Dictee is the best-known work of the versatile and important artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982). A classic work of autobiography that transcends the self, Dictee is the story of several women: the Korean revolutionary Yu Guan Soon, Joan of Arc, Demeter and Persephone, Cha's mother Hyung Soon Huo (a Korean born in Manchuria to first-generation Korean exiles), and Cha herself. The element that unites these women is suffering and the transcendence of suffering. The book is divided into nine parts structured around the Greek Muses. Cha deploys a variety of texts, documents, images, and forms of address and inquiry to explore issues of dislocation and the fragmentation of memory. The result is a work of power, complexity, and enduring beauty.

Dictee

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

Biographies & Memoirs

University of California Press

In her radical exploration of cultural and personal identity, the writer and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha sought “the roots of language before it is born on the tip of the tongue.” Her first book, the highly original postmodern text Dictee, published in 1982, is considered a classic work of autobiography and is widely read by students internationally. This stunning selection of her uncollected and hitherto unpublished work at last brings together Cha's writings and text-based pieces with images spanning the period between 1976 and 1980. The volume includes two related poem sequences, Exilée and Temps Morts, major texts incorporating autobiographical elements as well as themes of language, memory, displacement, and alienation--issues that continue to resonate with artists decades after Cha explored them. These moving works give a fuller view of the creative nexus out of which Dictee emerged and attest to the singular literary achievement of a major figure in late-twentieth century art. Copub: Berkeley Art Museum

Exilée and Temps Morts: Selected Works

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Dictée is the best-known work of the versatile and important Korean American artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. A classic work of autobiography that transcends the self, Dictée is the story of several women: the Korean revolutionary Yu Guan Soon, Joan of Arc, Demeter and Persephone, Cha's mother Hyung Soon Huo (a Korean born in Manchuria to first-generation Korean exiles), and Cha herself. The elements that unite these women are suffering and the transcendence of suffering. The book is divided into nine parts structured around the Greek Muses. Cha deploys a variety of texts, documents, images, and forms of address and inquiry to explore issues of dislocation and the fragmentation of memory. The result is a work of power, complexity, and enduring beauty.

Poetry

Tanam Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dictee

Exilée and Temps Morts: Selected Works

Dictee