Book Meme, Part 5

[osprey_archer]

Two more question for the book meme, for egelantier. Who picked hard ones!

6. If you read in more than one language, is there a difference between the experience of reading in your native language and reading in other languages?

I could, once upon a time, read in Russian (very slowly and with the aid of a dictionary) and in Spanish - still with the aid of a dictionary, but actually rather decently; I read a few novels in Spanish. So I’m not sure I can answer this question meaningfully for Russian, because I never got fluent enough for reading to be anything but a struggle, but in Spanish, yes, it was a different experience, although I would be hard-pressed to put my finger on just how.

I think the closest I can get is the time that I read Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars in Spanish. I had read the book in English the summer after second grade, and it was very important to me - it kicked off a reading binge of every Holocaust-related children’s book in the library, culminating in an attempt to write a Holocaust novel of my very own after third grade, so it really shaped my identity as a writer and my interest in history, in a way. And I read it many times in English, so I remembered it very well.

But rereading it in Spanish made it feel different - even though I already remembered the plot in fairly fine-grained detail, the fact that the words themselves were different gave the book a sense of newness and tension that I don’t usually feel during a reread. But at the same time, I think because reading in another language forced me to slow down, I got an experience closer to what I had when I first read the book, when I read more slowly than I do now. There’s less sense of gulping down the story and more of a feeling that one is living in it, immersed in it, because of the difficulty of reading it forced me to keep my entire attention on it.


15. The book you reread over and over again and get new things from every time.

I’ve been trying to think of an answer for this that is slightly more, oh, literary, but honestly it’s probably Zilpha Keatley Snyder’s The Changeling. Although I try not to reread it to often so I don’t rub the magic off it.

When I first read it, as a child, I was completely enchanted by Martha and Ivy’s friendship and their imaginative adventures; rereading it when I’m older, I’ve been impressed also by the care Snyder took with the background characters (it’s clear that Martha’s parents love her and want what they think is best for her, and yet don’t and probably can’t understand her), and the subtlety with which she dealt with Ivy’s family, which is at best neglectful and at worst downright abusive - and yet that went over my head as a child; I only really noticed it rereading it as an adult.

It also adds a note of poignancy to Ivy and Martha’s friendship, because all Martha wants is for Ivy to live in Rosewood Hills always, and yet it’s really better for Ivy when she’s away living with her Aunt Evaline in Harley’s Crossing. (Great missed opportunities of literature: I would love to see Martha visit Ivy at Aunt Evaline’s house. Not that her parents would ever let her.)

Comments

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

thank you for the answers! this is very interesting. i had an experience very similar to yours when i first read lotr in russian: i've been reading and rereading from about eight years old, and more or less knew it by heart, but reading it in the other language for the first time turned the whole thing into a slow, fresh journey, with all the little new details jumping out of me, and just this... familiar alienness. it was very weird and very wonderful; i love this memory.

(and i still have a sort of handwritten journey notes on it in one of my teenager diaries. today we hit the depths of moria! stuff).

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It really is a different experience. Sadly my foreign language reading abilities have atrophied enough that I probably couldn't repeat it - well, maybe I could bring my Spanish back up to par? I'm afraid the Russian has all drifted away. Which is unfortunate, because there aren't any books that I'm really yearning to read in Spanish, whereas I can think of lots of classic Russian authors I'd love to read in Russian.

[thisbluespirit]

How interesting! And you are making me jealous and wistful that I can never read a novel in its original language, other than English. I hadn't even thought about how it might be to read an English novel in translation as well. (I used to never read non-English novels, because I felt so bad that I was doing it the injustice of merely reading it in translation, until I finally realised that was a bit stupid and considerably unfair to translators everywhere, sometime about, er, three years ago? Sadly, it is impossible for me to ever read a novel in another language, not even French, at least unless someone comes up for a magic cure for CFS! I am feeling faint and dizzy at just reading people talking about paying attention to every word, OMG, I need to lie down.)

I've never heard of The Changeling. It sounds like the sort of thing I would have liked but probably never crossed the Atlantic maybe?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I'm never quite sure what made it across the Atlantic or not. Zilpha Keatley Snyder is famous enough that I would think some of her books might have made it over. She got Newberry honors three times (but never actually won the award, which is the author equivalent of "always a bridesmaid, never a bride," I think), so some of those might have made it over - The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid, The Witches of Worm?

Actually I remember rereading Libby on Wednesday in England, from the university library children's section, so that one at least must have made it over.

But The Changeling is comparatively obscure, so it might be US only.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

The Changeling, OMG! That book was absolutely formative for me as a child – I literally read and reread my copy until it fell to pieces and I had to bind it up with a rubber band – but I've never met anyone else who's even heard of it.

I have reread it once as an adult, but I really should do so again. I also was very surprised by the detail and realism of Ivy's abusive family, because I hadn't picked up on that at all as a child. I mean, I knew they were "bad", but hadn't really gotten how or why.

I'm just so excited to see you mention it!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I feel like there's a small conspiracy of those of us who read and loved The Changeling! It's definitely not one of her more famous books, but it was absolutely formative for me too. The strength of their friendship, and the fact that they're so different in externals and in some ways so similar underneath (although there are also some real differences between them) - and I think also the bittersweetness of the framing story; all of it really stuck with me. I wonder sometimes what happened when they met again - if they met again - how that goes.

All the details about Ivy's family are so much in the background - which makes sense; we're getting a Martha's eye view of everything and of course she doesn't really understand what's going on there - but they tell a totally coherent story at the same time, which is so impressive.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I wonder sometimes what happened when they met again - if they met again - how that goes.

Yes, me too. And now I wish I had thought of this in time to nominate it for Yuletide! Well, maybe I'll remember for next year.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I always waffle back and forth on whether I want fanfic for this book! On the one hand, YES, more Martha and Ivy forever! But on the other hand the book is so perfect as it is and I'd hate to meddle with it.