Staff Pick
Follow Alette down the subway stairs where your spiraling odyssey begins: journeying through surreal tunnelscapes of faces, into dark enchanted forests "full of beings," and towards the simultaneous "Past, Present," "& Future" of self-transformation. Along the way, Notley's book-length feminist epic will likely have something to say about your own transformation, leaving you dizzied yet fully awake within its mythopoetic universe. Recommended By Alexa W., Powells.com
This is a strange and beautiful epic poem that takes us on a journey to an underworld that’s more authentic than those of old. We feel the brush of bats' wings as we enter caves, caverns, corridors, all on a quest to heal the world. This is at once gorgeous and essentially creepy. So right for now. Recommended By Marianne T, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The Decent Of Alette is a rich odyssey of transformation in the tradition of The Inferno. Alice Notley presents a feminist epic: a bold journey into the deeper realms. Alette, the narrator, finds herself underground, deep beneath the city, where spirits and people ride endlessly on subways, not allowed to live in the world above. Traveling deeper and deeper, she is on a journey of continual transformation, encountering a series of figures and undergoing fragmentations and metamorphoses as she seeks to confront the Tyrant and heal the world. Using a new measure, with rhythmic units indicated by quotations marks, Notley has created a "spoken" text, a rich and mesmerizing work of imagination, mystery, and power.
About the Author
Alice Notley is a poet whose twenty previous titles include The Descent of Alette, Beginning with a Stain, Homer's Art, and Selected Poems. She wrote the introduction for her late first husband Ted Berrigan's Selected Poems. She lives in Paris.
Table of Contents
The Descent Of Alette Author's Note
The Descent of Alette
Book one
Book two
Book three
Book four
About the Author