The kingdom of surfaces : poems
(Book)
Author
Published
Minneapolis, Minnesota : Graywolf Press, [2023].
ISBN
9781644452370, 1644452375
Physical Desc
126 pages ; 24 cm
Status
Copies
Location | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Bedford - Adult | 811.6/Mao, Sally Wen | On Shelf |
Belmont Beech St. - New Books | 811.6 MAO | On Display 1 |
Lexington - New Books | 811.6 M32ki | Checked Out |
Wellesley - Adult | 811 Mao | On Shelf |
More Details
Published
Minneapolis, Minnesota : Graywolf Press, [2023].
Format
Book
Language
English
ISBN
9781644452370, 1644452375
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-124)
Description
"In The Kingdom of Surfaces, award-winning poet Sally Wen Mao examines art and history--especially the provenance of objects such as porcelain, silk, and pearls--to frame an important conversation on beauty, empire, commodification, and violence. In lyric poems and wide-ranging sequences, Mao interrogates gendered expressions such as the contemporary "leftover women," which denotes unmarried women, and the historical "castle-toppler," a term used to describe a concubine whose beauty ruins an emperor and his empire. These poems also explore the permeability of object and subject through the history of Chinese women in America, labor practices around the silk loom, and the ongoing violence against Asian people during the COVID-19 pandemic. At its heart, The Kingdom of Surfaces imagines the poet wandering into a Western fantasy, which covets, imitates, and appropriates Chinese aesthetics via Chinamania and the nineteenth-century Aesthetic movement, while perpetuating state violence upon actual lives. The title poem is a speculative recasting of "Through the Looking-Glass," set in a surreal topsy-turvy version of the China-themed 2015 Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala. The Kingdom of Surfaces is a brilliantly conceived call for those who recognize the horrors of American exceptionalism to topple the empire that values capital over lives and power over liberation."--Publisher.
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Citations
APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)
Mao, S. W. (2023). The kingdom of surfaces: poems . Graywolf Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Mao, Sally Wen. 2023. The Kingdom of Surfaces: Poems. Graywolf Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)Mao, Sally Wen. The Kingdom of Surfaces: Poems Graywolf Press, 2023.
MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)Mao, Sally Wen. The Kingdom of Surfaces: Poems Graywolf Press, 2023.
Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.
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