The Descent of Alette (Penguin Poets)

Rating:
Summary: Una Selva Selvaggia e Aspra e Forte
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Women's Epics Everywhere!
Review: 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.