Switching Languages - by Steven G Kellman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Though it is difficult enough to write well in one's native tongue, an extraordinary group of authors has written enduring poetry and prose in a second, third, or even fourth language. Switching Languages is the first anthology in which translingual authors from throughout the world examine their experiences writing in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one. Driven by factors as varied as migration, imperialism, a quest for verisimilitude, and a desire to assert artistic autonomy, translingualism has a long and brilliant history. In Switching Languages, Steven G. Kellman brings together several notable authors from the past one hundred years who discuss their personal translingual experiences and their take on a general phenomenon that has not received the attention it deserves. Contributors to the book include Chinua Achebe, Julia Alvarez, Mary Antin, Elias Canetti, Rosario Ferré, Ha Jin, Salman Rushdie, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Ilan Stavans. They offer vivid testimony to the challenges and achievements of literary translingualism.

Review Quotes

""Switching Languages" shows that the choice to write in a language other than one's home language is not innocent. It imbricates an author's allegiance and loyalty to his or her native language, identity, history, and native discourse community. This choice can be both liberating and constraining, elating and painful. Kellman has put together in this reader a rich mix of perspectives and life trajectories from authors who write across various languages."--Claire J. Kramsch, author of "Language Acquisition and Language Socialization: Ecological Perspectives."

"Kellman has put together an impressive collection of different voices that illuminate the various, often controversial approaches to translingualism." --Rainer Schulte, "World Literature Today,"

"Steven Kellman (2003), is an established authority in the field of "translingual writing," i.e. writing in more than one language or in the language that is not one's mother tongue. The distinguishing features of his collection are its unique breadth and comprehensiveness, the absence of the usual suspects such as Eva Hoffman or Richard Rodriguez whose work can found in a variety of other collections, the presence of less familiar to the American reader, but nonetheless important literary figures such as Andr??? Brink or Assia Djebar, and a skilful mix of autobiographic reflections with poetry, polemic essays, and interviews conducted by the editor himself. Some of the texts have been translated specifically for this edition."

"An interesting subject is considered from many angles in this volume, making for an interesting anthology."--"The Complete Review"

"Switching Languages shows that the choice to write in a language other than one's home language is not innocent. It imbricates an author's allegiance and loyalty to his or her native language, identity, history, and native discourse community. This choice can be both liberating and constraining, elating and painful. Kellman has put together in this reader a rich mix of perspectives and life trajectories from authors who write across various languages."

About the Author

Steven G. Kellman is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is the author of The Translingual Imagination (Nebraska 2000) and The Self-Begetting Novel, and is the co-editor of UnderWords: Perspectives on Don DeLillo's Underworld.