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Writer, professor, translator and editor Luba Jurgenson lives between two languages-her native Russian and her adopted French. She recounts the coexistence of these two languages, as well as two bodies and two worlds, in an autobiographical text packed with fascinating anecdotes.
About the author
Luba Jurgenson is Professor of Russian Literature and specializes in representations of mass violence in East and Central Europe. She also serves as Director of the research centre Eur'ORBEM at the Sorbonne and as an editorial board member for the journal Memories at Stake.
Summary
Winner of the 2015 Prix Valery Larbaud
Writer, professor, translator and editor Luba Jurgenson lives between two languages—her native Russian and her adopted French. She recounts the coexistence of these two languages, as well as two bodies and two worlds, in an autobiographical text packed with fascinating anecdotes. Living bilingually can be uncomfortable, but this strange in-between state can equally serve as a refuge and inspire creativity. Jurgenson sheds light on this little-explored territory with lively prose and a keen awareness of her historical and literary context. Language, identity, translation, and the self: all are intertwined. The ceaseless journey of bilingualism is at last revealed. 2015 winner of the Prix Valery Larbaud.
Additional text
“In the first essay of her collection Where There Is
Danger, Luba Jurgenson writes, ‘Bilingualism is waiting for its chronicler,
someone down-to-earth who follows each step of the bodily clues to the
constantly shifting center.’ As such a chronicler, she makes striking metaphors
of history, language, the body, and the diaspora, hoping to understand the
strange reality of being a citizen of two languages and their cultures. … Jurgenson’s
voice sounds cohesive and aware, and she interrogates language to examine the
origins of thought and purpose. French and Russian have history embedded within
their words, should someone care to parse it. In such acts of dissection and
revivification, Where There Is Danger is at its brightest.” —Camille-Yvette
Welsch, Foreword Reviews
