Barbie Chang
Barbie Chang by Victoria Chang, published by Copper Canyon Press in 2017, is a collection of 99 pages that delves into themes of racial prejudice, sexual privilege, and the disillusionment of love. Through the lens of a reimagined Barbie, the book presents a nuanced exploration of the American dream, highlighting the contrasts between cultural ideals and personal realities. The work showcases Chang’s command of poetic syntax and her ability to weave humor and social commentary into a cohesive narrative.
Readers will find an energetic string of linked poems that feature a voice both playful and incisive, as Barbie Chang navigates her identity as a disillusioned Asian-American suburbanite. The collection employs wordplay and biting observations, revealing the complexities of self-perception and societal expectations. With a focus on the interplay between silence and expression, this edition invites readers to engage with the layered experiences of its speaker, making it a thought-provoking addition to contemporary poetry.
Official synopsis Publisher
“With astringent understatement and wry economy, with nuance and intelligence and an enviable command of syntax and poetic line, Victoria Chang dissects the venerable practices of cultural piety and self-regard. She is a master of the thumbnail narrative. She can wield a dark eroticism. She is determined to tackle subject matter that is not readily subdued to the proportions of lyric. Her talent is conspicuous.”–Linda Gregerson
“Chang’s voice is equal parts searing, vulnerable, and terrified.”–American Poets
Barbie Chang, Victoria Chang explores racial prejudice, sexual privilege, and the disillusionment of love through a reimagining of Barbie–perfect in the cultural imagination yet repeatedly falling short as she pursues the American dream.
This energetic string of linked poems is full of wordplay, humor, and biting social commentary involving the quote-unquote speaker, Barbie Chang, a disillusioned Asian-American suburbanite. By turns woeful and passionate, playful and incisive, these poems reveal a voice insisting that “even silence is not silent.”
From “Barbie Chang Lives”:
Barbie Chang lives on Facebook has
a house on Facebook
street so she can erase herself Facebook
is a country with
no trees it allows her to believe people
love her don’t
want to cover her Barbie Chang . . .
Victoria Chang is the author of three previous poetry books. In 2013, she won the PEN Center USA Literary Award and a California Book Award. Chang teaches poetry at Chapman University and lives in Southern California.
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