Crossing countries and continents, this narrative follows a son lost for words over the death of his father. Unable to write the phrase "My father is dead" in either his native Greek or his adopted French, he heads for Africa to undertake the learning of Sango. Traveling across both borders and time, he examines his past, his family history, and the colonial and political ties of his homelands. While at first he does not know why learning a new and uncommon language has become vital to him, he comes to discover that the new language enables him to easily write of his father's passing. But as he truly experiences Sango—meets its speakers, travels where it emerged and has struggled to survive—his intimacy with it grows, and he is once again unable to utter the telling phrase. Meditating on language, loss, and the power of words to express or constrain human emotion, this tale of speaking, living, and letting go is filled with delicate suspense, humor, and honesty.

Foreign Words

Literature & Fiction

Alexakis, Vassilis

Contemporary

Autumn Hill Books

This book chronicles the quest of a man named Pavlos as he is attempting to solve the mystery of the Delphic Epsilon while also coming to terms with his mother’s recent death. After twenty years living and working in Paris as a newspaper cartoonist, Pavlos returns to his native Greece with no job and no clear plans for the future, beyond occasionally checking in on his widowed father. The novel traces his Quixotic adventures—from his mission to collect words that start with the Greek letter E to his unsuccessful attempts to find his place within Greek intellectual and artistic circles—with the author’s characteristic humor and sharp observational eye. At its heart this is a story of living in-between: between languages, between the past and the present, between life and death.

Mother Tongue

Literary

Paris-Athènes (French Edition)

SEUIL

Premier Mot

Фоліо

L'enfant grec

La langue maternelle: Roman (French Edition)

FAYARD

Titlee: Papa : Et autres nouvellesAuthor(s): Vassilis AlexakisPublisher: FayardPublishing year: 1997Sate: Second Hand - GoodISBN : 9782213598666Comment: Former library book. Soiling on the side. Ammareal gives back up to 15% of this book's net price to charity organizations.  Ammareal sells online second hand books provided by our partners which are associations and lbraries.A portion of the price of each book is donated to our partners or to charities.What we do not sell is given, what we do not give is recycled.

Papa et autres nouvelles (French Edition)

390pages. 13,5cm x 21,5cm x 2,7cm. Broché. L'Eglise orthodoxe célèbre aujourd'hui la mémoire de Laurent de Mégare, d'Ephraïm et d'Eugène. Je ne connais aucun des trois. Je suppose qu'ils ont vécu à la même époque puisqu'on les célèbre le même jour. Je les imagine au centre d'une arène romaine, en plein midi. Les saints meurent rarement dans leur lit, de vieillesse. Éphraïm, qui se tient au milieu, prend les deux autres par la main pour leur insuffler du courage. Ils ne paraissent pourtant nullement impressionnés par les rugissements des fauves qui sont cantonnés derrière une grille de fer. La plèbe s'impatiente. Les trompettes retentissent. César incline légèrement la tête. La grille s'élève peu à peu dans un long grincement. J'observe le spectacle à travers les fentes d'une porte de bois vermoulue. Les légionnaires ne me prêtent aucune attention en raison de mon jeune âge. Bientôt, je courrai porter les mauvaises nouvelles à la mère d'Éphraïm. Sur le côté gauche de mon bureau se dresse une pile de livres consacrés au mont Athos, certains rédigés par des moines, d'autres par des historiens. Ce sont pour la plupart des ouvrages reliés, à couverture rigide, noire ou bleu sombre. Peut-être découvrirai-je en les lisant qui étaient Laurent, Eugène et Éphraïm. Je ne suis pas pressé de le savoir. J'ai déjà jeté un coup d'œil à deux ou trois volumes, mais je n'en ai étudié aucun avec application, ccmme me l'a demandé ma logeuse, Nausicaa Nicolaïdis.

Ap. J.-C.

Genre Fiction

Stock

LA LANGUE MATERNELLE

LE PREMIER MOT

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