I thought this was going to be a book of poems--it was identified as such here--but I kept reading because I grew up in a colony where the debate over keeping our language (and our culture) or adopting the language of our colonizers. I found this book dense, but relevant as it gives a voice to groups of people whose identities are often swallowed by the more prevalent language and culture that surrounds them.

Admittedly, the book wasn't quite what I expected going into it, but it turned out to be a rather interesting exploration of multiculturalism in North America today. On occasion, Dowling's analysis is occasionally challenging to follow but it's always thought-provoking. Overall, a rewarding read.

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was not at all what I expected it to be. The title was listed under the poetry category on NetGalley, so I was expecting a poetry collection with a multilingual, multicultural theme. However, as I opened the book and began reading, I found that was not at all what this book is about.

After reading about 5% of the way in, I realized this was more of a scholarly article than anything else. There really weren't even any poems presented and then analyzed in paragraphs after them. It was mostly just referencing different works, quoting them at times, and breaking down the multilingualism, or "translingualism" as it's referred to in the book, and what it means in a broader social context.

Although I'm frustrated that I was misled by this book, I'm glad that I read it. I've said it a hundred times before and I'll say it again: I'm studying to become a Spanish-to-English literary translator, so having read works like Translingual Poetics has helped to broaden my knowledge on this subject in ways that I never would have in my undergraduate program. I appreciate that Dowling uses many examples of authors and works from recent decades, even though I had not previously heard of any of them. It's a refreshing break from only talking about the classics in my coursework.

So you may be wondering what translingualism is since it's not a common term in everyday language. In fact, I had never heard of it before picking up this book, and looking to find out what it meant was part of the reason I requested it. Since the book essentially uses its 240 pages to explain all facets of translingualism, I'll simply explain here that it is an alternative term for multilingualism that doesn't carry the same connotations that often get in the way when using it to describe creative works. As Dowling puts it, "... the term multilingual is ... increasingly critiqued because it simply describes the coexistence of languages ... and is generally silent about the relationships between them. I use the term translingual... because it describes the capacity of languages to interact, influence, and transform one another."

Honestly, this is not something I've thought about before. Of course, I can't say that's surprising considering I'm still completing my undergraduate work which focuses more on Spanish language and the cultures associated with it and less on linguistics as a whole. But the arguments that Dowling makes in this piece are interesting and thought-provoking.

The wide array of cultural backgrounds mentioned throughout the analysis and the in-depth examination of the social, political, historical, and linguistic reasoning behind using two or more languages interchangeably in one body of work was absolutely fascinating to my language-loving brain. The reason I knocked a star off of the rating is because there were times in the text when I had trouble understanding what Dowling was trying to say. This could simply be due to the fact that it's written for an audience with a more scholarly background than I have, but it was disappointing nonetheless because it brought me out of focus several times and I was genuinely interested in the subject.

Final thought: Is this something that my typical followers would like to read? Probably not. However, I still recommend it because it's a fascinating subject, and if you are interested in linguistics, it's worth the read!

Translingual Poetics
Writing Personhood Under Settler Colonialism

by Sarah Dowling



University of Iowa Press

University Of Iowa Press

Nonfiction (Adult) , Poetry

Pub Date 03 Dec 2018



I am reviewing a copy of Translingual Poetics Through University of Iowa Press and Netgalley:


From the 1980’s Americans and Canadian poets have increasingly turned away from the use of English instead they have turned to using multiple languages in their poetry. This growing yet under studied body of poetry differs from other multilingual bodies of poetry. Modernist poets offered multilingual displays of literary refinement while contemporary Translingual Poetries are formed by feminist, anti racist, immigrant rights, and ingenious sovereignty moments.



I give Translingual Poetics three out of five stars!

Happy Reading

A very in depth and enlightening discussion regarding poetry that breaks the monolinguist idea of North American culture. This is a very enjoyable but complex analysis that anyone who loves theory or the multicultural culture of North America will definitely want to read.

"This way and ainsi our ancestors formed ce qu'on appelle die Sprache."
- Anne Tardos, "Cat Licked the Garlic"

In this study, Sarah Dowling examines the power of language when it comes to defining personhood: The settlers in North America have imposed their colonial languages on indigenous people, whose native tongues are not recognized as official languages in the U.S. and Canada - with all kinds of consequences. Speaking and understanding a language is instructive when it comes to participation and cultural representation, and speaking or hearing another or a foreign language (in the case of immigrants) evokes reactions and provokes associations. It's these themes that are central to translingual poetics, meaning poetry that defies the monolingual/multilingual binary and recognizes the whole range of competencies across and within languages, thus negotiating social constraints.

Dowling analyses many poems and by that conveys the potential of translingual poetics, for instance by discussing texts by Layli Long Soldier, Myung Mi Kim, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña. In this context, she also highlights the historical, political and social circumstances to which the poets react in manifold ways. In consequence, this means that Dowling questions how the settler, the native, and the immigrant are defined as people through language, how participaton, personhood and language are connected.

The only question that left me wondering is that there is a necessity for a common language in order to keep democracy running - how do you do justice to native and other languages under settler colonialism? It's not Dowling's task to answer that question, but it seems important to discuss it.

On another note, the cover proves that scientific books can be smart AND look nice - we need more of that. A very worthwhile read.