Abstract
The theme of the colloquium will be introduced: the interdisciplinary field of literary multilingualism, which explores texts written in non-native languages, in a mix of languages and alternating languages. It examines a wide range of literary practices from around the globe broadly defined by multilingual and multicultural situations. Besides well-known classics of the last century (e.g., the iconic ‘translingual trinity’: Samuel Beckett, Joseph Conrad, and Vladimir Nabokov), the field has been bulging with new books and new authors on an impressive linguistic and geographic spectrum, triggered by postcolonial and post-Cold War developments, mass migrations, exile, transnational lifestyle, and, most recently, by economic and political globalization. Contemporary translingual or multilingual authors, such as Junot Diaz, Amin Maalouf, Edwidge Danticat, Jumpa Lahiri, reflect these geopolitical issues and echo the voices of immigrant communities and transnational realities across the continents. To represent the field of literary multilingualism in its diversity and to demonstrate how translingual writers (bricoleurs) creatively play with a variety of languages and forms, we will offer three thematic directions and a multilingual poem by a polyglot poet: three in-person and two online presentations.
Presenters
Natasha LvovichEditor in Chief, City University of New York, KIngsborough College, Emerita Professor of English, Journal of Literary Multilingualism, DeGruyter/Brill, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Literary Multilingualism, Multilingual Literature, Translingual Writers, Literature Written in L2
