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Andrei Makine's Literary Bilingualism and the Critics

Andrei Makine's Literary Bilingualism and the Critics LITERARY BILINGUALISM/247 survives on bread, milk, and tea and, like a writer from another century, writes his books in longhand on scrap paper (Saugues 50). Marion Van Renterghem, the critic at Le Monde, epitomizes the reviewers’ exoticization of this writer and their fascination with the practically mythical quality of his transformation from poor Russian exile to feted prize-winner. Her retelling of the story insists on both the drama of his successful assimilation into French letters (“suddenly, the Prix Goncourt”!) and the degree to which he retains seemingly Russian behaviors and even phonetics. One might even read her evaluation as emerging from the same prejudices that made it difficult for Makine to publish in the first place, although now with the emphasis reversed: instead of insisting that Makine’s correct French prose could not have been produced by a Russian, she marvels that a Russian could write such beautiful French. In the first part of this article, I examine the reviews of Le Testament français in French, American, and Russian publications in an attempt to understand how the critics, often in conversation with Makine himself, categorize the art and the identity of the bilingual writer. The French representation of him http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Comparative Literature Duke University Press

Andrei Makine's Literary Bilingualism and the Critics

Comparative Literature , Volume 55 (3) – Jan 1, 2003

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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2003 by University of Oregon
ISSN
0010-4124
eISSN
1945-8517
DOI
10.1215/-55-3-246
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

LITERARY BILINGUALISM/247 survives on bread, milk, and tea and, like a writer from another century, writes his books in longhand on scrap paper (Saugues 50). Marion Van Renterghem, the critic at Le Monde, epitomizes the reviewers’ exoticization of this writer and their fascination with the practically mythical quality of his transformation from poor Russian exile to feted prize-winner. Her retelling of the story insists on both the drama of his successful assimilation into French letters (“suddenly, the Prix Goncourt”!) and the degree to which he retains seemingly Russian behaviors and even phonetics. One might even read her evaluation as emerging from the same prejudices that made it difficult for Makine to publish in the first place, although now with the emphasis reversed: instead of insisting that Makine’s correct French prose could not have been produced by a Russian, she marvels that a Russian could write such beautiful French. In the first part of this article, I examine the reviews of Le Testament français in French, American, and Russian publications in an attempt to understand how the critics, often in conversation with Makine himself, categorize the art and the identity of the bilingual writer. The French representation of him

Journal

Comparative LiteratureDuke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2003

There are no references for this article.