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Mad Men (2007)/S6E1 · The Doorway (Part 1)/Don on the Honolulu beach: Inferno
Mad Men · Season 6, Episode 1, "The Doorway (Part 1)"

Don on the Honolulu beach: Inferno

Don Draper (Jon Hamm) · Honolulu Beach

Don on the Honolulu beach: Inferno. Evidence card from Mad Men: InfernoGet credit for sleuthing this sceneDrop the frame
Mad Men · S6 E1Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth
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What it tells you

The season six premiere opens with Don on a Honolulu beach, holding the Inferno while his voice runs the opening lines: midway through life, lost in a dark wood. Wikipedia has Sylvia Rosen, the neighbor he is sleeping with, handing him the book. Most people pack a paperback for the beach. Don packed a guided tour of hell.

Sources: The Doorway, Wikipedia · The Mad Men Book Club: The Inferno, The Millions · 12 Works of Literature That Were Featured on Mad Men, Mental Floss
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The book

Cover of Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Inferno

Dante Alighieri · 1320 · poetry

The first part of the Divine Comedy, written around 1320, in which Dante is led through nine circles of the damned. The Millions has Don holding John Ciardi's translation, first published in 1954. Dante got Virgil as a guide. Don got a neighbor with good taste in gifts.

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The show

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Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth · 2026-10-21

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Also in Mad Men

All 26 books
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