Transculturation and Multilingual Lives: Writing between Languages and Cultures

Abstract

This paper looks at the issues of transculturation as explored in auto and semi-autobiographical accounts of linguistic and cultural transitions. The paper also addresses a number of questions about the structure of these texts, the authors' linguistic competences, as well as questions about the theoretical and conceptual tool which may help us to discuss the issues the writers are reflecting on. Authors such as E. Hoffman (Lost in Translation), A. Makine (Le Testament Francais, A. Dorfman (Heading South, Looking North), A. Kaplan (French Lessons), and X. Guo (A Classical Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers) will be referred to and their thoughts are discussed.