'Paris has seduced many admirers, but for visiting Australian Ellie Nielsen it's true love. So deep is her infatuation that, if she can't have it all to herself, she'll only be satisfied with buying her own little piece of Paris.
'The object of her desire seems so simple: the sort of apartment she's seen a thousand times in magazines and books. Something effortlessly charming, and old, and quirky - and expertly decorated. Something exuding character and Parisian chic. Something quintessentially French.
'The trouble is, she has only two short weeks in which to realise her fantasy - and she must somehow negotiate a deal in a foreign language without offending French real-estate etiquette. Is this even vaguely possible, or just a ridiculous folly?
'With her trusty French phrasebook in hand, and plucking up her reserves of savoir faire, Ellie embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. Beauty is everywhere even if, like all true romances, there are many obstacles to be overcome. But then, c'est toujours comme ça à Paris.' (Publisher's blurb)
Travel memoirs tend to be premised on the transformation of the self through spatial translation. This paper explores the roles language might play in this transformation, and the possibilities of a linguistic translation of the self among memoirs of Australians in France. Among the recent rush of memoirs by Australians of their sojourns in France, the encounter with French language is invariably evoked. Its depiction, however, differs from that identified in ‘language memoirs’ by migrants and other language learners, which have been seen to emphasize the renegotiation of identity through inhabiting a new language. More often, in the Australian memoirs, either language difference is portrayed as having a limiting effect, diminishing the author to a shy shadow of the familiar self, or the author's proficiency in French smooths over language difference, concealing it. Only in rare instances is language represented as the very means of transformation of the self, reforging the author's experience. One such instance is Ellie Nielsen's memoir Buying a Piece of Paris, which paradoxically details the process of language learning while at the same time deflecting attention from it and attributing the transformation of the self to an altogether more tangible operation. The article analyses this double game and its implications for identity and belonging. [Author's abstract]
Travel memoirs tend to be premised on the transformation of the self through spatial translation. This paper explores the roles language might play in this transformation, and the possibilities of a linguistic translation of the self among memoirs of Australians in France. Among the recent rush of memoirs by Australians of their sojourns in France, the encounter with French language is invariably evoked. Its depiction, however, differs from that identified in ‘language memoirs’ by migrants and other language learners, which have been seen to emphasize the renegotiation of identity through inhabiting a new language. More often, in the Australian memoirs, either language difference is portrayed as having a limiting effect, diminishing the author to a shy shadow of the familiar self, or the author's proficiency in French smooths over language difference, concealing it. Only in rare instances is language represented as the very means of transformation of the self, reforging the author's experience. One such instance is Ellie Nielsen's memoir Buying a Piece of Paris, which paradoxically details the process of language learning while at the same time deflecting attention from it and attributing the transformation of the self to an altogether more tangible operation. The article analyses this double game and its implications for identity and belonging. [Author's abstract]
