Mad Science in Imperial City

Poetry. Prose. Asian American Studies. "MAD SCIENCE IN IMPERIAL CITY is propelled by the personal loss and trauma Shanxing Wang experienced during the political turbulence of the 1980s which culminated in the 1989 tragedy at Tiananmen Square. From this personal experience, Wang has created a work of art-in-language which breaks new territories of poetic form. The central urgency of Wang's work is a fractured personal and ideological loss; mirroring this, the work manufactures its own form on the page as a broken narrative. Like Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Wang's work materializes the shattered effects of cultural history on the mind of the poet who is trying to piece his life together in its devastating and unresolved wake."—Kristin Prevallet