ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title> Poetry and Prose from In Posse Review</title> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html" charset="utf-8" /> <meta name="author" content="In Posse Review, http://www.webdelsol.com" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="19_a_style.css" /> </head> <body> <center> <br /> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td valign="top" width="35px"> <p> <img src="insposse.gif" width="30px" height="187px" alt=" " /><br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</p> </td> <td valign="top" width="15px" bgcolor="#0f0000">&nbsp;</td> <td width="15px">&nbsp;</td> <td align="left" valign="top" width="400px"> <h2>Writing in a Second Language</h2> <p><b>A Special Issue of In Posse Review</b></p> <P> "<em>Ma patrie</em>," wrote existentialist writer Albert Camus, "<em>c'est la langue fran&ccedil;aise</em>" ("<em>My home is the French language</em>"). Camus was born and raised in Algeria, and moved to France during the Second World War. Though his native language was French, he remained North African at heart until his death in 1960. But no matter where he found himself, the French language gave him a sense of identity, hence the above quote. </P> <P> In a similar manner, writers can decide, for a multitude of reasons, to exile themselves, not in another country, but another language. They adopt and embrace it, wrestle with it, try to tame the beast. Eventually, if they work long and hard enough, they become one with it. </P> <P> Many authors have successfully written in a language other than their mother tongue: Samuel Beckett, Andreï Makine, and Milan Kundera in French; Joseph Conrad (J&oacute;zef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski), Vladimir Nabokov, Jerzy KosiDski, Louis Begley (Ludwig Beglejter), Ha Jin and many others in English. I have no doubt that there are plenty of other valid examples, in a wide variety of languages all over this planet of ours. <P> Writing in a second language is labor intensive and scary. Language is not merely a juxtaposition of words, it also carries huge cultural baggage. It's one thing to know how to master a foreign language, a writer must also incorporate what it contains&#151;history, culture, the collective experiences of a linguistic group. </P> <P> On the other hand, writing in a language other than one's own can be liberating. If you're an Italian writer, Dante Alighieri, Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco are towering over you as you sit at your computer. If you're Russian, Fyordor Dostoevsky, Vasily Grossman and Joseph Brodsky are looming. But by switching to another language, you shoo away those gigantic monkeys off your back. </P> <P> E.P. Chiew, the author of the story Bush Burning (in our Short Fiction section), offers these thoughts about her experience: "Occasionally, out of self-inflicted paranoia, I despair of ever reaching decent literary heights [in English], where my work will be respected by peers, but the despair is a spur to improve as well. It's perhaps not surprising that a lot of writers writing in English as a second language might feel inadequate, perhaps confronted by their own insecurities more than anything else, but it's perhaps also true that it keeps me vigilant." </P> <P> I.R. Herrad, whose mother tongue is German, writes: "It's strange. I can write in English in a way, and about things, I couldn't in German. I find it easier to write nonfiction in German, because as a language is it more precise. But English has a wonderful elasticity and flexibility, you can bend it and weave it into strange shapes and it still continues to make sense." Imogen's fine story <em>The Colour of her Music</em> can be found in our Mystery, Crime, Science Fiction section. </P> <P> <em>In Posse Review 22</em> features writers who were born (among other places) in Nigeria, India, Japan, Malaysia and Bahrain, and their native language are Yoruba, Swedish, Telegu, Russian, Ibibio, German, Arabic and Cantonese. They bring to English different set of values, ideas, ways of seeing the world. This literary cross-pollination can produce fascinating results, and we believe that this special issue of <em>In Posse Review</em> will make for a terrific reading experience. </P> </p> <hr /> <p>Jean Charbonneau<br> Editor-in-chief, <em>In Posse Review</em> </p> <br /> <br /> <div id="logo"><em>In Posse:</em> Potentially, might be . . . </div> <p><img src="tedhead.gif" align="right" alt="logo" /></p> <h3><a href="http://webdelsol.com/InPosse/index.htm" align="right"> Return</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; </h3> <br /> <hr /> </td></tr></table></center></body></html>