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Language In Nancy Huston's Losing North

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Nancy Huston’s Losing North: Essays on Cultural Exiles, ascends plenty of thought regarding the experiences of individuals who voluntarily choose to leave their native country. One can connect with the author immediately with her writing style seeming as a conversation between herself and the reader. A deeper connection may be formed when one has personally experienced adopting another country just how Huston did. The aftermath of fully becoming part of another country may not be full of butterflies and rainbows the entire time but consequently also filled with struggle, loss, confusion, and betrayal with one’s self. Huston’s novel helps to serve a purposeful perspective to those looking to completely apply themselves in another culture while also having their country of origin’s dignity. Themes such as language, importance, and concealment are explored throughout the novel which proof the hardships of creating a new life in another country. First, why is Nancy Huston’s perspective on this subject something to take into consideration? Nancy Huston has literally lived through this experience and continues to. Huston was born in Anglophone Canada in 1953 and spent her adolescence in Boston. Huston later studied …show more content…

A false bilingual has the capacity of limiting what he/she feels with a specific language. Huston describes, “When I hear bracken, leaves, fog, I can see the hues of ochre and brown, I can smell the scents of autumn, feel the humidity… whereas the same words in French- fougere, feuilles, brouillard- leave me cold.” Someone as fluent as Nancy Huston can still have trouble equally feeling emotion between languages. Without intentionally wanting to do so an individual well emotionally have a preference between languages proving how language truly impacts a person in many

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