Welcome, my friends, to our Brooklyn College Core 10.01 class blog. Hopefully, this will be a place where we can all learn from one another. Be honest, be inquisitive, be challenging.
The “auto-biography” Dictee is one written using much poetic language, along with story references to portray the experiences and feeling of the author. Much of her writing begs for further interpretation, as it does not openly speak about the topic that the author is referencing. In one such citation, Cha may even directly hint to this style in her writing. Within the section of comedy the text is speaking, once again, in third person about and unnamed character, much like in other parts of the book. At one instance the author writes, “She begins the search the words of equivalence to that of her feeling. Or absence of it. Synonym, simile, metaphor, byword, byname, ghostword, phantomnation. In documenting the map of her journey” (Cha 140). This can be understood in at least three different ways. It can reference a separate character using certain writing techniques, the author using those very same techniques, or the author using specific terms to define deeper experiences in life. In discussion of the third possibility, Cha may have made a clear allusion to not only her writing style but to the message that she tried to convey. The passage begins by describing “her feelings” and following that up by naming a number of literary elements. Each one of these is used as specifically ambiguous and abstract methods or portraying a situation. They all refer to things either similar to or in place of an actual thing that is being described, but not to the thing itself. This technique may be the sign of the author herself being unsure or indefinite, of either her writing or more so her actual life. There is no concrete usage of anything real. The passage between her feelings and these descriptions may further add to this speculation. When describing the character’s search for the equivalent of her feelings, Cha throws in “or absence of it,” which clearly would refer to a state of emotional confusion as one without feelings would experience. At the beginning of the book there was one character mentioned that was apparently in confusion, as she tried to learn a new language, this theme or unfamiliarity may have made its way and manifested itself throughout the autobiography. The fact that this book is an autobiography may also lend itself to this idea. Cha who may or may not be writing about herself in the non-specific character sections certainly speaks about others quite often throughout the book. The use of allusion to the stories that she herself did not experience yet represented her life, are supplementary hints to her style of ambiguity, and may lend themselves as statement by the author that she herself was slightly ignorant in certain situations. Finally Cha drops one more hint as she follows these sentences up with a seemingly unnecessary sentence of, “in documenting the map of her journey.” It seems that Cha may have indeed used these techniques in her writing, while the character is new and her journey is completely unknown to us. Assuming these factors there may be evidence to a deeper reading of not only this section and paragraph, but to many of the sections and stories of the book. The stories may not be able to be taken at face value as it is entirely possible that there is something much deeper and meaningful involved.
“Dead words. Dead tongue. From disuse. Buried in Time’s memory. Unemployed. Unspoken. History. Past. Let the one who is diseuse, one who is mother who waits nine days and nine nights be found. Restore memory. Let the one who is diseuse, one who is daughter restore spring with her each appearance from beneath the earth.
The ink spills thickest before it runs dry before it stops writing at all (Cha, 133).
This passage is from the Lyric Poetry chapter of Dictee. Throughout the novel, Cha plays with the opposing forces of life and death, spring and winter, heaven and hell, lightness and darkness, male and female, yin and yang. She also focuses on language and the silent/speaking binary. At the beginning of Dictee she writes about staying silent, then learning to speak. Cha even writes in French and includes Chinese characters to emphasize the significance of speech. Here she describes language and information that has been forgotten. Cha is referring to ancient Greek mythology in this paragraph. In addition, she has alluded to Demeter and Persephone without naming them outright. By leaving these characters nameless she suppresses or silences language. On the other hand, leaving the Greek mythic figures unnamed allows their relationship to transcend time and apply to other women in the novel.
Cha also sets up a Christianity/non-Christianity binary in her work. Religion is a recurring theme of Dictee, so it is interesting that she juxtaposes Catholicism with Greek mythology. It is important to realize that the ancient Greeks believed in the myths they created; those stories parallel the tales of the Bible. Therefore, readers observe the disparity between ancient Greek religion and more recent religious practices. It is difficult to determine which side of the binary she favors. Cha portrays Christianity in both a positive and negative light when she refers to the martyr Joan of Arc and the required submissiveness of the religion respectively. In this quote, she focuses on the unique mother-daughter bond between Demeter and Persephone. Cha must respect mythology since she organized her book into chapters based on the Greek muses. Perhaps she breaks the religion binary by not favoring one over the other.
