★ 08/20/2018
Yoon recasts narratives of the Korean “comfort women” held captive under Japanese occupation during WWII in this devastating debut comprising persona poems. Born in 1991, the year former comfort women came forward for the first time, Yoon preempts potential criticisms of appropriation in her brief introduction. “I’d like my poetry to serve to amplify and speak these women’s stories, not speak for them,” she writes. And to her credit, she does, in these well-researched, clear expressions spoken in the voices of women “drafted” into service, forced to take Japanese names, raped, tortured, and murdered: “I told him/ I did not understand his order/ and his kind of factory and he laughed/ Girls arrived got sick pregnant injected/ with so many drugs nameless animals/ exploded on top of us.” Reused condoms and discarded infants, syphilis and the sick buried alive blend into the chauvinism of U.S. soldiers who would arrive for the next phase of war. Yoon also delves into personal, lived difficulties of immigration: “Bell Theory” invents a music from the cruelty and love embedded in language, while “Time, in Whales” sees another endangered species “detect where one/ another comes from/ through song.” Yoon’s is a brave new voice that respects how the past informs the present. (Sept.)
A piercing debut collection of poems exploring gender, race, and violence from a sensational new talent.
In her arresting collection, urgently relevant for our times, poet Emily Jungmin Yoon confronts the histories of sexual violence against women, focusing in particular on*Korean*so-called “comfort women,” women who were forced into sexual labor in Japanese-occupied territories during World War II.
In wrenching language, A Cruelty Special to Our Species unforgettably describes the brutalities of war and the fear and sorrow of those whose lives and bodies were swept up by a colonizing power, bringing powerful voice to an oppressed group of people whose histories have often been erased and overlooked. “What is a body in a stolen country,” Yoon asks. “What is right in war.”
Moving readers through time, space, and different cultures, and bringing vivid life to the testimonies and confessions of the victims,Yoon takes possession of a painful and shameful history even while unearthing moments of rare beauty in acts of resistance and resilience, and in the instinct to survive and bear witness.
This debut poetry collection by Emily Jungmin Yoon is a powerful exploration of gender, race, and violence, with a particular focus on the experiences of Korean comfort women during World War II.
A Cruelty Special to Our Species is a must-read for anyone interested in feminist literature and the impact of war on women's lives.
HarperCollins 2024
A piercing debut collection of poems exploring gender, race, and violence from a sensational new talent.
In her arresting collection, urgently relevant for our times, poet Emily Jungmin Yoon confronts the histories of sexual violence against women, focusing in particular on*Korean*so-called “comfort women,” women who were forced into sexual labor in Japanese-occupied territories during World War II.
In wrenching language, A Cruelty Special to Our Species unforgettably describes the brutalities of war and the fear and sorrow of those whose lives and bodies were swept up by a colonizing power, bringing powerful voice to an oppressed group of people whose histories have often been erased and overlooked. “What is a body in a stolen country,” Yoon asks. “What is right in war.”
Moving readers through time, space, and different cultures, and bringing vivid life to the testimonies and confessions of the victims,Yoon takes possession of a painful and shameful history even while unearthing moments of rare beauty in acts of resistance and resilience, and in the instinct to survive and bear witness.
This debut poetry collection by Emily Jungmin Yoon is a powerful exploration of gender, race, and violence, with a particular focus on the experiences of Korean comfort women during World War II.
A Cruelty Special to Our Species is a must-read for anyone interested in feminist literature and the impact of war on women's lives.
HarperCollins 2024
A Cruelty Special to Our Species: Poems
A Cruelty Special to Our Species: Poems
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940173659057 |
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Publisher: | HarperCollins |
Publication date: | 09/18/2018 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |