Altering language, transforming literature: Translingualism and literary self-translation in Zinaida Lindén’s fiction

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the Russian and Finland-Swedish writer Zinaida Lindén’s debut novel I väntan på en jordbävning (Waiting for an earthquake, 2004). Lindén was born in Leningrad, studied Swedish at Leningrad State University and immigrated in 1991 to Finland, where she began writing translingual fiction in Swedish. She has published some of her texts in Russian in self-translation. The article compares I väntan på en jordbävning and its Russian edition V ozhidanii zemletriaseniia (2005) with a focus on translingual and transcultural aspects. When viewed as a whole consisting of two versions (one in Swedish and the other in Russian), the novel belies the traditional dichotomy between “original” and “translation”. Self-translation in this context offers a form of cultural mediation between two (or more) target languages and cultures. The analysis shows that translingual writing and self-translation constitute an integral part of the creation and poetics of Lindén’s novel.