Feather Coat

Abstract

I take up the ancient Chinese folk story “Zhu-Qing,” told to me by my mother when I was a child and its story of a magical robe that I imaginatively came to remember as a feather coat. Whoever would put on this black feather coat would leave behind their earthly limitations and become a crow, flying high into the sky. I translate “Zhu-Qing” into American English and create two sagas of contemporary Chinese women who are transformed by the feather coat,” Celery Seed and Carrot Blossom” and “Flower with No Fragrance.” In “Underneath the Feather Coat,” I recount my research into “Zhu-Qing” and the volume of “strange” stories in which it was initially collected and consider the transformative effects of magic and fantasy.