Coming of Age among Multiple Languages: Exploring the ‘Polyglot’ as an Intersectional Subject in Claudia Durastanti’s La Straniera (2019)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Claudia Durastanti belongs to a new generation of Italian writers who embrace life on the move, writing outside of the borders of Italy and living between different languages and cultures. Durastanti’s memoir, La straniera (2019), is the personal story of the writer moving between New York, Basilicata, Rome, and London. The constant code-switching due to the author’s double nationality is also entangled in the sign language spoken by Durastanti’s deaf mother. By analysing Durastanti’s linguistic coming of age through a second language and the relationship with her mother, this article aims to discuss the writer’s position as a polyglot as well as a nomadic subject. In the representation offered by Durastanti, Italian culture and language do not prevail over other languages and cultures but interact with them, contributing to the creation of a new intersectional subjectivity.