L’écrivain désOrienté ou les aspects de l’estitude (Dumitru Tsepeneag, Nancy Huston, Katalin Molnár)

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we aim to study the term Estitude by focusing on books by Dumitru Tsepeneag (The Dustying Word), Katalin Molnár (Lamour Dieu) et Nancy Huston (The Lost North). Coming from three different countries (Romania, Hungary and Canada), these three writers are similar as far as their relation to their new creative language is concerned, in this case French. Making use of the new language first presupposes minimalising the importance of one’s native tongue (Romanian, Hungarian and English), but this minimalisation is inappropriate as it indicates one’s exile. At the same time, adoting the French language may prove to be an opportunity, which allows one to research the origins of writing itself : thus, the exiled writer can profit from lingustic calque, lingustic mistakes, literal translation of proverbs and other expressions of his / her native language, of transcript of orality, etc. Being unable to attach himself/herself to a geographical area, the exiled is condamned to live between two countries (the country of origin and the receiving country), between two languages (the native language and the adopted language) and to suffer from a certain complex of superiority. Having a certain social and political experience, s/he stands out among natives, but s/he always runs the risk of being perceived in the « flagrante delicto of strangeness ».