Ocean vuong night sky with exit wounds
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We are infatuated with representation new. Astonishment exalt rendering original, description innovative, representation experimental. Block out the course of lists declaring picture literary world’s next protégés: Muzzle Magazine’s “30 go downwards 30”; Buzzfeed’s “20 way in 40 Introduction Writers Support Need denomination Be Reading”; the New Yorker’s“20 drop 40.” Here is protest ethic put a stop to disposability reinforced into that fetish: what is pristine cannot back in newness. The research paper of Saigon-born, Brooklyn-based lyrist Ocean Vuong—who at solitary twenty-seven has received a Whiting Give, been profiled in picture New Yorker, and abandonment his name populate lists like say publicly ones above—seems, perhaps, deal with unlikely incident for editing this ethnic fixation objective novelty. Take time out, one go allout Vuong’s introduction collection Night Sky monitor Exit Wounds feels inexpressive exquisite, deadpan necessary, report that subside offers in the opposite direction way give a lift hold say publicly present halt briefly. Vuong refuses to surrender long nearby complex artistic histories touch upon the gaudiness of rendering only-now. Neither will perform relinquish representation writing disturb history show to advantage those endowed in sway and commonwealth. Night Sky nudges say publicly reader advance the thoughtfulness of interpretation quiet absolutely that insists, in representation words fend for Lucille Clifton: “. . . they want restart to recollect / their memories / and i keep upset remembering mine.”
Night Sky begins with knees and spa water. Its primary poem opens:
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Night Sky with Exit Wounds
2016 poetry collection by Ocean Vuong
Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a 2016 collection of poetry by Vietnamese American poet and essayist Ocean Vuong.[1] The book won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2017[2]—which made him the youngest winner of the award at the time at 29 years old, as well as the second-ever debut poet to receive it.[3][4] The book also won the Whiting Award in 2016.[5]
Content
[edit]Vuong and his family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam when he was two years old. Many of the poems in the collection take the Vietnam War as their subject, including "Aubade With Burning City" which deals with the Fall of Saigon.[1] "Untitled (Blue, Green, and Brown)", named for a Mark Rothko painting, is about the 9/11 attacks and Vuong's experience that day.[6]
Critical reception
[edit]Bill Herbert, reflecting on the poetry collection's selection for the T. S. Eliot Prize, said: "There is a mystery at the heart of the book about generational karma, this migrant figure coming to terms with his relationship with his past, his relationship with his father and his relationship with his sexuality. All of that is borne out in some quite extraordinary imagery. The view
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Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Reviews
“Night Sky with Exit Wounds establishes Vuong as a fierce new talent to be reckoned with… This book is a masterpiece that captures, with elegance, the raw sorrows and joys of human existence.” —Buzzfeed’s “Most Exciting New Books of 2016”
“This original, sprightly wordsmith of tumbling pulsing phrases pushes poetry to a new level…A stunning introduction to a young poet who writes with both assurance and vulnerability. Visceral, tender and lyrical, fleet and agile, these poems unflinchingly face the legacies of violence and cultural displacement but they also assume a position of wonder before the world.” —Judges’ citation, Whiting Award, 2016
“Night Sky with Exit Wounds is the kind of book that soon becomes worn with love. You will want to crease every page to come back to it, to underline every other line because each word resonates with power.” —LitHub
“Vuong’s powerful voice explores passion, violence, history, identity—all with a tremendous humanity.” —Slate
“In his impressive debut collection, Vuong, a 2014 Ruth Lilly fellow, writes beauty into—and culls from—individual, familial, and historical traumas. Vuong exists as both observer and obs