Textbooks

Memory, story, impressions, witness, culpability, our very humanness course through this book and strip us, via our interaction, of pretense. The poems are language- and image-driven narratives that present us with deep and abiding love, a need for orienting oneself, for respecting the process of orientation. They also dwell in the instantaneous shifts, the sudden changes that simultaneously jar and reassure us. The dreamy realism of the work grounds. Readers are confronted with the unpredictable inertia of life wherein we are challenged daily to find comfort while constantly orienting ourselves. The messiness and complexities of life are often what can bring the greatest joys. There is nakedness, stripping down of pretense, and a love for the primal, emotionally driven self. Some favorite poems are "Liver of Sulfur," "whatever wilderness contained there," "Arrival: Troy, New York," and the final poem in the collection.

"An expansive, epic love story."--O, The Oprah Magazine

One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years - A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be Black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

At once powerful and tender, Americanah is a remarkable novel that is "dazzling...funny and defiant, and simultaneously so wise." --San Francisco Chronicle

This edition goes beyond others that largely leave readers to their own devices in understanding this cryptic work, by providing an entrée into the text that parallels the traditional Chinese way of approaching it: alongside Slingerland's exquisite rendering of the work are his translations of a selection of classic Chinese commentaries that shed light on difficult passages, provide historical and cultural context, and invite the reader to ponder a range of interpretations. The ideal student edition, this volume also includes a general introduction, notes, multiple appendices--including a glossary of technical terms, references to modern Western scholarship that point the way for further study, and an annotated bibliography.