The Chinese Insomniacs

Of the handful of American poets who have made a contribution to the fields of fiction and literary criticism, Josephine Jacobsen has been one of the most widely acclaimed for the force and originality of her work. In The Chinese Insomniacs, a wholly new collection of her poetry, she reaches her highest level of intensity in poems about people, the landscape of dreams, and the nature of time. She shows us the common bonds of human beings from century to century with an empathetic intelligence that is rare in American letters today.

"Josephine Jacobsen might be considered a poet's poet—meant, in this case, as the highest praise. Both her fiction and poetry give pleasure after countless rereadings; the full worth of her accomplishment has yet to be measured."—Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times