A Treatise on Stars
 | |
| Author | Mei-mei Berssenbrugge |
|---|---|
| Publisher | New Directions Publishing |
Publication date | February 25, 2020 |
| Pages | 96 |
| Awards | Bollingen Prize |
| ISBN | 978-0811229388 |
| Preceded by | Hello, the Roses |
A Treatise on Stars is a 2020 poetry collection by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, published by New Directions Publishing.[1] Her fourteenth book of poems, it was nominated for several awards and won the Bollingen Prize in 2021.[2]
Content
[edit]The book's poems examine topics such as the environment and the cosmos writ large, with themes regarding human and natural connection, observation and witnessing, and scientific phenomena such as wave–particle duality.
Critical reception
[edit]The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.[3] It was also a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry; the judges called it "a breathtaking record of biological, chemical, and spiritual entanglement."[4] It was a finalist for the PEN/Open Book Award and the Kingsley Tufts Award.[5][6]
Publishers Weekly called it a "searching" poetry collection with "intriguing, beautiful, yet sometimes frustrating poems take shape as explanations that fail, again and again, to explain anything".[7]
AGNI wrote that "in A Treatise on Stars I get the feeling that Berssenbrugge not only know what she’s building, but is aware of something more: the language and the life that thrives around—and precisely because of—this new thing."[8] The Los Angeles Review of Books noted "there is something hopeful about the vast compassion of Berssenbrugge’s poetry and the living connections she gently illuminates between all things."[9] The Poetry Project said "Within these poems, every thing is touching every other thing, more like processes imbricated, ecologies extending into one another, dimensions porous."[10] Southwest Contemporary said "Throughout the book, extended serial poems move across the page in quietly powerful long lines, resulting in a hypnotic affect. The reading experience is so trance-like and meditative that it’s easy to overlook the book’s investigations into larger questions of existence."[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Berssenbrugge, Mei-mei (February 25, 2020). A Treatise on Stars. New Directions Publishing. ISBN 978-0811229388.
- ^ "Mei-mei Berssenbrugge". The Bollingen Prize for Poetry. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ Hart, Michelle (2021-06-11). "Here Are the Winning Books of the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes". Oprah Daily. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ "A Treatise on Stars". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ "Announcing the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists". PEN America. 2021-02-10. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ "CGU Announces Finalists in the 2021 Kingsley & Kate Tufts Poetry Awards ·Claremont Graduate University". Claremont Graduate University. 2021-03-19. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ "A Treatise on Stars by Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ Corfman, S. Brook (2020-11-17). "Out of Uncertainty, Openness: On Mei-mei Berssenbrugge's Empathy and A Treatise on Stars". AGNI Online. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ Lee, Joanna (2020-09-21). "Cosmic Travel: On Mei-mei Berssenbrugge's "A Treatise on Stars"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ Zimmerman, Chloe. "A Treatise on Stars by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge". The Poetry Project. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ Jansen, Steve (2021-11-16). "Book Review: A Treatise on Stars by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge". Southwest Contemporary. Retrieved 2024-11-10.