Reading Novels Translingually

"Julie Hansen reads novels-by Olga Grushin, Andreï Makine, Michael Idov, Olga Grjasnowa, Zinaida Lindéeacute;n, Rabih Alameddine, Leo Tolstoy, and Eugene Vodolazkin—translingually, in readings that are incisive, subtle, and supple. Navigating among overlapping instances of multilingualism, translingualism, and translation, she shifts the usual focus from authors to the reading experience. Her novel accounts of how multiple languages challenge and enrich our reading propel Hansen to the forefront of the burgeoning international community of scholars of literary multilingualism."  

— Steven G. Kellman, Author, The Translingual Imagination and Nimble Tongues; Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Texas at San Antonio

“At a moment when we are told that AI and machine translation will wipe away linguistic difference, Julie Hansen points to the importance of literary translingualism: the fertile clash and interaction of languages as her selected authors think and write. Writers are crossing ever more geographical and cultural borders in a globalizing world. Elegantly written, enriched with theoretical sophistication and thoughtful moves of interpretation, Reading Novels Translingually ‘calls on the reader to reflect on language itself.'”

— Sibelan Forrester, Susan W. Lippincott Professor of Modern and Classical Languages and Russian, Swarthmore College

“Julie Hansen’s book makes a significant and original contribution to the growing scholarly debate on literary multilingualism. By bringing to bear concepts of estrangement and reader response to the analysis of multilingual and translingual novels, Hansen opens up a welcome new theoretical perspective. Her wide linguistic repertoire includes not only English, French, German, and Russian, but also the ‘minor’ language Swedish, and her insights apply equally to celebrated literary classics and the popular genre of crime fiction. Another original feature is the attention to translation as an essential component of translingual literature, which brings the book into dialogue with contemporary theories of translation and self-translation.”

 — Adrian J. Wanner, Liberal Arts Professor of Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature, Pennsylvania State University