Commons

Fiction & Literature, Poetry
Cover of the book Commons by Myung Mi Kim, University of California Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Myung Mi Kim ISBN: 9780520927841
Publisher: University of California Press Publication: March 4, 2002
Imprint: University of California Press Language: English
Author: Myung Mi Kim
ISBN: 9780520927841
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication: March 4, 2002
Imprint: University of California Press
Language: English

Myung Mi Kim's Commons weighs on the most sensitive of scales the minute grains of daily life in both peace and war, registering as very few works of literature have done our common burden of being subject to history. Abstracting colonization, war, immigration, disease, and first-language loss until only sparse phrases remain, Kim takes on the anguish and displacement of those whose lives are embedded in history.

Kim's blank spaces are loaded silences: openings through which readers enter the text and find their way. These silences reveal gaps in memory and articulate experiences that will not translate into language at all. Her words retrieve the past in much the same way the human mind does: an image sparks another image, a scent, the sound of bombs, or conversation. These silences and pauses give the poems their structure.

*Commons'*s fragmented lyric pushes the reader to question the construction of the poem. Identity surfaces, sinks back, then rises again. On this shifting ground, Kim creates meaning through juxtaposed fragments. Her verse, with its stops and starts, its austere yet rich images, offers splinters of testimony and objection. It negotiates a constantly changing world, scavenging through scraps of experience, spaces around words, and remnants of emotion for a language that enfolds the enormity of what we cannot express.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Myung Mi Kim's Commons weighs on the most sensitive of scales the minute grains of daily life in both peace and war, registering as very few works of literature have done our common burden of being subject to history. Abstracting colonization, war, immigration, disease, and first-language loss until only sparse phrases remain, Kim takes on the anguish and displacement of those whose lives are embedded in history.

Kim's blank spaces are loaded silences: openings through which readers enter the text and find their way. These silences reveal gaps in memory and articulate experiences that will not translate into language at all. Her words retrieve the past in much the same way the human mind does: an image sparks another image, a scent, the sound of bombs, or conversation. These silences and pauses give the poems their structure.

*Commons'*s fragmented lyric pushes the reader to question the construction of the poem. Identity surfaces, sinks back, then rises again. On this shifting ground, Kim creates meaning through juxtaposed fragments. Her verse, with its stops and starts, its austere yet rich images, offers splinters of testimony and objection. It negotiates a constantly changing world, scavenging through scraps of experience, spaces around words, and remnants of emotion for a language that enfolds the enormity of what we cannot express.

More books from University of California Press

Cover of the book The Crime of Nationalism by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Prophets and Patriots by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Edmund Burke and the Conservative Logic of Empire by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Shaping the Sierra by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Biography of an Empire by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Malignant by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Storming the Gates of Paradise by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Performing Piety by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book 1500 California Place Names by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Giraffe Reflections by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book To Life! by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Everyone's a Winner by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Race and Ethnicity in America by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Life Beside Itself by Myung Mi Kim
Cover of the book Criminal Genius by Myung Mi Kim
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy