Imagination, language are immigration's gifts, author says

Amara Lakhous
Robert Barker/University Photography
Author Amara Lakhous speaks about his experience as an immigrant on campus Nov. 4.

Algerian-born author Amara Lakhous calls his recent immigration from his adopted country of Italy to the United States “my third birth.”

“Every immigration is a birth,” he said. “I was born feet-first, which perfectly reflects my destiny my entire life.”

Lakhous came to campus Nov. 4 to speak on “Immigration as a Gift, the Gift of Immigration” – and about his book, “Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio,” the 2014 New Student Reading Project selection at Cornell.

The author moved to New York City in August. “Now, I am a baby. I’m studying English, trying to learn and dream in English,” he said, answering audience questions after his talk.

“The United States is a big laboratory of cultures,” he commented. “People ask me, ‘where are you from?’ – and I’m seeing we are all immigrants, and we are all New Yorkers.”

Born in 1970, he immigrated to Italy in 1995 with the Arabic-language manuscript for his first novel and settled in Rome.

“In Europe I found a new opportunity to live, study, write and dream,” he said. Over the next 18 years, he wove the cultural differences he observed in Italy into his work, often with comic overtones reflecting serious themes. “Clash of Civilizations,” his second novel, was first published in Italian in 2006.

“Anthropologists use the term ‘acculturation’ [in describing] when two cultures meet,” he said. “I tried to take in the best of Algerian culture and Italian culture.”

Lakhous said he “personally experienced the burden and challenge of immigration” and that his father was an exile during the Algerian conflict prior to 1962. “Exile is the worst experience of immigration,” he said.

He also acknowledged that technology has altered the experience for himself and others. He can email, phone or Skype with relatives and friends.

“I am able, as are most immigrants, to maintain a close relationship with my homeland,” Lakhous said.

The two most significant gifts he gained from the immigrant experience, Lakhous said, are imagination and language.

In Italy, he found an intimacy with the language. “I learned new things from idioms and jokes – because you have to understand the context,” he said. “I’d like to add English as my third language of writing. That is my version of the American dream.”

About “Clash of Civilizations,” he said, “I understood it was important to give voice to many characters, because the world is a very complex place. We need a lot of eyes.”

Lakhous is now working on a history of his native country.

“After many years of this distance, I feel that I am now ready to write something about Algeria,” he said in an interview after his talk. “Algeria today isn’t happy about the situation [it is in]. It’s really a rich country with poor people. What’s the cause? Corruption. I’m trying to understand this frustration.”

The 60th anniversary of the Algerian Revolution was Nov. 1, he noted: “After 60 years, we are ready to deal with it.”

Lakhous’ visit was sponsored by the Cornell Institute for European Studies’ Mediterranean Studies Initiative, the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

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