Themother tongue in Foreign lands
By Edna Shemesh
For
The Shanghai Writers’ Program
I was born into the Hungarian language in a university city called Cluj, in the county of Transylvania in Romania.The history of the city which goes back to the Roman Empire has marked, over the centuries, its multiple languages and cultures. The various names given to the city - Klausenburg, clojvar, cluj, Kloiznburg, to name a few -are historical evidence to its diversity, marking not only the multiplicity of its rulers (Ancient Romans, Germans, Austrians, Hungarians and Romanians) but also the imprint of the lingual diversity of my birth place. My mother tongue is Hungarian but it has been dipped in Romanian as well, which was there, in the background.
I was four and a half years old when my parents left Romania and came to the young state of Israel, due to the again rising anti-Semitism. Fourteen years after the atrocities of World War 2, in which my parents had lost most of their families in the Holocaust, theytook me and my brother, packed the little they were allowed to take and left to Israel by boat, via Napoli.
We were sent to a small development town in the south of Israel and settled there. As many other young children of the time, I found a home in the Hebrew language very quickly. We were all immigrants, and the children of immigrants, and were all communicating via the wonderful ancient language of the bible. The language of the bible is rich and fascinating. I started writing short stories and poems in Hebrew as soon as a pen had been placed in my hand. Even today, when I read in those naïve writings of my childhood I can detect the great influence that the biblical language has had on my Modern Hebrew, and which is still evident in my short stories and novels. It is a riches that will have marked my style as a writer and of which I am very proud.
In high school I learned Arabic, which is the second official language of Israel.At the university where I studied English Literature and Theatre Studies, I was compelled to take a second language and I chose French. My knowledge of French and my spending four consecutive summers in Paris helped me give birth to my second book The Sand Dunes of Paris, published in July 2013. This book is about a less glamorous Paris, the Paris one observes after a closer look, after a better acquaintance; Paris of the hardworking class, of immigrants from Africa and the Maghreb, at the time of the awakening Islam.It is the intriguing city ofAlbert, my Hero, who falls in love with the it and he lives on its edge, in between cultures,with an uncertain future and a great longing for his hometown in the Maghreb.
Knowing Arabic, to a certain level, has definitely helped me develop my empathies to the Arab culture and later be more aware of the various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2002 I was fortunate to receive an international literary award for my short story Arabesquewhich deals with two pregnant women, one Israeli and one Palestinian and their desperate attempts to maintain certain normality in the ever-growing hostility between the two nations. My Fourth already finished novel, to be published next year, deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict via my main characters, Ali, Waffa and Yaret, who try to speak the same language of compassion rather than of war, but to no avail.
My being a daughter of Holocaust survivors has deeply affected my life and it is depicted in my third book Hotel Malta. In this book my mother tongue is the tongue of pain, of loss and of deprivation. This is my most personal book and it is my tributeto two generations, of my parents’ and my own - the second generation to Holocaust survivors.
While writing this short essay for the Shanghai Writers’ Program, which I amvery proud to be part of, I have come to the realization that whatever I have done in my professional life has been deeply connected, to this day, to the spoken and written word - writing, translating, editing, teaching language and creative writing,being a certified radio speaker-and I can surely say that the word itself has been my mother tongue.As a child of immigrantsI grew up feelinga natural inhabitant and a foreigner everywhere I stayed, physically mentally.I was never indulgent, never without inner struggle.I believe this dichotomyhas been the essence of my writing.
In ShanghaiI will hopefully be writing the first draft of my fifth novel, which is now only in its initial phase. I have no doubt that my experiences in china will be depicted in this book, just as my Australia experiences have found their way into the life of Amotz, my young hero of Hotel Malta and as my experiences in Paris found their way into the story of The Sand Dunes of Paris. Being in foreign lands has always been to me a great source for new adventures, new perspective, and new proportions. For the opportunity given to me by The Shanghai Writers’ program to absorb the sights and cultures of Shanghai, I am most grateful.
Edna Shemesh