Les Autres Soi

Today in my French Literature class, we finished up the book "Nord Perdu". This is a short autobiographical novel where the author, Nancy Huston, describes the trials and tribulations of living in a country where the national language is not your maternal language. You are an outsider. You are different. You are "expatriote". And when you return to your country, you are an outsider, you are different, you may have gained an accent and habits that are not common for your country. When you have these troubles and try to fit in (or re-fit in), you put on a mask or become "another self" (un autre soi).

What is "another self"? How can I be anyone but just me? Think about this for a moment: Is who you are in class the same "person" as you are when you hang out with your friends? Are you the same person at work as you are when you are at home with your family? We all play different roles in different situations and are represented differently to the people around us. I am a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, a student, a co-worker, a friend, a best friend, an acquaintance, a member of countless societies, circles, and clubs and I am not the same "person" in any one of these roles.

This is natural and everyone does it. You adapt to your surroundings, the people you are interacting with, and what the situation calls for. Reading this in the book, especially in a language that is not my first language, really struck me and made me reflect on myself. I sat down and compiled a list of all of my "selves", all of my roles, and, needless to say, it was quite extensive:


I have met so many people and I am different to each of them, just how they present a different self to me. I certainly don't know everything about everyone that I have met, just what is important, interesting, personal, or relevant. You can never know everything about a person (you are not them) and so the self that they present to you is who they are in your eyes. That is the role that they play in your life and it may not be reciprocal of the role you play in theirs (not everyone can be everyone's best friend).

All of this being said, what roles do you play? How do you feel when you go to a new country or learn a new language? What are some difficulties you face? What "self" do you think that you most represent?

This was a very thought provoking book and, if you are up to reading 115 pages of French, I would highly recommend reading it. It really is relevant to those of us who have studied multiple languages or traveled/lived in a different country.

Hope that this inspires a little reflection.

Until next time!