I just saw the new movie, Eat, Pray, Love a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed the rich exploration of Italian, Indian, and Indonesian culture. The main character for those who have not seen the movie or read the book is Elizabeth Gilbert; the movie is based on her decision to take a year long voyage seeking spirituality and a new sense of identity. To me her journey is remarkably similar to the one taken by Joyce Zonana in her autobiography Dream Homes. For both of these women their journeys of self-exploration seem to stem in large part from a love of language. I found it particularly neat that both women were fascinated in learning different languages because new languages opened windows of expression that are not available mono linguistically. Gilbert quotes several English words that have a much more musical flow when spoken in her language of interest which was Italian. Zonana often incorporates several French phrases in the text of her book in part to add to the richness of the book, but also I am sure because the English parallel just does not offer the same emotional affect. For example she used the word “falasises” the English equivalent being “big cliffs” and in another instance: “comme il faut”—“as one must.” Though I am not sure what the pronunciation would be, falasises is a much richer phrase than “big cliffs.” Zonana and Gilbert are both excellent writers and I cannot help but wonder if that is due in large part to their mutual cultural explorations and affinity for language.
-Elizabeth
-Elizabeth
I felt that Zonana had a strong sense of language as well. As a one language speaking individual, I don't fully appreciate her diverse language background. It tore her in so many different directions. She felt she had to understand and belong to each piece of herself. It was not until later that she realized the truth: she wasn't a part of each different language/custom, each was a part of her and made her the unique person she was.
ReplyDeleteI felt Zonaha wanted to display a sense of loss of identity and the strong sense of language helped to contribute to that in the book Dream Homes.You tend to feel a strong social longing by the Jewish people to not loss their identiies by totally conforming to the foriegn influences of the new lands they now occupy. The unwillingness of some of the elders to learn the language of people they live among now shows a side of strong fear of losing their identity while the younger generation showed a sense of embarressment of having to translate for their parents can show a longing to try and reidentify themselves as something different.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comparison, regarding language, between "Eat" and "Dream Homes." I liked Gilbert's book very much, and not so much the movie, though the eating section, in Italy, was kind of fun. That's where she tries to learn the language, too. Anyway, read the book if you can. The middle section "Pray" just can't be done in a movie, I think, without seeming corny--when in fact it was really compelling.
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