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Foreign Words
''Foreign Words'' is a novel by Greek author Vassilis Alexakis that tells the story of middle-aged writer Nicolaides and his decision to learn the African language Sango following the death of his father. The novel was originally published in 2002 in France as ''Les mots étrangers'', where it was short-listed for the Renaudot Prize and the Interallié Prize. It was then translated by the author and was published in 2004 as ''Oi xenes lexeis'' in Greece, where it won the prize for best Greek novel of the year. The English translation ''Foreign Words'' was done by Alyson Waters and was published by Autumn Hill Books in 2006. Background Vassilis Alexakis, like his protagonist Nicolaides, is a Greek writer who relocated to France, writing and translating between his native and adopted languages. The inspiration for ''Foreign Words'' comes from his own experience studying Sango after the death of his father in 1995. Foreign Words, published by Autumn Hill Books in 2006, is Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vassilis Alexakis
Vassilis Alexakis ( el, Βασίλης Αλεξάκης; 25 December 1943 – 11 January 2021) was a Greek- French writer and self-translator of numerous novels in Greek, his mother tongue, and French. Biography Alexakis, the son of actor Giannis Alexakis, was born in Greece. He first came to France in 1961 to study journalism at the university in Lille and returned to Greece in 1964 to perform his military service. Because of the military junta he went into exile to Paris in 1968 and stayed. He spent most of his time in Paris but also travelled regularly to Greece. Part of his experiences of his military service in the experimental Armed Forces Television (TED) was depicted in the cult Greek 1984 film ''Loafing and Camouflage'', directed by Nikos Perakis, who served alongside Alexakis in TED. Alexakis' analogue is Pvt. Savidis, played by Giannis Chatziyannis. In his literary work he continued to draw from both Greek and French culture. In 1974 he published his first book ''Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sango Language
Sango (also spelled Sangho) is the primary language spoken in the Central African Republic and also the official language of the country. It is used as a lingua franca across the country and had 450,000 native speakers in 1988. It also has 1.6 million second language speakers. Sango is a creole based on the Northern Ngbandi language. It was used as a trade language along the Ubangi River prior to French colonisation in the 1880s. In colloquial speech 90% of the language's vocabulary is Sango, whereas in more technical speech French loanwords constitute the majority. Classification Some linguists, following William J. Samarin, classify it as a Ngbandi-based creole; however, others (like Marcel Diki-Kidiri, Charles H. Morrill) reject that classification and say that changes in Sango structures (both internally and externally) can be explained quite well without a creolization process. According to the creolization hypothesis, Sango is exceptional in that it is an African- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renaudot Prize
The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or Prix Renaudot () is a French literary award. History The prize was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt. While not officially related to the Prix Goncourt, it remains a complement to it: The Prix Renaudot laureate is announced at the same time and place as the Prix Goncourt, namely on the first Tuesday of November at the Drouant restaurant in Paris. The Renaudot jurors always pick an alternative laureate in case their first choice is awarded the Prix Goncourt. The prize is named after Théophraste Renaudot, who created the first French newspaper in 1631. In 2013, the Prix Redaudot ''essay'' revived the career of Gabriel Matzneff, which collapsed in 2020 as his pedophilia – long known and defended by his literary peers, including the Renaudot jurors – became more widely known through a report of one of his victims, Vanessa Springora. In the view of ''The New York Times'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Endowment For The Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government by an act of the U.S. Congress, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 29, 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 951). It is a sub-agency of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The NEA has its offices in Washington, D.C. It was awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1995, as well as the Special Tony Award in 2016. In 1985, the NEA won an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its work with the American Film Institute in the identification, acquisition, restoration and preservation of historic films. In 2016 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about . , it had an estimated population of around million. , the Central African Republic is the scene of a civil war, ongoing since 2012. Most of the Central African Republic consists of Sudano-Guinean savannas, but the country also includes a Sahelo- Sudanian zone in the north and an equatorial forest zone in the south. Two-thirds of the country is within the Ubangi River basin (which flows into the Congo), while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari, which flows into Lake Chad. What is today the Central African Republic has been inhabited for millennia; however, the country's current borders were established by Fran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Novels
Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: * Greeks, an ethnic group. * Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. ** Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. ** Mycenaean Greek, most ancient attested form of the language (16th to 11th centuries BC). ** Ancient Greek, forms of the language used c. 1000–330 BC. ** Koine Greek, common form of Greek spoken and written during Classical antiquity. ** Medieval Greek or Byzantine Language, language used between the Middle Ages and the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. ** Modern Greek, varieties spoken in the modern era (from 1453 AD). * Greek alphabet, script used to write the Greek language. * Greek Orthodox Church, several Churches of the Eastern Orthodox Church. * Ancient Greece, the ancient civilization before the end of Antiquity. * Old Greek, the language as spoken from Late Antiquity to around 1500 AD. Ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novels Set In Greece
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
