Why not write in a foreign language? If people feel free to choose their profession, their religion, and even their sex, why not just decide which language you want to write? Ever since Jhumpa published In Other Words in Italian, people have been asking me, “Why don’t you write in Italian, Tim? After all, you’ve been in the country 35 years. What keeps you tied to English?” Is it just a question of economic convenience?
Certainly economics can be important. It was the factor that pushed Conrad to abandon his Polish mother tongue. If it is not possible to publish at home, or to publish there as one would wish to publish, then one is likely to go elsewhere. And if to publish elsewhere one has to change language, then some authors are willing to take that step.
Something of the same logic has driven many writers from Africa, Asia to write in French and English in recent years. There is also the fact that people in Europe and the West are interested in the countries they grew up in. Just as in the nineteenth century, novelists like Thomas Hardy could “sell” their familiarity with peasant life to a middle-class metropolitan public, so these writers have interested us with stories that might seem common in their home countries.
There is also a real internationalism in the decision to change language. If you have “a message” and if English is the language that offers maximum spread, then it would seem appropriate to use it.
All these make sense. Critics tend to pay attention only to those who have made a success of writing in a new language. In April 2014, a New York Times article essentially listed young literary stars who had switched to writing in the main Western languages. At this point, the native English speaker almost begins to feel at a disadvantage for having been born into the dominant culture. Should we perhaps head for Paris, like Beckett or Jonathan Littell, just to be between two worlds? Or look for something more exotic(异国的) and have ourselves translated back into English afterward? However, one fact is that changing languages doesn’t always work.
I did write a novel in Italian. But after rereading it, I decided against it. My work lost power with the switch of language. My real subject matter still had to do with England and it was to my home culture that my books were addressed. The second language never seems to mean quite as much as the first. In any event, after my early experiment, I never went back to write in Italian. Changing language is not the only way to bring energy to your writing.
【小题1】The author writes the first paragraph to ________.| A．introduce the topic of this passage | B．provide background information |
| C．stress the importance of English | D．explain why he writes in English |
| A．They have published a lot of works at home. |
| B．Their works are uncommon in their own countries. |
| C．A new language may offer a wider readership. |
| D．They want to be accepted by middle class. |
| A．Native English writers are at a disadvantage for writing in English. |
| B．Writers can’t be entirely separated from their own culture and language. |
| C．Writers should write in a foreign language to draw critics’ attention. |
| D．Any writer can succeed with the switch of a new language. |
| A．Write in a foreign language | B．Publish at home |
| C．Write in mother tongue | D．Change language to bring energy |
