Flèche: Mary Jean Chan (Faber Poetry) - Softcover

Chan, Mary Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571348041 ISBN 13: 9780571348046

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2019

Synopsis

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA POETRY AWARD
POETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION

Flèche (the French word for 'arrow') is an offensive technique commonly used in fencing, a sport of Mary Jean Chan's young adult years, when she competed locally and internationally for her home city, Hong Kong. This cross-linguistic pun presents the queer, non-white body as both vulnerable ('flesh') and weaponised ('flèche'), and evokes the difficulties of reconciling one's need for safety alongside the desire to shed one's protective armour in order to fully embrace the world.

Central to the collection is the figure of the poet's mother, whose fragmented memories of political turmoil in twentieth-century China are sensitively threaded through the book in an eight-part poetic sequence, combined with recollections from Chan's childhood. As complex themes of multilingualism, queerness, psychoanalysis and cultural history emerge, so too does a richly imagined personal, maternal and national biography. The result is a series of poems that feel urgent and true, dazzling and devastating by turns.

About this title

Review:

Sparkling and vulnerable . . . the arrival of an essential new voice., Sarah Howe

Heartbreaking and breathtaking poems . . . beautifully composed on every page., Diva Magazine

Book Description:

Debut collection from prizewinning Hong Kong poet, exploring queerness and post-colonialism.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0571348041
• ISBN 13: 9780571348046
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 88