Full Description
A captivating exploration of identity, language, and memory, weaving together whimsical and profound vignettes that challenge our understanding of home and self in a multicultural world.
In Crossings, Sylvia Molloy embarks on an evocative exploration of the intricate and profound experience of living between languages, cultures, and geographies. A pioneering Argentine writer, fluent in Spanish, English, and French, Molloy inhabited all three languages, shuttling back, forth, and between, aware that each place and each language bring forth a different self.
The short entries that make up "Varied Imagination" and "Living Between Languages"—the two collections gathered in this volume for the first time—revolve around an interrelated set of questions. What makes "home"? Does language make or destabilize a sense of home? How does speaking a language or switching between languages perform one's place in the world? These vignettes capture the realization that the most seemingly natural things in life—such as home, language, and identity—depend entirely on performance. Each act, each word communicates something, means something, does something to their specific audience; another audience might react quite differently. Molloy wrote, rewrote, edited, and reworked to find the right mix to express the estar entre or "between" that was her life.
In this compelling volume, Molloy's reflections on the fluidity of identity and the transient nature of home resonate deeply, prompting readers to contemplate the profound connections between language, place, memory, and lived experience.
Contents
I. Varied Imagination
1. Family
2. Journey
3. Citations
4. Disruption
II. Living Between Languages
1.Afterthought as Foreword
2.Childhood
3.Family Romance
4.Language Lessons
5.Loss
6.J'Ecris Ma Lecture
7.Territory
8.Mix
9.Birthday Gifts
10.Punctum
11.Animal Talk
12.Echolalias
13.Pictures of Home
14.Freedoms
15.Speaking from Different Places
16.Immigrant Bilingualism
17.Bilingual Crossings
18.Name
19.By Any Other Name
20.Bilingual Binges
21.Lapsus
22.Recognition
23.Violence
24.Accent
25.Tongue and Trauma
26.The Father Tongue
27.Limits
28.Escrituras
29.One or the Other But Not Both
30.Titles
31.Mes Apprentissages
32.Savoir Faire
33.El Cielo de Paris
34.Alteration
35.Faux Pas
36.The Writing Lesson
37.Original Text
38.Memory
