Jennifer Chang investigates patriarchy, violence, and grief with an unwavering eye, a powerful voice, and a boundless heart.
Sprawling yet urgent, probing yet assured, the poems in Jennifer Chang’s An Authentic Life offer a bold examination of a world deeply influenced by war and patriarchy. In dialogues against literature, against philosophy, and against God, Chang interrogates the “fathers” who stand at the center of history. Poems navigate wounds opened by explorations of family and generational trauma, and draw on the author’s experiences as a mother, as the daughter of immigrants, and as a citizen of our deeply divided nation. Here, the patriarchal violence of history becomes intimate, brought down to a domestic scale. A woman sweeping the floor cannot escape thoughts of war, or her dying mother. In “A Conversation Between Women,” friends sip wine and question the “despite-ness” of love and marriage. In poems where the lyric is reimagined and burst open, Chang fearlessly confronts the patriarchal systems and teachings that once held power. Meticulous and masterful, An Authentic Life seeks a world where women can begin “to unlearn everything,” to reclaim our voices and autonomy and speak.
