Language: The way the novel is written, considering mistranslation and its effect on the novel

Jonathan Safran Foer introduces us to “Everything is Illuminated” with the first chapter, titled
“An Overture to the Commencement of a Very Rigid Journey”, written by a foreign man,
Alexander Perchov, a Ukrainian self-made tourist guide. Both of them are around the same age,
since they were born in 1977. In this first chapter, we can notice that the novel’s protagonist,
Alexander Perchov, called Alex, is marked by a very exceptional use of English. This use of
language can be shown by his mistakes, some of them being often mixes between colloquial with
“fancy” English, applies phrases inappropriately, and uses words one might never use in spoken
contemporary English. The problems start on page one as Foer allows Alexander Perchov to
introduce himself. Here's how we meet him: "My legal name is Alexander Perchov. But all of
my friends dub me Alex because that is a more flaccid-to-utter version of my legal name.” (page
1). Alex uses these inappropriate words thanks – we are supposed to believe – to an over-
dependence on his thesaurus. Throughout the novel, he says "dubbed" instead of "called" as well
as "rigid" instead of "hard", "miniature" for "little"  (as in "miniature brother"). Alex rarely mixes
tense or person or number. He just gets the words one beat wrong.
The spectrum between the two voices that construct the novel highlights the remarkable
versatility of the English language, whose contours become unpredictable in Alex's use of it.
"My legal name is Alexander Perchov" says Alex, and with this introduction, he draws us into a
world of linguistic singularity to continue: "But all of my many friends dub me Alex, because
that is a more flaccid-to-utter version of my legal name. Mother dubs me Alexi-stop-spleening-
me!, because I am always spleening her" (page 1). His English is created out of slang and
impossibly erudite language, evident in such remarks as, "But nonetheless, I know many people
who dig rapid cars and famous discotheques" (page 2). We may perceive as if Alex's language is
the domain of the novel's stylistic creative endeavours, in Jonathan's story, making reality and
reliability become areas in which to assert the power of the imagination. There is also the fact
that Alex occasionally embellishes facts or even lies while translating to Jonathan. Foer's
experimentation with Alex's style includes malapropisms like "rotated" for "turned", "luxuriated"
for "enjoyed", "premium" for "important", or "appeased" for "pleased", used interchangeably in
the way of an English language learner whose attention to vocabulary is ignorant of the context
in which words make meaning. In general, Foer achieves this effect by having Alex use
superlative adjectives and adverbs ("I did not yearn to mention this, but I will" says Alex in a
letter to Jonathan on p.52, and "Enough of my miniature talking," he remarks on (page 53)),
where moderate words would do. He also mixes his adjectives—typically, he says "boring" when
he means “bored". All these collude to create a unique world where either language or/and the
story resist an unambiguous interpretation.An example for this is when he calls his Grandfather’s
dog “bitch”, when he says, “If you’re wondering what my bitch’s name is, it is Sammy Davis,
Junior, Junior. She has this name because Sammy Davis, Junior was Grandfather’s beloved
singer, and the bitch is his, not mine, because I am not the one who thinks he is blind.” (page 1).
Alex is aware about this, he admits that English is not his first language, when he writes a letter
to Jonathan “I hanker for this letter to be good. Like you know, I am not first rate with English.
In Russian my ideas are asserted abnormally well, but my second tongue is not so premium. I
undertaked to input the things you counseled me to, and I fatigued the thesaurus you presented
me as you counseled me to, when my words appeared too petite, or not befitting.” (page 23). We
may perceive that this is the first letter that he writes, since this one is the first letter that appears
in the novel. For all we know, there could be other letters that are not shown in the novel.
Although some words are odd, we get used to them much quicker than we imagine. The way
Alex is described make us be more intrigued about him, because he seems predictable. He
reveals the “real him” throughout the novel, involuntary, making us become knowledgeable that
he is not the “cool kid” as he described himself in the first chapter. He reveals himself to be more
insightful than we expected, because of his limited possibilities. The boundaries of language that
are set up for Alexander, are overcome by him. He seems so “limited” by his language at first.
There’s a strong connection between Alex and Jonathan, that is created by assembling different
text forms together. Language, then, is a welcoming problem, because once it overcomes, it
unites rather than diffuses. Whereas in post-modern point of view, literature language’s ability is
subverted, meaning it is deconstructed and truth is ever displaced. Foer seems to seek strategies
to overcome the limitations of language, while not ignoring them.