I don't think (c) is right, because I read happily and quickly, but I found myself on shaky ground a lot of the time. It was difficult to get a handle on this, either because it's (a) above my intellectual pay-grade, (b) designed to resist easy interpretation, or (c) just not particularly good. It left me wanting to read this book that clearly contained levels I was not able to access in a first reading.Ī challenging but exceptional read that will, I think, stay with me.

I was able to detect themes even when I was not able to really understand what was taking place.įor me, the language in this book was amazing and the narrative passages I understood of great interest. Often the language in this book is fractured, vividly demonstrating the effect displacement and war has had on language.

Tragically, Kyung Cha was murdered (by a stranger) shortly after the publication of this, her major work. The book is a mix of autobiography and history, poetry and narrative. I always am interested in where the two intersect and Hak Kyung Cha was certainly formed in that cauldron. The book is political but also socio-political. The author also recounts her own mother's painful struggle with the effort to keep her language alive, even at the risk of imprisonment. banned the use of Native American languages by Native Americans-always language is a key to identity and Imperialists look to dismantle the identity of the people they colonize. The English did it in their colonies, the U.S. As always with Imperial states, language is a primary site of struggle. Again, language is key as the Japanese forbid Koreans to speak their language. The book is also about Korea's struggle for independence, recounting the story of young Korean woman's brief life as a revolutionary. This is demonstrated (in part) through a series of mock language lessons. The book is, about other things, her struggle with identity as a Korean-American. Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was born in Korea during the Korean War and moved to the United States with her parents.

So, even though I finished it this time, it's clearly a first reading. However, I was frustrated by the fact that there was so much I didn't understand. The language was mesmerizing and (what I was able to understand) was intriguing. I'm sure I haven't read it because I've tried several times (unsuccessfully) in the past to read it.

Dictee novel