article about synaptic","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DanteDetailLarge.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/30\/fall-sweeps\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fall Sweeps"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ed568ba52b1fc3e70ec2043f18e06041","name":"Alexander Aciman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0ab098cf359985358dcb130f2519adc3b0ae96b2429eeb02e85c20fbba24e86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0ab098cf359985358dcb130f2519adc3b0ae96b2429eeb02e85c20fbba24e86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alexander Aciman"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/aaciman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60722"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67770,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60722\/revisions\/67770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}