There is a strong sense of life/death in this passage. While language is “dead”, “buried”, “unspoken”, and “past”, these terms invoke negative space. To counteract this absence of memory, Demeter will “restore” life when her daughter returns. Persephone’s ascent to earth will bring spring once more. The “ink” seems to represent life-blood. Unfortunately, death overtakes this binary because the passage ends with the figurative pen running out of ink. Maybe Cha sees this as the cycle of life and death rather than a binary. The quote begins with “dead words”, then flows to springtime with Persephone’s return, and then ceases when the writing stops. There is a circular movement to Cha’s writing, which might also indicate the author’s feminism. Writing about Demeter was a great choice since she symbolizes fertility and the life-giving woman. More important than recurring themes is how Cha structures her novel according to her identity as a female, first and foremost.
According to Greek mythology, we rely on the maternal bond for life and light. It is Persephone’s relationship with her mother that is responsible for her return to earth every year. These two female figures are intrinsically linked by eternal ties. Demeter and Persephone need one another or else the continuity of life will be completely disrupted. Maternal love is considered the strongest love that exists, and the structure of the world depends upon it.
We get a glimpse of how Cha values this inexplicable connection to her mother earlier in the novel. On a broader level, this connection can apply to all women. This relationship can even be stretched to indicate the association between a native country and its citizens. The mother country is a nurturing environment that provides a daughter citizen with national, cultural, even religious identity.
Theresa Cha has multiple identities that revolve around each other like concentric circles. Her work has illustrated the journey to discovering every facet of her being. In my opinion, Cha is firstly a woman. Then she is considered Korean-American. Lastly, she is a Christian individual who speaks Korean, English, and French. Perhaps the core, the innermost ring of Cha’s identity can be considered “daughter”.
Writing is an art that many master. The page is a blank canvas, and the author, the artist, does with it what they want. Some may use colorful words, while others may use abstract ideas; this is the art of writing. Each author creates their own masterpiece, unique in its own way, and evoking many different feelings, just like any great art piece might. Dictee, written by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, is a novel that is abstract in thought and gets the mind of the readers working towards a better understanding of the story. On page 75 of Dictee, Cha reinforces what she mentioned at the beginning of the novel. She places an emphasis on language, and how there are physical attributes to writing and speaking. The way she writes about speaking breaks down language to its intricate parts. “One by one. The sounds. The sounds that move at a time stops. Starts again.” The fact that language is expressed to us in this way shows that the author has a close interest in making language seem like an entity of its own. She evokes feelings in us, the readers, of appreciation for language and all its intricate parts. When we first started reading the novel we encountered a part in which the author was waiting for that perfect moment within the pause to speak up. It was a language that she didn’t know very well, so she was waiting, in that silent pause, for that time when she can jump in and speak up. At this point in the novel we encounter something very similar. “ Stop. Start. Starts. Contractions. Noise. Semblance of Noise. Broken Speech. One to one. At a time. Cracked tongue. Broken tongue.” These one word sentences give us the feeling of a constant pause in speech. She says a little, stops, then resumes speech just to stop again within a short while. It is this constant interruption of language, this “broken speech” that she writes about. Towards the beginning of the novel, Cha had mentioned that speech is painful, but the inability to speak is more painful. She also mentioned that speech is power, so if one is capable of speaking they have immense power within their reach. We see this at this point in the novel. Speech, to her, is something, despite its boundaries, that can set you free or keep you bound. It is something that can liberate your soul, or confine you to your own prison, and that is what is so amazing about it. Throughout the novel we have seen that language, especially the language the author has chosen, is very important and is an intricate part of this novel. Not only is it the reason why we can read this novel, but it is also the meaning behind so many of the phrases used. The fact that, throughout the novel, we have encountered so many different languages also shows us the significance of it. Whether the author writes in English, French, Japanese, or Latin, the fact is that they are all languages. They all unite many people, because it is through language that we can communicate and form relationships with those around us. It is a defining characteristic of nations, races, countries, and communities, and Cha acknowledges that. Dictee is an example of what a combination of many ideas, languages and thoughts can do. Speech is a very important aspect of everyday life. It is through speaking that one can get through a workday successfully, through a school day product fully, and through a lifetime as enjoyable as possible. The emphasis placed on speech and writing throughout Dictee shows us just how important they really are, and it allows us to appreciate the fact that we have the ability to possess the power to do anything, because speech is power.
