This is not me, or who am I?
"A fellow expat once said to me that people of our generation who have stayed in Russia don't think about the Soviet Union as intensely as we who have moved to America do. I think this difference has to do with our liminal space of language, our emotional core, which connects us to the fall, keeps us thinking about the place, keeps us building stories."
И далее здесь:
http://www.themillions.com/2013/09/calling-my-grandmother-or-why-i-write-fiction.html
What can I say...
I don't feel that I belong to that generation.. and I do at the same time, I didn't come to America when I was 12 or 13 or even 20. I came here at the age of almost 30. I am very sensitive about the language and I've always liked to play with different languages a lot. Unlike many Soviet kids, especially in places other than Moscow, I got some exposure to native English and Polish-speakers from the early age on, all thanks to my father's efforts. I started touring Europe at 12 and was absorbing different languages, accents, and mentalities, still remaining whom I was. By no means I feel here like a mid-aged guy who sees no future just because it's too late. It's just that I can't find any similar cases among my friends and acquaintances. No one to point at and say to myself, "well, I'm just like him or her." Still, my wife's friends' circle along with the Russian (or former Soviet) Amercian circle, the Yiddish-ists, theater and music circle, and several others, represented by the mainly American-born, non-Eastern European folks,- all help me to stay afloat socially and not to feel alone.
И далее здесь:
http://www.themillions.com/2013/09/calling-my-grandmother-or-why-i-write-fiction.html
What can I say...
I don't feel that I belong to that generation.. and I do at the same time, I didn't come to America when I was 12 or 13 or even 20. I came here at the age of almost 30. I am very sensitive about the language and I've always liked to play with different languages a lot. Unlike many Soviet kids, especially in places other than Moscow, I got some exposure to native English and Polish-speakers from the early age on, all thanks to my father's efforts. I started touring Europe at 12 and was absorbing different languages, accents, and mentalities, still remaining whom I was. By no means I feel here like a mid-aged guy who sees no future just because it's too late. It's just that I can't find any similar cases among my friends and acquaintances. No one to point at and say to myself, "well, I'm just like him or her." Still, my wife's friends' circle along with the Russian (or former Soviet) Amercian circle, the Yiddish-ists, theater and music circle, and several others, represented by the mainly American-born, non-Eastern European folks,- all help me to stay afloat socially and not to feel alone.