{"product_id":"9781501318979","title":"Wanderwords : Language Migration in American Literature","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Maria Lauret\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow do (im)migrant writers negotiate their representation of a multilingual world for a monolingual audience? Does their English betray the presence of another language, is that other language erased, or does it appear here and there, on special occasions for special reasons? Do words and meanings wander from one language and one self to another? Do the psychic and cultural worlds of different languages split apart or merge? What is the aesthetic effect of such wandering, splitting, or merging? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Usually described as “code-switches” by linguists, fragments of other languages have wandered into American literature in English from the beginning. \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e asks what, in the memoirs, poems, essays, and fiction of a variety of twentieth and twenty first century writers, the function and meaning of such language migration might be. It shows what there is to be gained if we learn to read migrant writing with an eye, and an ear, for linguistic difference and it concludes that, freighted with the other-cultural meanings wrapped up in their different looks and sounds, wanderwords can perform wonders of poetic signification as well as cultural critique. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Bringing together literary and cultural theory with linguistics as well as the theory and history of migration, and with psychoanalysis for its understanding of the  multilingual unconscious, \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e engages closely with the work of well-known and  unheard-of writers such as Mary Antin and Eva Hoffman, Richard Rodriguez and Junot Díaz, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Bharati Mukherjee, Edward Bok and Truus van Bruinessen, Susana Chávez-Silverman and Gustavo Perez-Firmat, Pietro DiDonato and Don DeLillo. In so doing, a poetics of multilingualism unfolds that stretches well beyond translation into the lingual contact zone of English-with-other-languages that is American literature, belatedly re-connecting with the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Maria Lauret's \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e, its title derived from Quintilian, is anything but a dry exercise in rhetoric. Focusing on the many non-English words and phrases that have migrated into and become part of English-language texts, \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e offers an unusual and fascinating entry point to major works by American writers who are concerned with migration and come from various migratory family backgrounds. Meticulously researched, \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e examines major works from Mary Antin to Junot Díaz and from Richard Rodriguez to Bharati Mukherjee. In her lively prose Maria Lauret conveys many fresh and often paradoxical insights, as she shows her audience how to read creatively and multllingually. \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e presents American literature in a new key.” —\u003ci\u003eWerner Sollors, Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University, USA\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“From the formation of her argument, to the selection and reading of texts, \u003ci\u003eWanderwords \u003c\/i\u003eis an original and brilliant application of critical acumen.  After raising important questions, the answers Lauret pursues provide us with innovative ways of reading bi- and multilingual literature. This work transcends previous efforts in literary criticism and the art of translation to make sense out of the other languages that have appeared in U.S. American literature. New ideas require new words so Lauret forges the intriguing “linguascape,” along with phrases like heterolingual aesthetics.  Her style of writing is engaging and creates readings that turn tired heads in new directions. This is criticism with a future, making new ways of reading old texts that have become, if not part of the mainstream canon, then certainly part of the American ethnic canon.  She also introduces new and previously untouched works that resonate well in the critical tune she composes. Lauret teaches us a way of reading multicultural literature that should become basic practice for future responses to bi- and multi-lingual texts. Her sharp and smart insights are savvy to the way languages work to divide, conquer and ultimately reconnect us to the humanity we all share.” —\u003ci\u003eFred Gardaphe, Distinguished Professor English and Italian American Studies, Queens College, CUNY, USA\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An impressive and well-written book that will be a major contribution to American literary studies and beyond. Maria Lauret deploys the term 'wanderwords' to weave a conceptually rich analysis of writers and writing where the movements and relationships between languages are given their rightful, central place.” —\u003ci\u003eBill Marshall, Professor of Comparative Literary \u0026amp; Cultural Studies, University of Stirling, UK\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Maria Lauret's \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003ci\u003e Language Migration in American Literature \u003c\/i\u003eis a fascinating exploration of the ways in which exciting new interpretative insights can be gained from a multilingual poetics. A must for all libraries.” —\u003ci\u003eSusan Castillo Street, Harriet Beecher Stowe Emeritus Professor of American Studies, King's College London, UK\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Lauret argues that words have 'immigrated' into the English of American literature-'wanderwords' is her translation of Quintilian's term '\u003ci\u003everba peregrina\u003c\/i\u003e.' ... The introduction is wide-ranging and cites various terms that might be synonymous, or overlapping.  Lauret uses several postmodern literary and linguistic theories to assert how employing other languages is not code-switching but instead multilingual aesthetics that disrupt and shift power structures.  \u003ci\u003eWanderwords\u003c\/i\u003e starts with early-20th-century authors, then settles on late-20th-century \"brown\" writers (Richard Rodriguez's term).  Interesting, dense, and profoundly nonlinear, the book includes an excellent bibliography and sources. \u003cb\u003eSumming Up\u003c\/b\u003e: Recommended. With reservations. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.” —\u003ci\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781501318979\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40648045592782,"sku":"9781501318979","price":46.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_dda0ee45-609e-46a1-8a13-97a5612f6e9a.jpg?v=1639190206","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781501318979","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}