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A Doll for Throwing

Bang … draws inspiration from the Bauhaus movement in this book-length sequence of prose poems… Bang … draws inspiration from the Bauhaus movement in this book-length sequence of prose poems. … Bang’s beguiling poems, presented in well-ordered boxes, consider the relationship between the spaces people inhabit and narratives of self, nation, and identity. These carefully constructed and curated rooms display shifting cultural definitions of beauty, efficiency, and order. “It was the façade no self could be without,” she asserts, illuminating how identity develops in response to environment—and its implicit politics. Bang’s impeccable collection reads as a “circular mirror of the social order,” reflecting the historicity of our current moment with wit, subtlety,
and grace.

Publishers Weekly

 

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Bang’s latest book is a lot of things, and it does all of these with adroitness and an impressive depth of consideration,  Bang’s latest book is a lot of things, and it does all of these with adroitness and an impressive depth of consideration. On the surface, it is a veritable exposé of what the prose poem is capable of: the whole book is made up of these delightful containers — representative of the exquisite boxiness of many infamous Bauhaus buildings — and yet because of her treatment of the line within these small boxes, it is never heavy-handed. It is also a wonderful example of how visual art, architecture, and, specifically, modernism, can provide such a rich source for the poetic imagination. Finally — and perhaps above all — A Doll for Throwing is a political statement, returning erased and forgotten names to the forefront of the story, reinserting women into a male-dominated domain while also exploring the impact of these great artistic legacies on our cultural and imaginative traditions. Under her expert poetic gaze, these systems start to undo themselves. And for the better: “the dress is no longer the / thing the future is founded on. You put it on. / You take it off” (31).

Lynley Edmeades, Jacket2

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Reviews

 

“Mary Jo Bang's poetry is vivacious and at the same time mysterious. Its surface glitters with the sparkle that the brightest American writing has always given off, and in the depths it reveals a mixture of smoky, quickly complexities, a blend that is hers alone. Characters are driven to distress or exuberance by the fate she has prepared for them—their stories bloom on the page, ripen strangely, and quickly disappear. I love it."
—John Tranter

Events

 

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Mary Jo Bang and Maria Dahvana Headley discuss their works of translation, PURGATORIO and BEOWULF

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© 2015 by Mary Jo Bang

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