Staff Pick
R E D is razor-sharp, so so good, careful it may cut you. Dedicated to survivors of rape, sexual abuse, and domestic violence, the book is an erasure of Dracula by Bram Stoker; by cutting away at a deeply misogynist source text, Berggrun is able to reveal a story where the narrator recovers an "agency stolen from her predecessors" — an erasure that feels particularly loaded with significance when performed by a trans poet upon a canonical text. Recommended By Darla M., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Poetry. R E D is an erasure of Bram Stoker's Dracula. A long poem in 27 chapters, R E D excavates from Stoker's text an original narrative of violence, sexual abuse, power dynamics, vengeance, and feminist rage while wrestling with the complexities of gender, transition, and monsterhood.
Review
"In Berggrun’s striking debut, a book-length erasure of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, that text becomes fertile soil for cultivating complex story of sexual awakening, domestic abuse, and liberation." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Chase Berggrun is a trans poet. They are the author of R E D (Birds, LLC, 2018). Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Lambda Literary Spotlight, Pinwheel, PEN Poetry Series, Sixth Finch, Diagram, The Offing, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. They received their MFA from New York University. They are poetry editor at Big Lucks.