The outsider often functions as a distorting mirror, though which we can see our own world through new eyes. However, when it is us who are the outsiders, we take on the double task of both cursorily learning about the world we visit while also employing the knowledge and newly gazing upon the place we come from. In his book Cómo viajar sin ver, Andrés Neuman pointed to the fact that Roberto Bolaño was a Chilean who wrote the grand Mexican novel while living in Cataluña. Neuman –Argentinean who has lived much of his life in Andalucía- seems to argue that Bolaño’s penetrating vision of Mexico came thanks to him being at once –a result of years in Mexico City- the insider and the outsider.
Last week friends from Spain visited our home in Boston. They brought a ten-year-old niece for whom the trip was the first time outside of her home country. Somewhat shy at first, she quickly became talkative and her comments and questions had the wonderful effect of transforming the mundane and routine into reflections on lifestyle and culture. In the language and innocence of early adolescence, she wondered about our home, our food, the streets, stores, and styles of dress. When putting answers into words, I struggled to find vocabulary that was at once appropriate and also capable of conveying the complexity of culture in regard to a superficial subject. Needless to say, I failed. It is motivating to speculate on what she’d write about her impressions.
Tomorrow we leave for six weeks in Europe. Time once again to become the outsider. Is there a responsibility in being another’s distorted mirror?
Last week friends from Spain visited our home in Boston. They brought a ten-year-old niece for whom the trip was the first time outside of her home country. Somewhat shy at first, she quickly became talkative and her comments and questions had the wonderful effect of transforming the mundane and routine into reflections on lifestyle and culture. In the language and innocence of early adolescence, she wondered about our home, our food, the streets, stores, and styles of dress. When putting answers into words, I struggled to find vocabulary that was at once appropriate and also capable of conveying the complexity of culture in regard to a superficial subject. Needless to say, I failed. It is motivating to speculate on what she’d write about her impressions.
Tomorrow we leave for six weeks in Europe. Time once again to become the outsider. Is there a responsibility in being another’s distorted mirror?
