Flèche
Author | : Mary Jean Chan |
Publisher | : Faber & Faber |
Total Pages | : 101 |
Release | : 2019-07-02 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780571348053 |
ISBN-13 | : 057134805X |
Rating | : 4/5 (53 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Much like the fencer who must constantly read and respond to her opponent's tactics during a fencing bout, this debut collection by Mary Jean Chan deftly examines relationships at once conflictual and tender.Flèche (the French word for 'arrow') is an offensive technique commonly used in épée, a competitive sport of the poet's teenage and young adult years. This cross-linguistic pun presents the queer, non-white body as both vulnerable ('flesh') and weaponised ('flèche') in public and private spaces. Themes of multilingualism, queerness, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis and cultural history emerge by means of an imagined personal, maternal and national biography, spoken by a polyphony of female voices. The result is a series of poems that are urgent and hard-hitting as Chan keeps her readers on their toes, dazzling and devastating them by turn.