The Ruined Elegance : Poems / Fiona Sze-Lorrain.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sze-Lorrain, Fiona, author.

Series:

Princeton series of contemporary poets.

Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets ; 106

Standardized Title:

Poems. Selections

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English poetry.

Literature, Modern--21st century.

Literature, Modern.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (73 p.)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In her new collection, Fiona Sze-Lorrain offers a nuanced yet dynamic vision of humanity marked by perils, surprises, and the transcendence of a "ruined elegance." Through an intercultural journey that traces lives, encounters, exiles, and memories from France, America, and Asia, the poet explores a rich array of historical and literary allusions to European masters, Asian sources, and American influences. With candor and humor, each lyrical foray is sensitive to silence and experience: "I want to honor / the invisible. I'll use the fog to see white peaches." There are haunting narratives from a World War II concentration camp, the Stalinist Terror, and a persecuted Tibet during the Cultural Revolution. There are also poems that take as their point of departure writings, paintings, sketches, photographs, and music by Gu Cheng, Giorgio Caproni, Bonnard, Hiroshige, Gao Xingjian, Kertész, and Debussy, among others. Grounded in the sensual, these poems probe existential questionings through inspirations from nature and the impermanent earth. Described by the Los Angeles Review of Books as "a high lyricist who refuses to resort to mere lyricism in order to articulate her experience," Sze-Lorrain renews her faith in music and poetic language by addressing the opposing aesthetics of "ruins" and "elegance," and how the experience of both defies judgment.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

I. Wrong Epic

II. In A Godless Time

III. The Book, A Simpler Grave

IV. Caught In Defiance

Notes

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Pilot project,eBook available to selected US libraries only

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9781400873432

1400873436

OCLC:

916920189