This site requires cookies for account access and purchasing. By using this site you give implied consent. For more infomation please review our use of cookies in our Cookie Policy and then Accept and Close this bar.
What Language Do I Dream in?: My Family's Secret History
£9.99
ISBN
9781844085781
Delivery
We can order this from our supplier
We can order this from our supplier
Click & Collect
Not available
Not available
A moving and erudite memoir on the importance of language to who we are and an ode to the language that has given the author a home in exile.
Elena Lappin's life could be described as 'five languages in search of an author'. She now lives in London, but she was born in Russia and has lived in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Israel, Canada, and the United States. As a multiple emigre, her decision to write in English was the unexpected result of many wanderings, and this memoir tells the story of finding a voice in a language that is not one's own. Russian, Czech, German, Hebrew, and finally English: how do they, and the family roots and cultures they represent define who she is, and how has adopting English allowed her to be a writer? The story of Lappin's identity is unexpectedly complicated by the discovery, in middle age, that her biological father was an American living in Russia. Their encounter introduces an element of mystery to the search for her roots, and a surprise: suddenly, English is more than the accidental 'home in exile' - it is the language she may have been close to from the very beginning.
Weight | 0.252000 |
---|---|
Author | Lappin, Elena |
Availability | IP |
Department | Biography |
Format | Paperback |
ISBN | 9781844085781 |
Pages | 320 |
Published | 06/07/2017 |
Publisher | Virago |
Section | Biography |
Write Your Own Review