Alcestis - Softcover

Katharine Beutner

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1569478759 ISBN 13: 9781569478752

Publisher: SOHO PRESS (WHOLESALE), 2011

In Greek mythology, Alcestis is known as the good wife - she loved her husband so much that she died to save his life and was sent to the underworld in his place. In this poetic and vividly imagined debut, Katharine Beutner gives voice to the woman behind the ideal, bringing to life the world of Mycenaean Greece, and the part of the story that has never been told: how she falls in love with the goddess Persephone and discovers the true horror and beauty of death.

Review:

"[A]n engaging, subversive reimagining of the tale of the eponymous Greek heroine who is upheld as a shining example of the dutiful wife for her selfless sacrifice. Katharine Buetner's Alcestis is a far more willful heroine, and her encounters with the gods of the underworld resonate with a genuine sense of the numinous."--Jacqueline Carey, "Namaah's Kiss "and "Kushiel's Dart"

"Beutner renders her multilayered heroine with beauty and delicacy, and concerns herself with no less than the intricacies of the soul."--"Publishers Weekly"

"Everyday life in the ancient world, a no-escape-clause afterlife in the underworld, vulnerable mortals, and passionate and tormented gods--all are imagined with intense actuality in a novel that is as intoxicating and hypnotic as the sacred smoke inhaled by the oracles."--Elizabeth Knox, "The Vintner's Luck"

"Beutner spices up this classic tale with a decidedly Sapphic flavor."--"Booklist"

[A]n engaging, subversive reimagining of the tale of the eponymous Greek heroine who is upheld as a shining example of the dutiful wife for her selfless sacrifice. Katharine Buetner s Alcestis is a far more willful heroine, and her encounters with the gods of the underworld resonate with a genuine sense of the numinous. Jacqueline Carey, Namaah s Kiss and Kushiel s Dart
Beutner renders her multilayered heroine with beauty and delicacy, and concerns herself with no less than the intricacies of the soul. Publishers Weekly
Everyday life in the ancient world, a no-escape-clause afterlife in the underworld, vulnerable mortals, and passionate and tormented gods all are imagined with intense actuality in a novel that is as intoxicating and hypnotic as the sacred smoke inhaled by the oracles. Elizabeth Knox, The Vintner s Luck
Beutner spices up this classic tale with a decidedly Sapphic flavor. Booklist"

About the Author:

Katharine Beutner grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She earned a BA in classical studies from Smith College in 2003 and an MA in creative writing from the University of Texas at Austin, where she is currently a PhD student in eighteenth-century British literature.

• Publisher: SOHO PRESS (WHOLESALE)
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1569478759
• ISBN 13: 9781569478752
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304