A review by starryeved
Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

3.0

The tongue that is forbidden is your own mother tongue. You speak in the dark. In the secret. The one that is yours. Your own. You speak very softly, you speak in a whisper. In the dark, in secret.
Mother tongue is your refuge.

Definitely went over my head several times, but I would be remiss not to acknowledge the sheer breadth and depth of Dictee. It is multidisciplinary. It is poetry, it is autobiography, it is a historical biography, it is a charter of martyrs. It holds the voice, heavy as water, of one of the brightest and most brilliant writers of contemporary literature.

Worth a read, even if experimental nonfiction/life writing isn't your thing.