What Are We Talking about When We Talk about Translingualism in Poetry?

• In Event: Transnational and Translingual Poetics

Abstract

The word “translingualism” has been making an appearance next to “transnationalism” in the contemporary discourse of poetry. However, its meaning is not always as clearly delineated as one might desire. This paper attempts to outline a basic glossary of concepts and challenges for reading poetry which negotiates between different linguistic, poetic, and cultural systems. What types of linguistic border-crossing take place in poetry? How does poetry register linguistic, poetic and cultural difference and what does it mean by doing so? Can translingualism in poetry be related to the special characteristics of ordinary language usage among multilinguals? Does translingual poetry need to code-switch? What are the relationships between translingualism and translation, translingualism and the metalinguistic function, and translingualism and the foregrounding of linguistic materiality? What is the relationship among translingualism, national literature and globalization? Is translingualism elitist or democratic? Is translingualism a method for reading poetry or for writing poetry?

Author

• Eugene Ostashevsky, New York U