The absent female émigré: women's autobiographical writing from exile to exophony

master's thesis

• Author: Matea Fadiga
• Mentor: Vanja Polić Jurković (mentor)
• Committee member: Tihana Klepač (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Anda Bukvić Pažin (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2024-01-24, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

This paper explores the often-overlooked writing by female émigrés. It examines four autobiographies written about and within the condition of exile and in an acquired or non-native language, a phenomenon known as exophony. These three terms, exile, exophony and autobiography, represent the basis from which the narratives take shape and underpin all other thematical and formal components. The texts here analysed are Eva Hoffman’s Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (1990), Nancy Huston’s Losing North: Musings on Land, Tongue and Self (2002), Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words (2017) and Anca Vlasopolos’ No Return Address: A Memoir of Displacement (2000). The chosen corpus testifies to the particularity of the female exilic experience and demonstrates it is a productive condition in which women have the possibility to re-negotiate their identities within a different socio-cultural matrix. The two key concerns that arise in the narratives are the processes of becoming writers and women anew, as they explore how to find a voice, literally and metaphorically, in a new language.

• Keywords: exile; exophony; autobiography; gender; Eva Hoffman; Nancy Huston; Jhumpa Lahiri; Anca Vlasopolos
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:895426
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: Literature and Culture; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2024-01-30 11:39:26