Aesthetics and Politics of Literary Multilingualism at NeMLA Convention, April 7-10, 2011 at Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
Literary multilingualism has an ancient and continuous history and yet scholars and critics have taken up this issue only intermittently. This panel aims to discuss recent theories of literary multilingualism, its aesthetic elements and political implications as well as specific examples able to provide relevant models of analysis.
Issues to be addressed include:
Definitions of literary multilingualism; criteria and categories that can be employed in the analysis of interferences among languages in literary texts; writers' premises of mixing and/ or choosing languages (e.g., what is hybrid in their style: syntax, rhetoric, motives, sound?; do they link particular languages to specific registers - literary, colloquial, technical - or to specific genres and/or styles?); implied ideas of foreigness and hybridity; the ways in which multilingual texts 'disturb' the anticipated homogeneity of national languages and their broader (political) implications.
Discussions of multilingualism are usually conducted within the boundaries of national literatures and departments but the NEMLA should offer an ideal opportunity to compare and exchange approaches and strategies among scholars of different literatures.
Please send abstract (200-300 words) to Paola Gambarota: firstname.lastname@example.org
Deadline: September 30, 2010