Synopses & Reviews
“Lee’s strange and gemological arrangements are the measure of her gift. . . .”—from the Foreword by Heather McHugh
In the form of an eccentric dictionary, this debut brings to mind the long poems of Anne Carson. In compressed and oddly slanted “definitions,” Lee’s poems move through the alphabet in an attempt to limn the border between language and spirit. In Medias Res is an investigation into how God hides in language.
Review
"Karen Lee's In Medias Resis an étude on blindness and enlightenment....Its taxonomic daring is vintage Stein....Lee's strange and gemological arrangements [are] the measure of her gift: the book as a whole seeks to find words for a woman's loss of her sight, and the human capacity to make sense of the patterns and accidents of life....Best of all, Lee has a fine paronomastic flair. She highlights but does not belabor the affinities between words....Where other might find 'blind fortune,' Lee finds 'unseen wealth.'"
From the Introduction by Heather McHugh
Synopsis
Chosen by Heather McHugh as winner of the 2003 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry
About the Author
Karen An-hwei Lee lives and teaches on the West Coast. Her chapbook of prose poems, God's One Hundred Promises, received the Swan Scythe Press Prize. A regular contributor to literary journals, she has completed several novellas and poetry collections. Her work has won numerous university awards, fellowships, and residencies, including a fellowship from the Yoshiko Uchida Foundation. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing and a Ph.D. In literature.