ENGLISH LITERATURE & CULTURE ‘I’ IS ANOTHER: AUTOBIOGRAPHY ACROSS GENRES Camelia Elias

Hoffman, Codrescu, Simic, Federman

Eva Hoffman Born in Cracow, born in 1945 in Poland studied music Emigrated to Canada 1959 and then to the US (1979) studied English literature at Rice and Harvard becomes editor and literary critic for New York Times Books Lost in Translation : A Life in a New Language. London: Vintage, Exit Into History : A Journey Through the New Eastern Europe. New York. N.Y.: Penguin Books, Shtetl : The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, The Secret. London: Vintage, 2001

Andrei Codrescu Born in Romania, Sibiu 1946 studied mathematics and philosophy at Univ. of Bucharest came to the US in 1966, after a transit period in both France and Italy professor of English and Comparative Studies at Louisiana State University Books: Poetry:  Alien Candor (1996);  Thus Spake the Corpse (2 vol) Novels:  Casanova in Bohemia (2002);  The Blood Countess (1995); National best-seller;  Wakefield, 2004 Essays:  Zombification: Essays from NPR (1995);  The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans (1995);  Hail Babylon! Looking for the American City at the End of the Millenium (1998)

Charles Simic born in Yugoslavia, Belgrade 1938 came to the US through France in 1953 studied at NYU professor of English at the U of New Hampshire Books: Poetry:  The World Doesn’t End (Pulitzer Prize) 1990;  Walking the Black Cat (1996) Essays:  The Metaphysician in the Dark (2003);  The Unemployed Fortune Teller (1994)

Raymond Federman born in France, 1928 came to the US in 1947 studied at Columbia University (first PhD on Beckett) professor of French, English, and Comparative literature SUNY Books: Criticism:  Critifiction (1993);  Surfiction (1975) Novels:  Double or Nothing (1971);  Take It or Leave It (1976);  The Twofold Vibration (1982)

common concerns the experience of the immigrant double emigration double perspective  feel double  be double  produce double visions double expectation

impossibility and presence “In spite of the fact that autobiography is impossible, this in no way prevents it from existing” (Lejeune, The Autobiographical Pact)

“I” against the grain “Autobiography now has the potential to be the text of the oppressed and the culturally displaced, forging a right to speak both for and beyond the individual. People in a position of powerlessness – women, black people, working-class people have more then begun to insert themselves into the culture via autobiography, via the assertion of a ‘personal voice’ which speaks beyond itself.” (Julia Sweindells, The Uses of Autobiography, 1995)

Trans-auto-bio-graphy: characteristics detachment transit relates to both place and mindset literal and metaphoric connotations uprooting autobiography based on transit experience poses paradoxes:  EX: In what language does one express the confused awareness of the paradox of being somewhere while not yet arriving, or being somewhere physically while being somewhere else mentally? emphasizes mobility specific and universal

Narratives of translated experience: the legitimation of the ‘auto’ in the ‘bio’ Deal with particular questions: How can one tell a story about true events? How can one translate one's existence into a story? Can the story told constitute one's life as such? Is memory itself a story? Can lying in writing constitute a true story? Can humor reconcile the difference between invented stories and remembered stories?

coherence and closure does the narrator explicitly assert the coherence of his/her story? are there moments when the impression of narrative coherence breaks down in the text?  digressions  omissions  contradictions  gaps  silences

Autobiography Memoir (Bios: life in history; Autos: the self developed out of that history Deals with facts Claims to be objective Deals with an earlier period of time from the perspective of a relatively fixed later point Seeks to find coherence in the past Requires more knowledge of craft Employs the literary devices of the novel: structure, point of view, voice, character and story (Memoria (Lat.): memory; a note written in order to remember Subjective, reflective and philosophical Deals with moods and feeling Deals with any period of time and it does not necessarily follow a sequence of events More concerned with the present Requires skill if literary intended, but is does not rely on knowledge of structure Fragmented and experimental

Lost in Translation Genre  Memoir or autobiography?

Structure in medias res 1st person narrative present tense flashback interludes --- prologue Greek tragedy  chorus: the main commentators on the characters and events

Thematics departure/detachment anticipation vs fear excitement vs nostalgia and sadness clarity vs confusion

Setting representation of place geography of emotions vs geography of places conventional geographies Canada  an abstract Poland  idealized Vancouver  artificial

Themes Nostalgia for the past Rejection of the new place Dichotomies  Nature vs culture  Catholicism vs Jewishness  Russia’s communism vs Canada’s liberalism  Communism vs conformism  Articulation vs silence  Language vs artificial language  Public language vs inner language

What’s in a name? (105)

“I” IS ANOTHER (121)

Style Observant Assumes the p.o.v. of the anthropologist and psychoanalyst Writing exhibits self-awareness Reflects on the interrelation between the narrator, writer, and reader Impressionistic, especially in ref to Vancouver

“I” as invention (160)

Conversation with History A Writer’s Voice Identity Theory