Description
In Greek myth, Alcestis descends to the underworld in place of her husband, a king, so that he may continue to rule the living. After she returns, she and her family live--presumably--happily ever after. But she has seen and learned things no one else knows. Alcestis in the Underworld articulates a poet's personal experience of civic duty: her life in Moscow as a U.S. diplomat, after growing up in then-USSR Ukraine.
Praise for Nina Murray's Minimize Considered
"These poems--this poet--bear the unmistakable stamp of the real thing." -- Roy Scheele, author of The Sledders and A Far Allegiance
"Reading Nina Murray's work is, in some ineffable way, like turning the pages of your own life. It leaves you in greater harmony with the world and more deeply in touch with its infinite possibilities.... Beautiful writing, a singular book of poems, rendered in precise, crisp language yet, marvellously, managing to produce a powerful visceral, vivid, heart-bound, near-inarticulable impression." -- Mikhail Iossel, author of Every Hunter Wants to Know and contributing writer New Yorker
Product Details
| Publisher | Circling Rivers |
| Publish Date | April 23, 2019 |
| Pages | 80 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9781939530073 |
| Dimensions | 9.0 X 6.0 X 0.2 inches | 0.3 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
Murray's latest collection radiates a level of universal empathy and vivid experience that cements her place as masterful poet. Skillfully arranged into self-contained yet interconnected sections (with fascinating continuity via its titular subject, among other concepts), it's nearly impossible not to learn from and relate to the captivating style and substance found on nearly every page. It's a treasure trove of erudite expressionism, plain and simple. -- Jordan Blum of The Bookends Review
The myth of Alcestis' journey to the underworld finds new meaning in Nina Murray's poems, which reveal startling insights about the state of the world--and of the poet's soul. Murray expertly navigates the shifting borderlands of 21st-century life, where the line between poetry and prose blurs, foreign policy meets desire, and the inscrutable is our common inheritance. The light that guides her "fits itself into the cracked shells/ of last night's intimacies," and that is why every page of Alcestis in the Underworld shines. This is a book of revelations for our time. -- Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait with Dogwood
"These poems--this poet--bear the unmistakable stamp of the real thing." -- Roy Scheele, author of The Sledders and A Far Allegiance
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