To the word-woods and back

Multi/trans/no-lingual movements

Abstract

The specific character of “multilingualism” in this auto-analysis is defined by an oscillation between “no-lingualism” and multilingual movements of a transnational writer. I argue that my own writing in English does not merely stem from the fact of my knowing and working in different languages – English, Swedish and Bosnian – but also from specific geographical locations that in themselves contain certain multilingual and translingual movements and histories of languages and national literatures (including Russian, Arabic, and Turkish). Beyond the obvious features like code-switching, which are visually most conspicuous and therefore typically used as indicators of multilingual writing, the intent is to show how historical movements and places shape the main language of my writing (English), as well the style, rhythms, character, and structures. The general core of creativity is proposed to lie more in the continuous osmosis than the deliberate hybridizing of languages and literatures.