A01=Kathleen Saint-Onge
Author_Kathleen Saint-Onge
Category=CFDM
Category=DNC
Category=JBFK1
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_dictionaries-language-reference
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Product details
- ISBN 9780773541191
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 14 Mar 2013
- Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
- Publication City/Country: CA
- Product Form: Hardback
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Written by a survivor of childhood abuse, this moving memoir traces the influence of the author's mother tongue in the formation of her identity, and the role her second language played in providing a psychological sanctuary. Kathleen Saint-Onge reflects on the ambiguities of growing up in a primarily French household while attending English schools as she richly recounts the emotional gains and losses of a life lived in two languages. A testament to the power of language in determining feelings of belonging or alienation, Bilingual Being also presents a portrait of the 1960s in Quebec and the changing role of the Catholic Church. Depicting with warmth and humour her own developing independence gained at school, Saint-Onge reveals the tensions between the social world of her evolving English and her deep roots in French-speaking Quebec City. It is an exploration of hope where language provides an escape from traumatic memories and a chance to reconstruct a secure sense of self. Bilingual Being is a superbly crafted autobiography that seamlessly moves from the remembrance of abuse to observations of living bilingualism and the gradual unfolding of recovery in adulthood.
It is a compelling, beautiful, and brave narrative that tells a wider story about human resilience and the impact of language in creating new possibilities for life.
Kathleen Saint-Onge, a linguist and language teacher, is also a PhD candidate in education at York University. She lives in Toronto.
