Inferno Summary
Eileen Myles

Inferno Overview

Inferno: A Poet’s Novel is a fictionalized memoir by Eileen Myles. The novel spans from Eileen’s college days in Boston to her career as an established and well-known poet in New York City. The content and structure of the novel are partially inspired by the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy follows a poet’s fictional journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. Similarly, Inferno: A Poet’s Novel follows Eileen Myles’ personal journey through her early years as a struggling artist, her years as an established and successful artist, and her journeys of personal, artistic, and sexual self-discovery. Eileen is both the narrator and the main character of the novel, which is told in a creative and often nonlinear fashion.