The Descent of Alette

by Alice Notley

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140587640
• ISBN13: 9780140587647
• Release Date: April 1996
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Easily a new favorite

Exceptionally potent and chillingly relevant to our current struggles. Simply a must-read FFO the darkly feminine, revenge poetry, and surrealist dreamscapes.

Women's Epics Everywhere!

This book is so engaging I had to read it all in one sitting. Notley uses parentheticals to offset her narrative. It's an interesting experiment that challenges how we traditionally read linear works and how we perceive tales of exploration of the self. Part Dante in its underworld motif, part shamanistic in its vision and all feminine in its discourse with the history of the epic; it recalls the ancient Inanna myth while also employing contemporary imagery that keeps the reader engaged in this current experiment with poety and the role of the poet as visionary.

Una Selva Selvaggia e Aspra e Forte

A model for tomorrow's epic. Narrative with no loss of sensibility, the former augmenting the latter, so particularly difficult in this age. The Descent of Alette is an inspiration.