Literary Biographies Without a Fixed Linguistic Abode

Abstract

The article portrays an emerging generation of authors who have acquired a foreign language (in this case German) as a means of their literary expression. Firstly, endeavors of literary scholars to describe the currently booming ‘migration literature’ in its historical development are introduced. I then go on to propose a typology of non-monolingual literary writing based on such authors’ language biographies. By considering the underlying (socio)linguistic contexts, this approach mirrors my personal experience as a Finnish researcher-author writing in an acquired language, German. It draws attention to the role that a language – i.e. the very instrument of authors’ expression – takes in the ongoing process of non-monolingual literary identity formation. By linking the poetological reflections of the long-established, naturally bilingual ‘migration authors’ with my (autobiographical) observations on the gradually emerging discourse of ‘culturally bilingual writers’, the second part of the paper addresses the following issues: the repercussions of normative language learning on the literary writing process; the effects of writing in an acquired language on the literary practice; the impressions of non-belonging and disorientation triggered by the sensation of (socio)linguistic inferiority; the ever-changing construction of meaning in a rhizomatic/hybrid creation process and the emergence of a unique voice out of the multitude of possible combinations; the creative and empowering potential of minority discourses in a world on the move, in which non-monolingual writing is seen as one of the most significant contributions to contemporary literature.