In the foreword to Li-Young Lee's first book, Rose (BOA Editions,
1986), Gerald Stern wrote, "What characterizes Li-Young Lee's poetry is
a certain kind of humility, a kind of cunning, a love of plain speech, a
search for wisdom and understanding. . . . I think we are in the
presence of a true spirit." Poetry lovers agree! Rose has gone on to
sell more than eighty thousand copies, and Li-Young Lee has become one
of the country's most beloved poets.
Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee is a
collection of the best dozen interviews given by Li-Young Lee over the
past twenty years. From a twenty-nine-year-old poet prodigy to a
seasoned veteran in high demand for readings and appearances across the
United States and abroad, these interviews capture Li-Young Lee at
various stages of his artistic development. He not only discusses his
family's flight from political oppression in China and Indonesia, but
how that journey affected his poetry and the engaging, often painful,
insights being raised a cultural outsider in America afforded him. Other
topics include spirituality (primarily Christianity and Buddhism) and a
wide range of aesthetic topics such as literary influences, his own
writing practices, the role of formal and informal education in becoming
a writer, and his current life as a famous and highly sought-after
American poet.
