Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft
2005; University of Arkansas Press; Volume: 39; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2374-6629
Autores Tópico(s)Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity
ResumoSteven G. Kellman. Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. xix + 339 pp. $55.00 cloth; $19.95 paper. In Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft, first anthology of its kind, Steven Kellmann includes essays, poems, introductions to books, memoirs, interviews, lectures-even an Esperanto manifesto-by modern and contemporary writers from around globe, such as Chinua Achebe, Salman Rushdie, Mary Antin, Elias Canetti, Julia Alvarez, Chang-Rae Lee, and Leopold Sedar Senghor, among many others. The tremendous palette of languages represented in this collection includes Afrikaans, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Esperanto, French, Frisian, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Igbo, Irish, Kannada, Kikuyu, Korean, Malayalam, Serer, Spanish, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Yiddish. Kellman, in preface, defines translingual authors as those who write in more than language or in language other than their primary one (ix). Many, especially in United States and United Kingdom, are simply in awe of translingual writers, for native English-speakers rarely write in different language. This phenomenon is quite common in rest of world, however, where numerous countries employ two or more official languages. In Switzerland, for example, where official languages are German, French, Italian, and Romansh, students are required to learn as many as four languages by time they enter high school. Kellmann tells us that of world's population is at least bilingual. And, although it is difficult enough to write in one's own language, few gifted individuals can create literature of highest caliber not only in their native tongues but also in second, third, or even fourth language. Kellman labels these writers the prodigies of world literature. The most famous translingual is, of course, Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote stunning works in Russian, French, and English. Other prominent translinguals include Joseph Conrad, Samuel Beckett, and Milan Kundera. But in addition to translingual superstars, there are numerous contemporary writers who choose to abandon their own language in order to write in another or who decide to write in several languages, selecting language from their linguistic repertoire for specific purpose or project. The organizing principle of this anthology, writes Kellman, reflects a spectrum of responses to translingualism, from affirmation through lamentation to rejection (xviii). The individual chapters each address distinct aspect of translingualism: Proclamations, Conversions, Between Languages, Controversies, Deprivations, and Resistance. Also, because scholarship of translingualism is relatively new, Kellman, in his introduction, provides reader with brief history of translingualism, reaching as far back as mythical Babel, where, fragmented among different tongues, human beings first found need to use more than one (xi-xii). Every piece in this collection is prefaced by brief introduction of its author. As collection, pieces illustrate journey that translingualism involves: from mystery of first hearing different tongue, excitement of mastering foreign language, impact of new language on self of speaker, to imperialism and its linguistic legacy, translingualism and its influence on Indian and African literature, and translingualism and prospects of world language. What I first recognized was not language, but tone of voice, serious, urgent, something important and top secret being said, some uncle in trouble, someone divorcing, someone dead. Say it in English so children won't understand (71). These lines, taken from Julia Alvarez's essay, My English, describe child's first encounter with English language. …
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