June 24, 2022

Thought for Today

"It is a bit demoralizing to realize that every word we speak or write - everything we use to express everything we feel - is not ours but was bequeathed by unseen generations. As infants, we abssorb language unconsciously; in learning another language, this sprocess becomes conscious. 'The illusion of artistic freedom is just that, an illusion,' Lahiri writes. 'No words are 'my words' - I merely arrange and use them a certain way.'"

Benjamin Moser,

"Found in Translation," book 

review, New York Times Book

Review of Translating Myself 

and Others - June 12, 2022, p. 10,

Jhumpa Lahiri traces a journey

away from her native language

[Indian Bengali - to Italian]

and discovers new selves.