Ah, you made me very curious about Alexakis! Also, sorry for responding in English, but my written Italian is simply awful. Here are some other people I thought of- Velibor Colic (Bosnian author writing in French), Agota Kristof (Hungarian writer who lived in Switzerland and wrote in French.), Brina Svit (Slovenian author who writes in French and I believe she translates her own books into Slovene - and her first few books were written in Slovene). Also Aleksandar Hemon who is Bosnian but writes in English- not sure he translates his own writing back into Bosnian.
It think about this a lot, as I have lived outside of Slovenia (my country of origin) for the last 15 years and I don't speak in my mother tongue on a daily basis- and I write in English for public consumption and in a mix of Slovene and English in my private notes.
On language and identity, I also think of Eva Hoffman, and her book Lost in translation: A life in a new language.
Ah, and what about Jhumpa Lahiri- what are your thoughts on her?
As always, Gaia, so much food for thought, thank you!
Fantastic, thanks so much for your input Liza! I should have thought of Kristof, given that I live in Switzerland and have heard of her. Would you recommend a title in particular by Brina Svit? Eva Hoffman sounds like a cool read too.
True, Jhumpa Lahiri is another great example - I read a few of her English short stories (which I loved) and one of her books written in Italian (which left me with mixed feelings, but not because of how it's written). It was really interesting to see how her writing style changes with the language she uses: her prose is much more 'rarefied' in Italian, I'd say, and it makes some of her descriptions very sharp.
Grazie per questa bella recenzione e per avermi fatto scoprire questo scrittore. Corro in libreria!
Il post ha un forte eco nella mia esperienza multilingue. Il francese e l'italiano condividono Il mio cervello ormai da anni e hanno fatto spazio alle altre lingue nel tempo. Come Alexakis, ho cercato a lungo in quale lingua esprimermi nei miei testi. Alla fine, il romanzo che scrivo è in italiano, la mia newsletter in inglese, ma tutte le prime stesure e gli appunti sono in Francese. Alla fine ho deciso di non impedirmi di scrivere certi post o note nelle 5 lingue che formano oggi la mia personalità.
Ti capisco, Emanuela, e mi fa piacere che Alexakis ti abbia incuriosita! In fondo è proprio quello che dice lui - bisogna ascoltare le proprie lingue, ci conoscono meglio di quanto pensiamo :)
Ah, you made me very curious about Alexakis! Also, sorry for responding in English, but my written Italian is simply awful. Here are some other people I thought of- Velibor Colic (Bosnian author writing in French), Agota Kristof (Hungarian writer who lived in Switzerland and wrote in French.), Brina Svit (Slovenian author who writes in French and I believe she translates her own books into Slovene - and her first few books were written in Slovene). Also Aleksandar Hemon who is Bosnian but writes in English- not sure he translates his own writing back into Bosnian.
It think about this a lot, as I have lived outside of Slovenia (my country of origin) for the last 15 years and I don't speak in my mother tongue on a daily basis- and I write in English for public consumption and in a mix of Slovene and English in my private notes.
On language and identity, I also think of Eva Hoffman, and her book Lost in translation: A life in a new language.
Ah, and what about Jhumpa Lahiri- what are your thoughts on her?
As always, Gaia, so much food for thought, thank you!
Fantastic, thanks so much for your input Liza! I should have thought of Kristof, given that I live in Switzerland and have heard of her. Would you recommend a title in particular by Brina Svit? Eva Hoffman sounds like a cool read too.
True, Jhumpa Lahiri is another great example - I read a few of her English short stories (which I loved) and one of her books written in Italian (which left me with mixed feelings, but not because of how it's written). It was really interesting to see how her writing style changes with the language she uses: her prose is much more 'rarefied' in Italian, I'd say, and it makes some of her descriptions very sharp.
Grazie per questa bella recenzione e per avermi fatto scoprire questo scrittore. Corro in libreria!
Il post ha un forte eco nella mia esperienza multilingue. Il francese e l'italiano condividono Il mio cervello ormai da anni e hanno fatto spazio alle altre lingue nel tempo. Come Alexakis, ho cercato a lungo in quale lingua esprimermi nei miei testi. Alla fine, il romanzo che scrivo è in italiano, la mia newsletter in inglese, ma tutte le prime stesure e gli appunti sono in Francese. Alla fine ho deciso di non impedirmi di scrivere certi post o note nelle 5 lingue che formano oggi la mia personalità.
Ti capisco, Emanuela, e mi fa piacere che Alexakis ti abbia incuriosita! In fondo è proprio quello che dice lui - bisogna ascoltare le proprie lingue, ci conoscono meglio di quanto pensiamo :)