Overview
""Lee's strange and gemological arrangements are the measure of her gift. . . .""-from the Foreword by Heather McHugh Ambitious and original, Karen An-hwei Lee's first book-length poem is in the form of an eccentric dictionary. In Medias Res brings to mind the long poems of Anne Carson, though Lee is less concerned with ironies than with mysteries. In compressed and oddly slanted ""definitions,"" ranging from one line, ""A paper bird unopened until marriage"" (""Comparison""), to longer, parable-like narratives, Lee's poem moves through the alphabet to limn the border between language and spirit. Often playful and slyly humorous, In Medias Res is an investigation into how God hides in language. Karen Lee has made a brilliant entry into poetry. Karen An-hwei Lee lives and teaches on the West Coast. Her chapbook of prose poems, God's One Hundred Promises received the Swan Scythe Press Prize. A regular contributor to literary journals, she has completed several novellas and poetry collections. Her work has won numerous university awards, fellowships, and residencies, including a fellowship from the Yoshiko Uchida Foundation. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing and a Ph.D. in literature.
Full Product Details
Author: Karen An-hwei Lee
Publisher: Sarabande Books, Incorporated
Imprint: Sarabande Books, Incorporated
Dimensions:
Width: 15.70cm
, Height: 1.20cm
, Length: 23.60cm
Weight: 0.283kg
ISBN: 9781932511062
ISBN 10: 1932511067
Pages: 73
Publication Date: 18 November 2004
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
Karen Lee's In Medias Res is an etude on blindness and enlightenment....Its taxonomic daring is vintage Stein....Lee's strange and gemological arrangements [are] the measure of her gift: the book as a whole seeks to find words for a woman's loss of her sight, and the human capacity to make sense of the patterns and accidents of life....Best of all, Lee has a fine paronomastic flair. She highlights but does not belabor the affinities between words....Where other might find 'blind fortune, ' Lee finds 'unseen wealth.' <br>--From the Introduction by Heather McHugh
Author Information
Karen An-hwei Lee lives and teaches on the West Coast. Her chapbook of prose poems, God's One Hundred Promises, received the Swan Scythe Press Prize. A regular contributor to literary journals, she has completed several novellas and poetry collections. Her work has won numerous university awards, fellowships, and residencies, including a fellowship from the Yoshiko Uchida Foundation. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing and a Ph.D. In literature.
