John Yau

Radiant Silhouette: New and Selected Work, 1974-1988 John Yau N edition

Critics view Radiant Silhouette as a critical point in the career of acclaimed author John Yau. Publishers Weekly, for example, has recently remarked that "[Yau's poems] churn along with the bright inventiveness that ha[s] characterized his work . . . since the selected Radiant Silhouette from 1990." The inventiveness in question is one borne of an ethnic background that is at the fore in the work of Yau.



Radiant Silhouette created the buzz about John Yau, and it is worth seeing what in turn created that title: the celebrated poems herein plumb the rejections, joys and confusions of growing up Chinese-American, and they are essential reading for any American, Chinese- or not, in today's America, more a melting pot than ever.