With My Back to the World
{{Infobox book
| author = Victoria Chang
| isbn = 978-0374611132
| pub_date = April 2, 2024
| name = With My Back to the World
| publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux
| genre = Poetry, ekphrastic poetry, prose poetry, experimental poetry
| preceded_by = The Trees Witness Everything
| pages = 112
| awards = Forward Prize for Best Collection
| image = "With_My_Back_to_the_World"_by_Victoria_Chang_Book_Cover.png
}}
{{Short description|2024 poetry collection by Victoria Chang}}
With My Back to the World is a 2024 poetry collection by American poet Victoria Chang, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Many of the poems, including the one for which the book is named, are titled after works of art by American painter Agnes Martin.{{Cite book |last=Chang |first=Victoria |title=With My Back to the World |date=April 2, 2024 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year= |isbn=978-0374611132}} The book won the Forward Prize for Best Collection.{{Cite news |last=Knight |first=Lucy |date=2024-10-10 |title=Forward poetry prize goes to Victoria Chang for collection inspired by painter Agnes Martin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/10/forward-poetry-prize-winners-victoria-chang-marjorie-lofti-cindy-juyoung-ok-leyla-josephine |access-date=2024-10-29 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
Content
Chang conceived of the book after the Museum of Modern Art commissioned her to write a poem about a work of art which the museum featured. Chang chose On a Clear Day by Martin, which is included in the book, and decided to base a whole poetry collection of Martin's work henceforth. In observing Chang's relationship to Martin's work, World Literature Today compared Chang's conceit with Fred Moten's idea of ekphrastic translation, in which an ekphrastic work seeks to reach the essence of its point of inspiration rather than superficially mimicking the original work itself.{{Cite web |title=With My Back to the World: Poems by Victoria Chang |url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2024/july/my-back-world-poems-victoria-chang |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=World Literature Today |language=en}} Many of the book's poems were also arranged in juxtaposition with visual media, such as early drafts and images, in the style of On Kawara, while others involve the form of erasure poetry and prose poetry.{{Cite web |last=Nevins |first=Jake |date=2024-04-10 |title=How the Work of Agnes Martin Inspired Victoria Chang's New Book of Poems |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/literature/how-the-work-of-agnes-martin-inspired-victoria-chang-book-of-poems |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=Interview Magazine |language=en-US}}
The poems themselves span themes of language, loneliness, depression, Asian American womanhood, and current events such as the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings. Several of the poems have appeared in other publications. "Night Sea, 1963" appeared in The New Yorker.{{Cite news |last=Chang |first=Victoria |date=2024-01-15 |title=“Night Sea, 1963” |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/22/night-sea-1963-victoria-chang-poem |access-date=2024-10-29 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}} "Drift of Summer, 1965", "Friendship, 1963", and "On a Clear Day" appeared in The Atlantic.{{Cite web |last=Chang |first=Victoria |date=2024-03-31 |title=Drift of Summer, 1965 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/03/poem-victoria-chang-drift-summer-1965/677934/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Chang |first=Victoria |date=2023-10-04 |title=On a Clear Day |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/victoria-chang-poem/675442/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}}{{Cite web |last=Chang |first=Victoria |date=2023-03-19 |title=Friendship, 1963 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/03/poem-victoria-chang-friendship-1963/673380/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} "Play, 1966" appeared in Los Angeles Times and The New Republic.{{Cite web |last=Chang |first=Victoria |date=2024-03-20 |title=“Is it possible to write down how we feel without betraying our feelings?” Victoria Chang asks |url=https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/image/story/2024-03-20/victoria-chang-poem-from-with-my-back-to-the-world |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |title=Play, 1966 |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/178492/play-1966 |access-date=2024-10-29 |work=The New Republic |issn=0028-6583}} "Grass, 1967" appeared in The Bitter Southerner and Poets.org.{{Cite web |title=Grass, 1967 |url=https://bittersoutherner.com/poetry/2024/grass-1967-victoria-chang |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=THE BITTER SOUTHERNER |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Poets |first=Academy of American |title=Grass, 1967 by Victoria Chang - Poems {{!}} Academy of American Poets |url=https://poets.org/poem/grass-1967 |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=Poets.org |language=en}} "Untitled IX, 1982" appeared in Guernica.{{Cite web |last=Chang |first=Victoria |date=2023-06-05 |title=Untitled IX, 1982 |url=https://www.guernicamag.com/untitled-ix-1982/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=Guernica |language=en-US}}
Critical reception
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly wrote that "These elegiac poems thoughtfully balance the head and the heart."{{Cite web |date= |title=With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374611132 |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}
World Literature Today called the book "psychologically astute and generous in its focused attention on the work of another artist."{{Cite web |title=With My Back to the World: Poems by Victoria Chang |url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2024/july/my-back-world-poems-victoria-chang |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=World Literature Today |language=en}} The Harvard Review wrote that "The book brims with questions and conjecture, and Chang invites readers to query depression, grief, and the purpose of art."{{Cite web |last=Shanosky |first=Celine |title=With My Back to the World |url=https://www.harvardreview.org/book-review/with-my-back-to-the-world/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=Harvard Review |language=en-US}} The Asian Review of Books called it "Introspective, complex and experimental" and said the poems "reveal vulnerability and emotional honesty found in the creative process of making art and of poetry."{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Jennifer |date=2024-10-04 |title=“With My Back to the World: Poems” by Victoria Chang |url=https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/with-my-back-to-the-world-poems-by-victoria-chang/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |language=en-US}}
Isaac Fitzgerald, in an April 2024 list for Today, called the book a best read for National Poetry Month.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-11 |title=What to read this April, according to author Isaac Fitzgerald |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/books/best-books-april-2024-rcna146074 |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}