“Beyond Stories of Struggle and Triumph”: Re-envisioning the American Immigrant Autobiography in Eva Hoffman’s Lost in Translation

Published in 1989, Eva Hoffman’s memoir Lost in Translation precedes the age of increased globalization. Considering the discourse of globalization gained much critical attention in the 1980s, however, the memoir was written during a time global modes of thinking started to emerge in order to grasp a wide range of social phenomena. This essay examines how a growing consciousness of increased global mobility and its implications upon experiences of exile and immigration informs the memoir’s form and content. Historically, the immigrant autobiography has been predominantly understood through the teleology of progress and settlement. I argue that the author’s attempt to give shape to her migratory life that unfolds over three nations calls forth a radical re-envisioning of the American immigrant autobiography. Departing from an emphasis on the teleology of progress and settlement, Lost in Translation asks us to conceive the immigrant experience in more global terms by depicting Hoffman’s migratory life as a growing web of affiliations with diverse Eastern European émigré populations sharing the conditions of exile and emigration.