Abstract
This essay traces the global development of translingual literature in order to confront the pervasive myth of the monolingual paradigm which insists that meaningful interaction can only occur in one language at a time in a given context. This paper shows that this Eurocentric mindset persists in translingual literature, negatively affecting critical accounts of translingual authors whose work falls outside of monolingual parameters. It offers a more appropriate account of a few of these authors, who use their writing to actively work against the monolingual paradigm and promote linguistic diversity. These authors employ translingualism as a necessary tool of identity expression, refusing to reshape themselves to the standards of a monolingual cultural purity. By prioritizing their own hybrid voices, translingual authors put the onus of comprehension on their readers, inverting the paradigm of monolingualism by denying easy access to the monolingual reader. It will focus especially on Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros, whose hybrid identity is a driving force in her work, and who uses translingualism especially in her poetry, to fully express her dual identity.
Highlights
For the better part of the last fifty years of literary criticism, postcolonial theory has made everstronger demands on the work of pre-existing theories, refining and interrogating them to reveal the myriad ways Eurocentrism and Colonialism permeate academic thought, like the pervasive paradigm of monolingualism
The paradigm of monolingualism insists that meaningful interaction can only occur in one language at a time in a given context
Revolting against the paradigm of monolingualism, Cisneros uses translingualism to invite her audiences into a space of fluidity and acceptance that rejects power binaries
Summary
Translingualism as Creative Revolt: Rewriting Dominant Narratives of Translingual Literature Hannah Tate Williams FORUM: University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture & the Arts 30 Spring 2020 22/07/2020 Manon Berset. FORUM claims non-exclusive rights to reproduce this article electronically (in full or in part) and to publish this work in any such media current or later developed. Any latter publication shall recognise FORUM as the original publisher. Translingualism as Creative Revolt: Rewriting Dominant Narratives of Translingual Literature
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