Kozeta Kondakciu Course 10.01 Close reading to Dictee Prof. Hopes 6/27/07 When I read Dictee, the first impressions were completely different from what I usually get from a book. What I mean is in the term of the author’s intention and style. Cha’s intention is to create a world where we can experience and see live situations--her mistaken acquisition of the English language, her country memories, her mother, father, her world, her feelings, politics conflicts between her country and Japanese. Cha begins, “TO MY MOTHER TO MY FATHER”, and our first impression is satisfaction--reading stories for parents always grabs the reader’s attention--,however, it takes a long time to realize that she is keeping that promise, she is really dedicating the book to her parents. But how? Not the way the reader expects-- not narrative, without a line connection and without a beginning, but with emotions. Cha brings first her difficulties in acquiring the English language, and in order to convince the reader for the pain she experienced she provides passages written in French. But we would ask to ourselves, “How can that have a connection with her parents?” But, in fact this is at some extend a fact, that Cha tries to address, she doesn’t forget her identity. Being able to speak English and rejecting Korean won’t be so easy and fast. What we are left from the book is not, in fact, any mother language, and we see no separate, essential, immigrant tradition here in this country America. Cha seems to look at an album of her memories, and put them in words the way they come to her mind--with the fresh emotions and live moments. We are left with our emotions that Cha addresses with a great post impressionist style, where the events speak lively, and the language speaks through the words. The words take the power in Dictee. The first impressions are like we have to do with a chaos of words, and is like the sentences have no grammatical and meaningful power. But in fact, Cha’s intention is not to give power grammatical sentences because that would lose the beauty of her attention. Intentionally, Cha speaks through a language where all the spelling, punctuation, grammatical rules are broken, and rejected; following those rules would let her be silent. No, silence is painful, and this is why we don’t get the idea that Cha delivers incompetence of mastering the language. She is inventing a new American form of literature opening another window in the literature. And Cha resists through the whole book--she does not go outside this style-- and the same manner imposes to the reader--the reader also resists to reading that requires double attention and creativity, dictated to read not in a narrative way; that style is completely destroyed. The picture Dictee brings consists of pieces of events, filled with things like notes, photocopied photographs, and other cultural refuse. These scraps of information refigure "nation" as something complex, multifarious, articulated within and against a colonial tongue and come through a form of language where the power goes to words, emotions, feelings, and identity of the author. However, the book's attention to reading's resistances refuses the dominant culture's desire to fix an immigrant culture and, at the same time, resists the totalizing processes of cultural assimilation. Dictee, in this context, struggles the exceptional structure of America by documenting the constant mixing that defines cultural response.
4 comments:
Marc Gamss
CC 10.01
Professor Hopes
Close Reading: Dictee
The “auto-biography” Dictee is one written using much poetic language, along with story references to portray the experiences and feeling of the author. Much of her writing begs for further interpretation, as it does not openly speak about the topic that the author is referencing. In one such citation, Cha may even directly hint to this style in her writing.
Within the section of comedy the text is speaking, once again, in third person about and unnamed character, much like in other parts of the book. At one instance the author writes, “She begins the search the words of equivalence to that of her feeling. Or absence of it. Synonym, simile, metaphor, byword, byname, ghostword, phantomnation. In documenting the map of her journey” (Cha 140). This can be understood in at least three different ways. It can reference a separate character using certain writing techniques, the author using those very same techniques, or the author using specific terms to define deeper experiences in life.
In discussion of the third possibility, Cha may have made a clear allusion to not only her writing style but to the message that she tried to convey. The passage begins by describing “her feelings” and following that up by naming a number of literary elements. Each one of these is used as specifically ambiguous and abstract methods or portraying a situation. They all refer to things either similar to or in place of an actual thing that is being described, but not to the thing itself. This technique may be the sign of the author herself being unsure or indefinite, of either her writing or more so her actual life. There is no concrete usage of anything real.
The passage between her feelings and these descriptions may further add to this speculation. When describing the character’s search for the equivalent of her feelings, Cha throws in “or absence of it,” which clearly would refer to a state of emotional confusion as one without feelings would experience. At the beginning of the book there was one character mentioned that was apparently in confusion, as she tried to learn a new language, this theme or unfamiliarity may have made its way and manifested itself throughout the autobiography.
The fact that this book is an autobiography may also lend itself to this idea. Cha who may or may not be writing about herself in the non-specific character sections certainly speaks about others quite often throughout the book. The use of allusion to the stories that she herself did not experience yet represented her life, are supplementary hints to her style of ambiguity, and may lend themselves as statement by the author that she herself was slightly ignorant in certain situations.
Finally Cha drops one more hint as she follows these sentences up with a seemingly unnecessary sentence of, “in documenting the map of her journey.” It seems that Cha may have indeed used these techniques in her writing, while the character is new and her journey is completely unknown to us.
