Abstract

This essay is a reading of the autobiographical book Lost in Translation. A life in a new language (1989) by Eva Hoffman in the context of current discussions of migrant and transcultural literature. The concept of self-translation in Hoffman’s prose goes far beyond the translatological meaning of the term and focuses on the process of language change as an existential transformation. As Hoffman puts it, a self-translation (translation of the self) is necessary in order to no longer have to translate. For Hoffman, this process is inextricably linked to writing. Hoffman’s book came out at a historical turning point, after which questions of migration and mobility would enter a new dimension and produce literature that no longer fits into the paradigm of writing in exile. Hoffman later reflects on this in her essays.