The Storybook Where Europe Begins by Tawada Yoko - Research Paper Example

of novels, memoirs, autobiography, and poems have to grapple with challenges of reconnecting with the past. What initially appears to be easy turns out to be an unmanageable especially when the events that are been recounted needs translation. Writers find it even more difficult due to the contradiction of time and location of these events as narrated by different people. For this reason, authors must rightly probe the truthfulness of the recounted events so as to reconstruct steadfast narratives in a coherent manner. To make matters worse, authors whose self-interest extends beyond these texts have another set of problems. For instance, how can authors recount past events that they did not experience? The book Dictee, authored by Theresa Hak Cha, is organized in this approach. Throughout the narrative, Cha employs many stylistics devices to portray Melpone tragedy. The story book Where Europe Begins by Tawad Yoko is yet another interesting memoir that presents a collection of tales. The tales in the story book appear to blur the division between poetry and prose, reality and fiction, legendary and history, life, and fantasy. This essay compares and contrasts, the lack of portrayal of tragedy in the fairy-tale Where Europe Begins to the portrayal of tragedy in the book Dictee. In addition, the essay expounds more on how both parties are affected and how the narratives could have been authored. Where Europe Begins is story book, that presents a collection of tales by the eminent Japanese author Tawada Yoko. The author skillfully employs the style of estrangement in order to capture the attention of the readers. Translators of this book will attest that the author is capable of articulating complex ideas, particularly character development, in a brilliant way. What is more interesting is how Tawada ably develops the stories in two languages, Japanese, and Germany. However, some of the tales are not recounted in a coherent way since they lack firm identity. Notably, the title of the storybook is one of the very best tales in the collection. In this particular story, Tawada narrates about her traveling journey to Europe even before the trip commences. As a consequence, the narration seems to be incoherent, fractured, and that is organized pieces that lack reality. In point of fact, the author mixes fiction with reality. This is clear example of the lack of tragedy and organization in the story. On the other hand, Theresa Cha, a Korean –American novelist capably blends the medium of texts and visual language to address problems encountered by women in the face of changing cultural and political atmosphere. In the book, Cha recounts her own experience and the life of other ladies whose experience she found to be paramount and influential. The other women are Joan of Arc, Hyung Huo (Cha’s mother), Yu Guan, Persephone, and Demeter. In most cases, the characters are unidentified. Throughout the book, Cha uses the pronoun she and does not exactly specify the woman she is referring to. The books primarily focus on the theme of interactions between different languages. She profoundly uses such as changing the placement and size of letters to communicate. Even though this style of writing causes readers to challenge the correctness of the narrative and grammar, it is critical in capturing their attention. In fact, the book does not follow the conventions used when writing a book. For example, the book does not have a preface and a table of content. Furthermore, the fist page has a picture of white and black photos of Koreans citizens who were forced to work in Japanese quarries in nineteen centuries. Instead of ushering readers in top her work, the author leads uses imagery to cause a flashback in their mind. By moving out of the text composition on and off, author signals the instability and tragedy faced by the Korean people in America. Tawada adopts a clear way of expressing wonders which are far less argumentative than Theresa Cha. The characters in the first story in Tawada’s book changes roles all the time just like puppets. They are easily manipulated, and their roles do not mirror reality. In another tale, the spores, also found in the storybook, Tawada seems like she is in an acrobatic exhibition. She mixes dream with reality. The confusion renders one to conclude that there is no tragedy that is portrayed. In contrast, it is evident that Cha has faced a lot of problems since she relocated to America. She struggles to learn new language. Also, she encounters new culture (American culture) where is compelled to follow it. In learning the new language, English, Theresa Cha finds herself exercising pronunciation, dictation, catechism, grammar, and translation. This is a vivid example that portrays tragedy and hurdles in Dictee. In my own opinion, the funny story, Raising Eyes, in Tawada’s collection is fictional. The narration entails the tale of a girl whose dad changed and became a woman after taking some fresh slices of bread. The story begins; I like to eat my father on Tuesday. My father tastes like beef (venison). He is made of bread dough. For real, I know he is a woman. In this case, the author employs imagery to communicate her message. Although, it is a pleasure to read tale it lacks realism. On the other hand, the Korean Map that is divided into two areas symbolizes the tragedy and misfortune that befall the Korea. This tragedy came upon when they were colonized by the Japanese. However, they Koreans resisted and fought back in order to gain independence. What is more heartbreaking is that, just like in the map, the country (Korea) was subdivided into two nations by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and United States. The two countries ignored the Korean’s wish not to interfere with its issues. She uses mere names North and South to refer to the two divisions. What is more is that Cha relates her own life has been affected by the division and the war. This is yet another tragedy that is well orchestrated in her book Dictee. A striking illustration of lack portrayal of tragedy on Tawada’s work is when the young interpreter falls sick in a bathroom. As a result she attracts the help of a dead woman who used to be a female attendant. The dead woman is a suicide victim who steals the interptert’s spirits and tongue. She takes her to an amabodend apartment that is plagued by rats. In contrast, the epic poetry by Theresa Cha recounts the story of her mother. In fact, there are photos of her grandmother and mother. The nnartive in this section with these two photos is about the tale of the Korean Citizens and how they put to exile at Manchuria. Soon after they were deported, the land was occupied by Japanese. Besides facing a brutal life, it was forbidden to use the Korean language.