Assuming these factors there may be evidence to a deeper reading of not only this section and paragraph, but to many of the sections and stories of the book. The stories may not be able to be taken at face value as it is entirely possible that there is something much deeper and meaningful involved.
CC 10.01 Raquel Arnao
Close reading for Dictee
“Dead words. Dead tongue. From disuse. Buried in Time’s memory. Unemployed. Unspoken. History. Past. Let the one who is diseuse, one who is mother who waits nine days and nine nights be found. Restore memory. Let the one who is diseuse, one who is daughter restore spring with her each appearance from beneath the earth.
The ink spills thickest before it runs dry before it stops writing at all (Cha, 133).
This passage is from the Lyric Poetry chapter of Dictee. Throughout the novel, Cha plays with the opposing forces of life and death, spring and winter, heaven and hell, lightness and darkness, male and female, yin and yang. She also focuses on language and the silent/speaking binary. At the beginning of Dictee she writes about staying silent, then learning to speak. Cha even writes in French and includes Chinese characters to emphasize the significance of speech. Here she describes language and information that has been forgotten. Cha is referring to ancient Greek mythology in this paragraph. In addition, she has alluded to Demeter and Persephone without naming them outright. By leaving these characters nameless she suppresses or silences language. On the other hand, leaving the Greek mythic figures unnamed allows their relationship to transcend time and apply to other women in the novel.
Cha also sets up a Christianity/non-Christianity binary in her work. Religion is a recurring theme of Dictee, so it is interesting that she juxtaposes Catholicism with Greek mythology. It is important to realize that the ancient Greeks believed in the myths they created; those stories parallel the tales of the Bible. Therefore, readers observe the disparity between ancient Greek religion and more recent religious practices. It is difficult to determine which side of the binary she favors. Cha portrays Christianity in both a positive and negative light when she refers to the martyr Joan of Arc and the required submissiveness of the religion respectively. In this quote, she focuses on the unique mother-daughter bond between Demeter and Persephone. Cha must respect mythology since she organized her book into chapters based on the Greek muses. Perhaps she breaks the religion binary by not favoring one over the other.
There is a strong sense of life/death in this passage. While language is “dead”, “buried”, “unspoken”, and “past”, these terms invoke negative space. To counteract this absence of memory, Demeter will “restore” life when her daughter returns. Persephone’s ascent to earth will bring spring once more. The “ink” seems to represent life-blood. Unfortunately, death overtakes this binary because the passage ends with the figurative pen running out of ink. Maybe Cha sees this as the cycle of life and death rather than a binary. The quote begins with “dead words”, then flows to springtime with Persephone’s return, and then ceases when the writing stops. There is a circular movement to Cha’s writing, which might also indicate the author’s feminism. Writing about Demeter was a great choice since she symbolizes fertility and the life-giving woman. More important than recurring themes is how Cha structures her novel according to her identity as a female, first and foremost.
According to Greek mythology, we rely on the maternal bond for life and light. It is Persephone’s relationship with her mother that is responsible for her return to earth every year. These two female figures are intrinsically linked by eternal ties. Demeter and Persephone need one another or else the continuity of life will be completely disrupted. Maternal love is considered the strongest love that exists, and the structure of the world depends upon it.
We get a glimpse of how Cha values this inexplicable connection to her mother earlier in the novel. On a broader level, this connection can apply to all women. This relationship can even be stretched to indicate the association between a native country and its citizens. The mother country is a nurturing environment that provides a daughter citizen with national, cultural, even religious identity.
Theresa Cha has multiple identities that revolve around each other like concentric circles. Her work has illustrated the journey to discovering every facet of her being. In my opinion, Cha is firstly a woman. Then she is considered Korean-American. Lastly, she is a Christian individual who speaks Korean, English, and French. Perhaps the core, the innermost ring of Cha’s identity can be considered “daughter”.
Writing is an art that many master. The page is a blank canvas, and the author, the artist, does with it what they want. Some may use colorful words, while others may use abstract ideas; this is the art of writing. Each author creates their own masterpiece, unique in its own way, and evoking many different feelings, just like any great art piece might. Dictee, written by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, is a novel that is abstract in thought and gets the mind of the readers working towards a better understanding of the story.
On page 75 of Dictee, Cha reinforces what she mentioned at the beginning of the novel. She places an emphasis on language, and how there are physical attributes to writing and speaking. The way she writes about speaking breaks down language to its intricate parts. “One by one. The sounds. The sounds that move at a time stops. Starts again.” The fact that language is expressed to us in this way shows that the author has a close interest in making language seem like an entity of its own. She evokes feelings in us, the readers, of appreciation for language and all its intricate parts.
