Radio Chthulucene 87.9 FM

Dictee was a difficult read for me. Sometimes I read the same page three times, hoping that it would come together in my head; sometimes I just accepted that I don’t need to understand everything. After our class discussion, the broader themes started to become clearer to me, but I’m still not always sure how specific lines or passages relate to them. I still managed to connect with the writing, though, especially the “Erato Love Poetry” section. The experimentation with form in this section — the description of camera movement in a film, the sections being placed out of order so that a sentence would continue two pages later — sometimes intrigued and sometimes confused me. However, the themes of gender norms and losing oneself in a marriage, and being subordinate to a man, resonated with me. I’m always a sucker for feminist literature and commentary on women’s role in society. I also thought it was interesting how a section that was titled “Love Poetry” focused so much on the oppression present in straight relationships. It made me think about how romance is not apolitical and does not take place in a separate, private world that’s free of oppression, even if people sometimes like to pretend that it does.

I write so much about womanhood and patriarchy that I feel like the topic gets stale. My project for this class will probably focus on gender to some degree, because I’m not sure I can write anything that doesn’t. I worry that I’m boring, that I’d write the same story over and over no matter what the prompt is. To an extent, maybe my worries stem from internalized sexism — oh, look at this annoying woman, complaining about oppression again! Shouldn’t I just shut up? A writer could probably grapple with gender for their entire career and still have more to say. But I also think that it’s important to keep my writing fresh and keep challenging myself, even when I explore the same themes. The fragmentary form and situating the woman’s story within a film were interesting examples of how to write about this theme in a unique way. I think that continuing to think through this book and all the ways that the author tells the stories of women and mothers will help inspire my project.