A Portrait of the Self as Nation: New and Selected Poems

Marilyn Chin

$15.95

Publication Date: July 28th, 2020

Publisher:

W. W. Norton & Company

ISBN:

9780393358162

Pages:

208

Description

“Dark, playful, incisive and heartbreaking.” —San Diego Union-Tribune

Spanning thirty years of dazzling work—from luminous early love lyrics to often-anthologized Asian American identity anthems, from political and subversive hybrid forms to feminist manifestos—A Portrait of the Self as Nation is a selection from one of America’s most original and vital voices. Marilyn Chin’s passionate, polyphonic poetry is deeply engaged with the complexities of cultural assimilation, feminism, and the Asian American experience; she spins precise, beautiful metaphors as she illuminates hard-hitting truths.

About the Author

Marilyn Chin was born in Hong Kong. She is the author of five previous poetry collections and a novel. Her work has appeared in The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, and Best American Poetry, among other publications. She is the recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for lifetime achievement, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and fellowships from the United States Artists Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, among other honors. A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she lives in San Diego, California.

Praise for A Portrait of the Self as Nation: New and Selected Poems

Bold and unapologetic.… Ranging from clear, radiant lyrics to experimental, subversive pieces.
— Elizabeth Lund - Washington Post

Chin delivers a wealth of riches: jokes and puns; poems as blues songs, mythic allegories, or letters; poems in translation and poems influenced by received forms.
— Maya Phillips - Poets.org

Throughout this collection, a great showcase of her oeuvre, Chin demonstrates her mastery of the English language and her fluency in others, her impressive visions of global history, her colloquial humor, and her commitment to speaking truth to power.
— Kathryn Pratt Russell - American Book Review