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 Alexakis’ first work to appear in English. It was published in the US with help from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the French ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States.
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Famous quotes containing the word background:
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
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“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
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“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
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