A Different Tongue

In a New York Times review of three recently reissued books by English-born artist and author Leonora Carrington, Parul Sehgal describes Carrington’s habit of writing in rudimentary Spanish or French, an example of exophony, the practice of writing in a language that is not the writer’s native tongue. Sehgal also recounts Samuel Beckett, who after adopting French, stated in a letter: “More and more my own language appears to me like a veil that must be torn apart in order to get at the things (or the Nothingness) behind it.” Write a short essay about a particularly resonant memory. Then try rewriting the same memory either in another language, even if you only have a basic knowledge of it, or in a style of English that has been “torn apart” and defamiliarized. Do you find this practice freeing or limiting? Which elements of the memory and your storytelling are drastically altered, and what remains consistent throughout both versions?