Dictee is the best-known work of the versatile & important Korean American artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 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 & Persephone Cha's mother Hyung Soon Huo (a Korean born in Manchuria to first-generation Korean exiles) & Cha herself The elements that unite these women are suffering & the transcendence of suffering The book is divided into nine parts structured around the Greek Muses Cha deploys a variety of texts documents images & forms of address & inquiry to explore issues of dislocation & the fragmentation of memory The result is a work of power complexity & enduring beauty