In Praise of Fragments

by Meena Alexander (Author, Illustrator), Leah Suffrant (Afterword)

In Praise of Fragments, the last book from internationally acclaimed poet Meena Alexander, who passed away in late 2018 collects various and inter-related works, including a sequence of poems written about Venetian Jewish poet Sarra Copia Sulam (1592-1641), lyric essays about Venice, a suite of poems about Hyderabad, where Alexander lived for many years, and a series of brief sketches of memoir about her childhood in Kerala, the subject of her groundbreaking memoir Fault Lines. The writings are accompanied by a series of sumi ink drawings by Alexander and an afterword by Leah Suffrant.

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2020

About the author

Meena Alexander was an internationally acclaimed poet, scholar, and writer. Born in Allahabad, India, and raised in India and Sudan, Alexander lived and worked in New York City, where she was Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College and at the CUNY Graduate Center in the PhD program in English. She was the author of numerous collections of poetry, literary memoirs, essays, and works of fiction and literary criticism.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Karla Strand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published since her untimely passing in 2018, this is Meena Alexander’s last collection of works. It’s in these lyric fragments that the reader will discover the beautiful whole.

[Meher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fragment to mean disturbed, interrupted, broken, half-remembered, snapshot, cut and pasted, sutured, a life lived and revisited.

A stunning work, a poet looking back crafting a narrative.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This falls in the category of poetry I don't feel smart enough for. It was challenging at times, some of it I didn't get, sometimes I felt like the poetry dunce. And yet it spoke to me. There were moments of real clarity here and there's a lot to this one. Even if it is confusing, even if it doesn't go in a straight line, it's still a really interesting read and well worth reflecting on. It made me want to read more of her stuff...this is my first...and it also made me wary that her stuff may continue to be confusing. Confusing isn't necessarily bad.

[Cody Stetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think In Praise of Fragments is a tremendous collection, working through the interweavings of place, memory, longing, and becoming with the waning tides of grief and sorrow.

Some of my favorite lines were,

"If any gods were watching
my brazenness would be punished.

But for now,
in this godless domain,
let us discuss the
inadequacies of the soul."

and

"Beautiful things summon ruin."