Hags

by Jenny Zhang

"These hags, these great beauties, these mermaids who taunt, who feast, who slash, who steal, these succubae who cannot rest, my mothers, my sisters, my unborn friends, my keepers, my guardians": Powerhouse Jenny Zhang on identity, love, art, and living with rage.

Genres: Poetry, Essays, Nonfiction, Memoir, Short Stories, Asian American, Womens

24 pages, Pamphlet

First published July 1, 2014

About the author

Jenny Zhang is an American writer, poet, and prolific essayist based in Brooklyn, New York. One focus of her work is on the Chinese American immigrant identity and experience in the United States. She has published a collection of poetry called Dear Jenny, We Are All Find and a non-fiction chapbook called Hags.

Reviews

[Carrie Lorig · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH GOD DID I LOVE THIS OH GOD DID I WISH IT WAS A LONGER / CUCUMBER THAT I COULD CONSUME

[Taube · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I'm editing a memoir for an eighty-six-year-old woman who once slapped her crotch and said, I'd rather have a couple of bad fucks than work a job I hate for five minutes."

(And that's just the first sentence.)

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit, this is so. fucking. good. I mean, by now most of the literary world knows of Jenny Zhang's wit, clarity, and subtlety – but this chap will still stun you into silence. Buy two copies, because I guarantee you'll want to share this with everyone you know.

[Rachel Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

in love with everything i read by Jenny Zhang

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Zhang's poetry collection, Dear Jenny, We Are All Find, this little essay skitters around in ways both unsettlingly wild and thoughtfully provocative. Topics include: editing an elderly woman's memoir, childhood thoughts on fame, Asian American gymnast Amy Chow, Isaac Babel, farting, Senator Wendy Davis's 11-hour filibuster, adult diapers, and "the other tongue." These topics shine brightly for their respective moments before segueing into the next. It's like one crazy beautiful mash-up of an essay.

[py · Rating 5 out of 5]

every sentence in this piece hits hard, i wanted to re-read each paragraph and each page almost as soon as i finished it and sometimes before i even got to the end, the anger in this piece is palpable 11/10

[KC]

This was stupid.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I open this up I'm sucked in again.

"I know I am not the first woman to ask this, but how can I be both damaged and heroic? Both damaged and lovable? How do I become the protagonist of the story?

Dead white guys and not-dead not-white guys hate it when you dismiss revered works of art and literature by saying, Uggggggh. I hate this.

And give no reason why at all.

If I live to a hundred, do I really have to spend 85 or more of those years explaining why I don't like this?"

That's an excerpt between particulars -- a re-telling of a Babel story in which a woman gets raped and it's treated as nothing; a personal narrative about the author and her brother.

I'd read so much more of this! A full-length book!

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 5 out of 5]

SOOOOO GOOD. Found this little gem in City Lights on vacation and it was burned into my cortex. Evocative, brilliant, etc.

[mads · Rating 5 out of 5]

god this read was an incredible one. i didn't want it to end. my favorite quote:

"I used to hold in my farts in public until I could find a large
white man to covertly let them out next to. They’ll think it’s
me, my boyfriend used to say. Well good, I said. Would it have
been too on the nose, too victim-y, for me to have pointed
out back then, or what about now, that I am blamed all the
time? My theory is weak. I am either stupid or lazy or both."

but truly, it was hard to choose just one.

i love jenny zhangs writing (crass and humorous and real) and how the thoughts kind of jump from one to the next in a quick motion. its strangely seamless and easy to follow because you can definitely read what leads one point (or thought) to the next.

anyway, i want more. the ONLY good thing about how short this was is that i'll prolly be able to comfortably read it a dozen more times.

[Sofia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nicely presented stuff in here about the weird, unacknowledged anim(al)isms amongst male society.

Otherwise, whilst I suppose excessive pride-signalling may be psychologically and socially helpful in certain contexts, I can't help but feel that there's a healthier, more powerful way of doing that than what seems to be the vogue.

[Chun Ying · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something about this is just a bit too easy lol

p.s. i don't think the primary impression of 冥婚 (minghun, not "minghung") for those of us who are familiar with the culture is the way it's portrayed in this lol

I just feel like sometimes materials are used and kind of skewed in service what whatever the author wants to convey, but then it can be argued it's interpreted personally so yeah

[Tai · Rating 3 out of 5]

i actually liked this a lot more than i thought i would, considering my previous experiences with reading zhang's poetry.

[Nat H · Rating 5 out of 5]

why isn't it longer!!!!!!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool nonfiction chapbook

[Cassie Fleurs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soo good, it feel like one long great conversation of a friend being complete raw and vulnerable about the female experience

[Angharad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible

[paloma]

💣

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

masterpiece

[jiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

[Alex Borden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is exceptionally great.

[caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Viv · Rating 5 out of 5]

BROOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those I devour knowing I will read it again very soon.

[Noa Zapin · Rating 4 out of 5]

hags is an art form

[Sophia Steiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In my diary, I wrote, I’m so afraid someone is gonna give me a Grammy. What if a famous music producer walks past my house and hears me singing and becomes obsessed with me and makes me into a huge pop star and because of my music, millions of people decide that life IS worth it, and I am basically responsible for the continuation of humanity, and I win all these Grammys and even though my real passion is writing poetry, I will have to keep singing . . . for humanity? How could I turn my back to mankind like that?"

[shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fifth star is for the physical beauty of this gem.