Overview

It is difficult to write well even in one language. Yet a rich body of translingual literature - by authors who write in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one - exists. This study opens with an overview of translingual literature, the author then looks at the differences between ambilinguals - those who write authoritatively in more than one language - and monolingual translinguals - those who write in only one language but not their native one. He offers analyses of the translingual situations of African and Jewish authors and of achievements by authors as varied as Antin, Beckett, Begley, Coetzee, Conrad, Hoffman, Nabokov, and Sayles.

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9780803227453

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Reviews

This is a new territory, presented with a breathtakingly global scope. -Werner Sollors, author of Neither Black Nor White Yet Both -- Werner Sollors Steven Kellman's book results in both an innovative introduction to the general phenomenon of translingual literature and in a well-argued case for reading and analyzing individual translingual African and Jewish authors... The Translingual Imagination is a pioneer book in this field, which has long deserved an in-depth study such as this one presented by Kellman. He opens a window of opportunities for those interested in translingual and comparative literature and leaves the reader with a sweet appetite to read works by the writers considered. -E. Nunez-Mendez, South Central Review South Central Review

This is a passionately eloquent narrative of a new translingual world behind the English Curtain. --Times Literary Supplement, 3 November, 2000 Monolingualism is a form of oppression. Join the future, read this book. - Ilan Stavans, editor of 'Mutual Impressions: Writers from the Americas Reading One Another' (Duke University Press) This is a new territory, presented with a breathtakingly global scope. - Werner Sollors, author of 'Neither Black Nor White Yet Both'

Author Information

Steven G. Kellman serves on the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle. He is Ashbel Smith Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and the author or editor of numerous works, including The Self-Begetting Novel and Leslie Fiedler and American Culture.

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