History," from Dictee History," from Dictee History," Theresa Hak Kyung Cha observes that "History's recording"--particularly history's recording of the occupation of one country by another--is "not physical enough, not to the very flesh and bone." What authorial strategies does Cha employ within "Clio History" to make history more "physical"?Cha writes, for instance, that "this document is transmitted through, by the same means, the same channel without distinction the content is delivered in the same style: the word." What does the syntax of that particular sentence indicate about Cha's faith in conventional means of communication? How does that sentence explain her use of photographs, handwriting, and characters from other languages? What is meant by the phrase "the meaning is the instrument, memory that pricks the skin"?
2. Explore how "Clio History" functions as a commentary upon history itself. What is the purpose of telling history ("Why resurrect it all now?")? What are the shortcomings of conventional history-telling? "Clio History" offers a commentary upon history-telling, and a specific history as well. How does the presence of the self-conscious commentary alter the history being told?
Cha quotes, at length, primary and secondary historical documents. Explore the relationship between these sections of "Clio History" and the sections written in the narrator's voice. Do these different sections appear to respond to one another? Stylistically, what is the effect upon the reader of shifting between passages of history told through conventional means, and passages of history told in the form of personal narrative, creative essay, or fiction based in fact?
3. When Cha writes that "everyone knows to carry inside themselves, the national flag," what commentary is she offering regarding the relationship between a nation and its individual citizens? Oppositely, when she writes that Japan has become "the sign, the alphabet," what commentary is she offering upon the nature of colonization, specifically the relationship between the occupation of a land, and its culture and language?