Rebuilding a World That Never Existed
Attempts to reconstruct the past might be doomed to fail, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t noble, or even beautiful.
This week's Atlantic Books section features an article titled "What Remains," exploring the novel "What Remains" written by Brais Lamela in Galician. Lily Meyer, the Atlantic staff writer who shared her expertise in this edition, addresses the motivations behind using a minority language to create a connection with one's roots. She provides examples of other authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and MacDiarmid, who used their native tongues, even though they faced challenges in doing so.
Meyer concludes by emphasizing that such endeavors, though often doomed to fail, are still noble and beautiful, as they strive to inhabit history fully and provide moments of rest and acknowledgment for the unsettled ghosts.
Written by urgent.news from The Atlantic's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
