Beautiful piece Silvio. I was shocked that you consider your writing in English simple since I always find it so eloquent and fluid and clear and beautiful. It’s so impressive to be able to write in two languages, let alone as well as you do.
Thank you so much, Tommy. Your words mean a lot. Writing in a language that’s not your native one is challenging, yet much more rewarding, IMO. It forces you to step outside of your thoughts, look at them, and repackage them somehow. What’s inside the package never changes, no matter the language. But the package is different. It can be a little frustrating at times, because no matter how much you progress in the command of the language, you can only asymptotically get close to flawnessness — you never quite get there. But flawnessness is boring, isn’t it (lol).
...so many cool ideas in here bud...only taking umbrage with one thing...eggplants may indeed hold epiphanies...or not :)...what i love about this story though is how many ways he got away from himself to become himself, from following an epiphany into removing himself from his native language...every step of removal made him a better writer...good reminder that just because we are doing things the way that we are that there might yet still be some better way to drag more out of our fingers...
You nailed it, CansaFis. I guess I would only replace “better way” with “more comfortable way”. At the end of the day he went through that to be able to feel good about his own writing. And that’s the key, to me: please yourself before anyone else. The rest will follow. Thank you for this beautiful comment, my friend.
Also, every moment of contemplation (or so I want to believe, since I'm resisting to write and don't want to call it a writer's block). Highly recommend an book by Enrique Vilamatas called Bartleby and Co.
Wonderful piece. Murakami is my favourite author and I have always been fascinated by his baseball origin story. His prose and style are unique and I can never pinpoint precisely what it is that elicits a kind of uncanny response in my brain when reading his work.
I have only read a small selection of your work so far, but in no way would I think you are writing under a limited vocabulary. Your writing is marvellous, fluid, poetic, entrancing. Whatever you do, don't stop!!
Thank you so much, Nathan! Murakami is a delightful mystery, to me. That's maybe the reason why I love his writing and stories. You said it perfectly yourself: "I can never pinpoint precisely what it is that elicits a kind of uncanny response in my brain when reading his work". I couldn't have put it better.
And thank you for your super kind words, really! Being here on Substack and interacting with awesome writers like yourself is an inspiration and a push for me to evolve. I guess the key thing, at least for me, is to be in perpetual motion towards a destination that keeps moving farther and farther. :)
I'm working on the opposite: writing a novel in Spanish as if it had been translated with all that unnecessary sophistication of Spanish from Spain that sounds tacky and feels like a thick pink frosting. I want the reader to feel the lousy translations we get from foreign novels.
Fascinating story Silvio! Didn't know all that, thank you for sharing it.
Also interesting musings about language. I also haven't ventured properly writing in Spanish, and, along with your reasons, in my case it also has a certain dash of "malinchismo", this going against your roots. Something I think about a lot and have remedying (or going 180) in the last years.
Thank you, Oscar. Yes, this going back and forth between native and non native language has been a constant of my life. I have settled with English for now, and am happy with it. I wouldn’t have met you guys otherwise! Reading Murakami’s story made me want to try to go back to Italian and see how my prose gets affected. Eventually, I will try.
Thank you so much, Jean. Your comment means a lot. I try to write the way I think and speak. So far, it’s been surprisingly satisfying. Hopefully it’ll stay this way.
Beautiful piece Silvio. I was shocked that you consider your writing in English simple since I always find it so eloquent and fluid and clear and beautiful. It’s so impressive to be able to write in two languages, let alone as well as you do.
Thank you so much, Tommy. Your words mean a lot. Writing in a language that’s not your native one is challenging, yet much more rewarding, IMO. It forces you to step outside of your thoughts, look at them, and repackage them somehow. What’s inside the package never changes, no matter the language. But the package is different. It can be a little frustrating at times, because no matter how much you progress in the command of the language, you can only asymptotically get close to flawnessness — you never quite get there. But flawnessness is boring, isn’t it (lol).
...so many cool ideas in here bud...only taking umbrage with one thing...eggplants may indeed hold epiphanies...or not :)...what i love about this story though is how many ways he got away from himself to become himself, from following an epiphany into removing himself from his native language...every step of removal made him a better writer...good reminder that just because we are doing things the way that we are that there might yet still be some better way to drag more out of our fingers...
You nailed it, CansaFis. I guess I would only replace “better way” with “more comfortable way”. At the end of the day he went through that to be able to feel good about his own writing. And that’s the key, to me: please yourself before anyone else. The rest will follow. Thank you for this beautiful comment, my friend.
"Every step of removal made him a better writer." Epic words
Totally
Also, every moment of contemplation (or so I want to believe, since I'm resisting to write and don't want to call it a writer's block). Highly recommend an book by Enrique Vilamatas called Bartleby and Co.
Sorry, I missed this comment somehow. Will check it out, Margarita. Thank you!
I love that Murakami story.
It is quite something, isn’t it. Thanks for reading, Clancy!
Wonderful piece. Murakami is my favourite author and I have always been fascinated by his baseball origin story. His prose and style are unique and I can never pinpoint precisely what it is that elicits a kind of uncanny response in my brain when reading his work.
I have only read a small selection of your work so far, but in no way would I think you are writing under a limited vocabulary. Your writing is marvellous, fluid, poetic, entrancing. Whatever you do, don't stop!!
Thank you so much, Nathan! Murakami is a delightful mystery, to me. That's maybe the reason why I love his writing and stories. You said it perfectly yourself: "I can never pinpoint precisely what it is that elicits a kind of uncanny response in my brain when reading his work". I couldn't have put it better.
And thank you for your super kind words, really! Being here on Substack and interacting with awesome writers like yourself is an inspiration and a push for me to evolve. I guess the key thing, at least for me, is to be in perpetual motion towards a destination that keeps moving farther and farther. :)
Right back at you, I feel the same. A pleasure to have discovered your writing.
Here's to perpetual motion in writing!
I'm working on the opposite: writing a novel in Spanish as if it had been translated with all that unnecessary sophistication of Spanish from Spain that sounds tacky and feels like a thick pink frosting. I want the reader to feel the lousy translations we get from foreign novels.
Sounds like an interesting experiment. When are you planning to get that out?
Fascinating story Silvio! Didn't know all that, thank you for sharing it.
Also interesting musings about language. I also haven't ventured properly writing in Spanish, and, along with your reasons, in my case it also has a certain dash of "malinchismo", this going against your roots. Something I think about a lot and have remedying (or going 180) in the last years.
Thank you, Oscar. Yes, this going back and forth between native and non native language has been a constant of my life. I have settled with English for now, and am happy with it. I wouldn’t have met you guys otherwise! Reading Murakami’s story made me want to try to go back to Italian and see how my prose gets affected. Eventually, I will try.
Ok then, I’m switching to Italian. Where do I start?
Lol Rick. I’ll have to be your personal instructor then. :) Grazie!
Thank you so much, Jean. Your comment means a lot. I try to write the way I think and speak. So far, it’s been surprisingly satisfying. Hopefully it’ll stay this way.