Hamilton Books
Pages: 130
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7618-6846-0 • Paperback • November 2016 • $34.99 • (£30.00)
978-0-7618-6847-7 • eBook • November 2016 • $33.00 • (£25.00)
Matthew J. Motyka, S.J. is Associate Professor of Romance Languages in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at the University of San Francisco where he directs the French and Italian programs. He holds a doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Jesuit priest, member of the California Province.
Acknowledgments
A Note on Translations
Prologue
One: When Life Was a French Dream
Two: Outpouring of the Dream into Real Life
Three: The Dream Becoming Flesh
Four: Rolling in the Deep
Five: Saint Louis de Gonzague: Foreshadowing
Six: San Francisco: New World, New Life
Seven: O Beautiful!
Eight: From Illusion to the Truth
Nine: A Coda: The Idiom of the Human Heart
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Matthew Motyka’s fascinating reflections on the transformative nature of living life multilingually and multiculturally are as engaging as they are edifying. Tracing his lifelong journey of “continual beginnings” and encountering otherness (from Polish to French, English, Spanish, and Italian), his story is one of courtship—with languages, ideas, and ways of being that ultimately deepen Motyka’s capacity for spirituality. A literary and personal peregrination that will reward all readers curious about language, culture, and faith.
— Richard Kern, Director of Berkeley Language Center
This book is a unique, rich blend of deep scholarship and generously shared personal narrative. In it, Matthew Motyka compellingly depicts his complex, ever-evolving, international, multicultural, multilingual life and identity. The three greatest “calls” of his life have been that of the French language, literature, and culture; that of the life of the intellect, and that of Jesuit spirituality. The book is suffused with the author’s deep knowledge of, and search for transcendence through, languages, cultures, literature, and religion. It is written engagingly and accessibly, and will appeal both to fellow scholars and to the general reader.
— Stephanie Vandrick, University of San Francisco
Matthew Motyka's lovely narrative embodies and brings to life the adage that 'the person who speaks two languages is two persons." Assuming there is a real person behind every language one speaks, Matthew gifts us with a wisdom, a clarity, a delicacy, and a humanity which, in their blessed aggregate, both ennoble and inspire. Part autobiography, part spiritual journal, and part prophecy, he has provided a refreshing oasis for every cultural pilgrim. The journey, his journey, is well worth it.
— Bishop Gordon Bennett, S.J., Bishop Emeritus of Mandeville