// observes that Cha in her narrative, she presents a better methodology of remembering the past that is contrast to the expectation of a passive reader. It should be noted that Cha frequently refers to her mother as you. According to the culture of the Koreans, the word mother has a unique meaning. Mother is the origin of all lives and it also means the country for Koreans, the mother country. As noted, Cha refers to her mother as you. However, Koreans do not refer to their mothers as you. Actually calling someone as you is prohibited and is against the Korean culture. In fact, it is an insult. Personally, I have no idea of her intention when she refers to her mother as she. Furthermore, the story been narrated by Tawada contradict. The experience been recounted is at one time real and some other time fictional. Such an enigma eludes reality although the author does not defy the language. Most of Tawada’s tales in the storybook deals with dismemberment. For instance, in the tale, Storytellers Without Souls, the author recounts how he flew back and forth countless times and he could no longer know where her soul was. Irrefutably, this is illusion exhibited in the highest level one would imagine. Still in the same book, the woman is stranded between two cultures; Germany and Japanese. Moreover, she is unsure about the culture to assume in her life. This story shit between transparency and unreality. On the other hand, Cha observes another tragedy that faced the people of South Korea. This was in April 1960 and it was referred to as the student revolutionary. Cha notes that up-to-date, the war has never ended. She observes that Koreans were severed by countries that acted like Liberators. This was a tragedy where individuals killed their relatives or friends. It is in history that during the civil war, police officers killed their own sons and daughters. The irony in this war is that after the Korean got independence from Japan, the American government took over in Korea by establishing the Syngman Rhee government. However, the United States failed to help Korean when it was been colonized by Japan. In fact, Korea wrote a letter to U.S government asking for aid to fight against Japan but they failed to offer any help. However, shortly after the Syngman Rhee government was created it was overthrown by the student’s uprising. However, in some aspects, the two books are similar. The two authors explore cultural and political issues in their country. Both writers correctly employ the use of literature stylistics devices, especially imagery. For instance, Tawada uses both Japanese and English language to communicate and develop stories. On the other hand, Cha uses visual pictures to not only capture the interest of the readers but also to converse her intent. Moreover, both writers experience new life in foreign countries, they learn new languages. The authors expounds on their themes with some conscientious intensity that reveal their inherent mysteries. \ Personally, when I established that Cha’s work (nine sections) was directly borrowed from the nine names of the renowned Greek Muses, I was deeply overwhelmed. This even heightened my interest to read her stories. Nonetheless, Cha was clever because she posed a puzzle to the readers. For instances, everybody knows that Erettere is not found in the nine Muses. Intelligently, she substituted it for Euterpe. In my view, she replaced it with a purpose of reminding readers of her displacement. This is affirmed by Brandt who observes that the replacement of Erettere with Euterpe is an illustration of the main purpose of the text to disorganize the construction of belief of people. To wrap up, writers of novels, memoirs, autobiography, and poems have to grapple with challenges of reconnecting with the past. Writers find it even more difficult due to contradiction of time and location of these events as narrated by different people. The book Dictee by Theresa Hak Cha narrates bout ethnicity, war, gender, and nationalism in Korean. The author employs many stylistics devices to portray Melpone tragedy. The story book Where Europe Begins by Tawad Yoko is yet another interesting memoir that presents a collection of tales. The tales in the story book appears to blur division between poetry and prose, reality and fiction, legendary and history, life and fantasy. This essay has compared and contrasted, the lack of portrayal of tragedy in the fairy-tale Where Europe Begins to portrayal of tragedy in the book Dictee. In addition, the essay has expounded more on how both parties are affected. Work Cited Ackermann, Irmgard. “German Literature by Foreign Women Writers.” The Germanic Mosaic: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Society. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 243-252. Bammer, Angelika. ed. Displacements: Cultural Identities in Question. Indiana UP, 1994. Brandt, Bettina. “The Unknown Character: Traces of the Surreal in Yoko Tawada’s Writings.” Yoko Tawada: Voices from Everywhere, ed. Douglas Slaymaker. Lanham: Lexington, 2007. 111-124. Kim, Elaine H. “Poised on the In-between: A Korean American’s Reflections on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictée.” In: Kim and Alarcon, 3-34. Roth, Moira. “Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1951-1982: A narrative Chronology” In: Kim and Alarcon, 151-160. Tachibana, Reiko. “Tawada Yoko’s Quest for Exophony: Japan and Germany.” In: Slaymaker, 153-168. Yildiz, Yasemin. “Tawada’s Multilingual Moves: Toward a Transnational Imaginary.” In: Slaymaker, 77-90. Read More