When we first started reading the novel we encountered a part in which the author was waiting for that perfect moment within the pause to speak up. It was a language that she didn’t know very well, so she was waiting, in that silent pause, for that time when she can jump in and speak up. At this point in the novel we encounter something very similar. “ Stop. Start. Starts. Contractions. Noise. Semblance of Noise. Broken Speech. One to one. At a time. Cracked tongue. Broken tongue.” These one word sentences give us the feeling of a constant pause in speech. She says a little, stops, then resumes speech just to stop again within a short while. It is this constant interruption of language, this “broken speech” that she writes about.
Towards the beginning of the novel, Cha had mentioned that speech is painful, but the inability to speak is more painful. She also mentioned that speech is power, so if one is capable of speaking they have immense power within their reach. We see this at this point in the novel. Speech, to her, is something, despite its boundaries, that can set you free or keep you bound. It is something that can liberate your soul, or confine you to your own prison, and that is what is so amazing about it. Throughout the novel we have seen that language, especially the language the author has chosen, is very important and is an intricate part of this novel. Not only is it the reason why we can read this novel, but it is also the meaning behind so many of the phrases used. The fact that, throughout the novel, we have encountered so many different languages also shows us the significance of it. Whether the author writes in English, French, Japanese, or Latin, the fact is that they are all languages. They all unite many people, because it is through language that we can communicate and form relationships with those around us. It is a defining characteristic of nations, races, countries, and communities, and Cha acknowledges that. Dictee is an example of what a combination of many ideas, languages and thoughts can do.
Speech is a very important aspect of everyday life. It is through speaking that one can get through a workday successfully, through a school day product fully, and through a lifetime as enjoyable as possible. The emphasis placed on speech and writing throughout Dictee shows us just how important they really are, and it allows us to appreciate the fact that we have the ability to possess the power to do anything, because speech is power.
Kozeta Kondakciu Course 10.01
Close reading to Dictee Prof. Hopes
6/27/07
When I read Dictee, the first impressions were completely different from what I usually get from a book. What I mean is in the term of the author’s intention and style.
Cha’s intention is to create a world where we can experience and see live situations--her mistaken acquisition of the English language, her country memories, her mother, father, her world, her feelings, politics conflicts between her country and Japanese.
Cha begins, “TO MY MOTHER TO MY FATHER”, and our first impression is satisfaction--reading stories for parents always grabs the reader’s attention--,however, it takes a long time to realize that she is keeping that promise, she is really dedicating the book to her parents. But how? Not the way the reader expects-- not narrative, without a line connection and without a beginning, but with emotions. Cha brings first her difficulties in acquiring the English language, and in order to convince the reader for the pain she experienced she provides passages written in French. But we would ask to ourselves, “How can that have a connection with her parents?” But, in fact this is at some extend a fact, that Cha tries to address, she doesn’t forget her identity. Being able to speak English and rejecting Korean won’t be so easy and fast. What we are left from the book is not, in fact, any mother language, and we see no separate, essential, immigrant tradition here in this country America. Cha seems to look at an album of her memories, and put them in words the way they come to her mind--with the fresh emotions and live moments.
We are left with our emotions that Cha addresses with a great post impressionist style, where the events speak lively, and the language speaks through the words. The words take the power in Dictee. The first impressions are like we have to do with a chaos of words, and is like the sentences have no grammatical and meaningful power. But in fact, Cha’s intention is not to give power grammatical sentences because that would lose the beauty of her attention. Intentionally, Cha speaks through a language where all the spelling, punctuation, grammatical rules are broken, and rejected; following those rules would let her be silent. No, silence is painful, and this is why we don’t get the idea that Cha delivers incompetence of mastering the language. She is inventing a new American form of literature opening another window in the literature.
And Cha resists through the whole book--she does not go outside this style-- and the same manner imposes to the reader--the reader also resists to reading that requires double attention and creativity, dictated to read not in a narrative way; that style is completely destroyed. The picture Dictee brings consists of pieces of events, filled with things like notes, photocopied photographs, and other cultural refuse. These scraps of information refigure "nation" as something complex, multifarious, articulated within and against a colonial tongue and come through a form of language where the power goes to words, emotions, feelings, and identity of the author. However, the book's attention to reading's resistances refuses the dominant culture's desire to fix an immigrant culture and, at the same time, resists the totalizing processes of cultural assimilation. Dictee, in this context, struggles the exceptional structure of America by documenting the constant mixing that defines cultural response.
Post a Comment