Movements between languages and histories in the autobiographies of Vladimir Nabokov, Georges Perec and Patrick Chamoiseau
Journal: Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford)
Year: 2014

What does it mean to link one's own history to that of another person or group of people? In what sense can a given history be 'one's own' or 'another's'? This thesis investigates movements between histories in three autobiographical texts which confront intergenerational shifts in language, triggered by the legacies of violent histories. Nabokov charts his movement from the Russian to the English language against the backdrop of the October Revolution, the Second World War and the Cold War. Per