Chin, Marilyn

Rhapsody in Plain Yellow: Poems

ISBN: 9780393324532
New York, NY, USA: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002. First Softcover Edition. Softcover. Inscribed, signed & dated by Marilyn Chin to Laurence Goldstein. "A fusion of East and West, high culture and popular culture, ancient Chinese history and the American present. Rhapsody in Plain Yellow is a collection of songs that dance across the terrain of emotional nuance and postmodern experimentation: from homages to Li Po to polyphonic samplings of Emily Dickinson, Marilyn Chin tells of the trials of immigration, of exile, of thwarted interracial love, and of social injustice. Some poems recall the Confucian "Book of Songs," while others echo the African American blues tradition and Western railroad ballads. Personal revelations open up to a universal cry for compassion and healing in this powerful and elegant collection- sophisticated yet moving, hard-hitting yet refined." (from back cover) The third collection of poems by Marilyn Chin (b. 1955), the acclaimed & award-winning Chinese-American poet, author & activist. Trade-format softcover, first softcover edition, "First Edition" as stated at copyright page, first printing though not specified thereon. From the collection of Laurence Goldstein (1943-2023), the esteemed American poet, film critic, editor & academician here at the University of Michigan. At title page, Chin has has hand-written, signed & dated in black felt-tip ink: "For/ Larry!/ who loves/ Marilyn!/ with love/ and wild tales!/ Love(?)/ (signed) Marilyn Chin/ March/ 119." We cannot explain the enigmatic "119" below the month. An essential, exemplary Chin collectible in its penultimately rarest contemporary form, greatly enhanced with her most-affectionate poet-to-poet inscription, signature & (puzzling) date; with distinguished association & provenance. In relatively quite fine-to-very-fine condition with only a touch of rubbing, faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same. Interior fine-to-very-fine with some significant bleeding of inscription at recto title page onto verso copyright page & very slightly onto recto next leaf (dedication page); address (Chin's?) hand-written in black ink at blank upper right margin of verso final leaf; tiny bumps at corners of a few page leaves. Fine-Very Fine. [Item #8835]

Price: $35.00