February 2005: Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (Hoffman)

Post date: Jan 07, 2010 6:18:0 PM

A dozen of us, well-fortified with a variety of snacks, settled into Kathryn Kasch's living room to discuss Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language by Eva Hoffman on February 16th. We all thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated this cerebral account of the Polish author's intellectual adjustment upon immigrating to Canada. We marveled at the meticulous choice of words in describing both her childhood in Poland, her adolescence in Vancouver, and her coming-of-age in the big U.S. American culture of the '60's university scene. As 3/4 of the gathered readers have lived in another country for some period of time (rather remarkable in itself), we felt especially sensitive to the cultural references of language that go far beyond translation of text, and admired Hoffman's mastery of both.