Reviewers
have praised the exciting combination of passion,
wisdom, and historical perspective present in this new
poetry collection by Vera Schwarcz. Sam Hamill writes
as follows: "These deceptively simple, direct poems
are 'organic' in the best sense, drawing deeply from
roots in Jewish, Chinese, and other ancient traditions
and arising as naturally as a deep breath at the first
light of dawn. They are a pleasure." And Charles Ades
Fishman adds this: "Vera Schwarcz's words are precise
brushstrokes that reveal and illuminate what she
loves, celebrates, mourns, and desires. For this
poet, the past does not recede into the realm of
forgotten history but rushes forward into the present.
In this engaging and elegant book, Schwarcz wields the
'chisel of remembrance' that, delicately, delicately,
finds its way to what is sacred, necessary, and---in
the right hands---lasting." Stanley Moss finds the
work of Schwarcz to be "poetry of a very high order,
simultaneously informed by English, Chinese,
Hungarian, Romanian, German, Hebrew, and Jewish
religious tradition. I place English first only
because the book is written in English. But I hear
Chinese, a language I do not know, as dominant while
post-Holocaust emotion is ever-present... This
politically charged poetry with its abhorrence of
suffering also teaches a profound love of
nature, while providing the simple pleasures Auden
required." And this from Michele F. Cooper: "Into the
corpus of Vera Schwarcz's shimmering poetry and
meditations comes this outstanding book of new
poems, Chisel of Remembrance, which offers the reader
a combination telescope/microscope as the poet ponders
Chinese, Jewish, and personal culture. Again and again
it offers lines I want to read aloud, enjoying their
chemical mix of feeling and intellect. You never know
what's around the next corner: an art collector,
blinded clocks, wild chirping, alphabets, cherry bark,
date fronds, the scent of peace, or Confucius
himself... This bright and eloquent book will keep
Vera Schwarcz in the light for many years." 
"Well
written, carefully structured, and beautifully focused on the
importance and values associated with memory and remembering.
Vera Schwarcz emphasizes the interest in exploring a garden
whose materiality has been lost but whose spirit endures, and
does so creatively and with grace."¡XPeter Jacobs, University of
Montreal
The Singing Crane Garden in northwest Beijing has a history dense with classical artistic vision, educational experimentation, political struggle, and tragic suffering. Built by the Manchu prince Mianyu in the mid-nineteenth century, the garden was intended to serve as a refuge from the clutter of daily life near the Forbidden City. In 1860, during the Anglo-French war in China, the garden was destroyed. One hundred years later, in the 1960s, the garden served as the "oxpens," where dissident university professors were imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. Peaceful Western involvement began in 1986, when ground was broken for the Arthur Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology. Completed in 1993, the Museum and the Jillian Sackler Sculpture Garden stand on the same grounds today.
In Place and Memory in the Singing Crane Garden, Vera Schwarcz gives voice to this richly layered corner of China's cultural landscape. Drawing upon a range of sources from poetry to painting, Schwarcz retells the garden's complex history in her own poetic and personal voice. In her exploration of cultural survival, trauma, memory, and place, she reveals how the garden becomes a vehicle for reflection about both history and language.
Encyclopedic in conception and artistic in execution, Place and Memory in the Singing Crane Garden is a powerful work that shows how memory and ruins can revive the spirit of individuals and cultures alike.
