Exilee and Temps Morts: Selected Works

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 This stunning selection of her uncollected and hitherto unpublished work at last brings together Cha's writings and text-based pieces with images spanning the period between 1976 and 1980.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, "Exilee 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. It is co-published by Berkeley Art Museum.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Audience Distant Relative: An Introduction to the Writings of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha by Constance M. Lewallen "This is the writing you have been waiting for": On Reading the Last of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha by Ed Park 1 audience distant relative Exilee Temps Morts 2 the sand grain story photo-essay Surplus Novel 3 monologue i have time time between lament i lament your youth trip 18, avril recit the sound is a dripping faucet i have taken a bite of this root fly by night view from the willow tree paris For my brother long interval of silences The Missing Page The writing conscious-unconsciously 4 White Dust from Mongolia Introduction by Constance M. Lewallen White Dust from Mongolia: Project Description Poems and journal entries related to White Dust from Mongolia 5 Faire-Part it is almost that Commentaire Notes

About the Author :
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was born in 1951 in Pusan, Korea, and moved with her family to San Francisco at the age of 11. She received bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and did postgraduate work in Paris. In 1982, a stranger murdered Cha in New York City, just a few days after the original publication of Dictee (reprinted by UC Press). Constance M. Lewallen is Adjunct Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Among her books are A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s and The Dream of an Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982), both from UC Press.

Review :
"Cha is a thoroughly detail-oriented literary and visual artist. Her methodical work doesn't entertain or dazzle. It is open-ended in a way that requires its audience to supply part of the vision."--San Francisco Bay Guardian "Beautiful"--The Atlantic .Com "The volume brings to light part of Cha's achievement ... Tantalizing."--Bookforum