{"product_id":"fleche-paperback","title":"Flèche - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMary Jean Chan\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePOETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eFl che\u003c\/i\u003e (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 ('\u003ci\u003efl che\u003c\/i\u003e'), 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMary Jean Chan\u003c\/b\u003e grew up in Hong Kong and studied at Swarthmore College, the University of Oxford and Royal Holloway, University of London. Her debut pamphlet, \u003ci\u003eA Hurry of English\u003c\/i\u003e, was selected as the 2018 Poetry Book Society Summer Pamphlet Choice. In 2017, Chan's poem '\/\/' was shortlisted for the 2017 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. She is a Ledbury Poetry Critic, editor of \u003ci\u003eOxford Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e, advisory board member at the Poetry Translation Centre and member of the Folio Prize Academy. She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Oxford Brookes University and lives in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 88\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.3 x 8 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 31, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47351463969017,"sku":"9780571348046","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/L1ViTzZHNUhnZ05wcjJya1BKS1IvUT09.webp?v=1769800350","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/fleche-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}