A Letter from Purgatory in the Age of Liberation Theology and a Critical Utopian Journey: “Correspondenza cul purgatieri” by Romansh Author Ursicin G. G. Derungs

Abstract: In modern times, fictional visions of heaven, purgatory and hell have often been secularized by fiction writers in such a way that the featured (Catholic) Christian afterlife worlds have become utopian. In this context, religious sins and virtues have become more socially oriented, often reflecting the political stances of their authors rather than their religious beliefs. A significant example of this is the modernization of the Dantean circles of purgatory by Romansh author Ursicin G. G. Derungs in his short story “Correspondenza cul purgatieri” (“Letters from Purgatory”; 1982). Its main character, a Swiss Romansh peasant, undergoes a purification journey to heaven through a series of allegorical afterlife valleys. Each illustrate the ideal of an ascensional development of human society defined by human ethical and political choices, as seen from the perspective of Derungs as a Catholic writer and former priest inspired by the concerns and ideals of the so-called Liberation Theology, the most utopian current among the contemporary schools of Christian thought.