Alice and the City of Pillars
Abstract
This piece owes its conception and growth to more works of literature, art, and
music than can possibly be named here. The attentive reader will undoubtedly be capable
of noting for herself where a few of my debts lie, beyond that, I hope she will find the
pleasure of a good puzzle that merits an additional look now and again. My primary
source for this piece is an amazing bit of translation, scholarship and poetry by Diane
Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, titled Inanna. Queen of Heaven and Earth. I can
think of no better guide for those who wish to further explore this piece than this
amazingly raw presentation of one of the eldest legends of mankind, the Descent of
Inanna. This myth contains the seeds of everything you see here, and is one of the most
moving and compelling narratives I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It is a sparse
meditation on life and love, death and resurrection, pain and healing, in short, all of the
themes of this piece, but in a stripped down and primal form. All I've done here perhaps
excessively and sloppily so - is fill in between the lines for the benefit of our
impoverished modem consciousness. It is a story that deserves to live again, and I hope
that this piece will aid that cause.