On writing in a foreign language
I don't know if anyone else is fascinated by authors writing in a language that is not their mother tongue.
It struck me that there are many who write in English or in French but I cannot think of any 'foreigner' writing in German. I wonder why this is. If Mirabell should read this, I am sure he can name one or two. That is, if there are any.
Writing both in French and English: Nancy Huston.
Now writing in French: Milan Kundera - but his French books are not as good as his Czech ( I read these in the French translation so I don't know who should get the credit - Kundera or his translator.)
Andreï Makine: French
The obvious Joseph Conrad whose third language was English
and the obvious Vladimir Nabokov
Joseph Brody
Jerzy Kosinski (spelling?)
Just a few off the top of my head. There are many others, I'm sure.
There are also those who write in their own language but live in a foreign country and are able to verify that a translation is as true to the original as a translation can be. Here W.G.Sebald comes to mind (even if I did read him in German) and Kundera for the translations into French before he actually wrote in French.
Just a thought...
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