Multilingual America by Lawrence Alan Rosenwald

Multilingual America by Lawrence Alan Rosenwald

Throughout its history, America has been the scene of multiple encounters between communities speaking different languages. Literature has long sought to represent these encounters in various ways, from James Fenimore Cooper's frontier fictions to the Jewish-American writers who popularised Yiddish as a highly influential modern vernacular. While other studies have concentrated on isolated parts of this history, Lawrence Rosenwald's book is the first to consider the whole story of linguistic representation in American literature, and to consider as well how multilingual fictions can be translated and incorporated into a national literary history. He uses case studies to analyse the most important kinds of linguistic encounters, such as those between Europeans and Native Americans, those between slaveholders and African slaves, and those between immigrants and American citizens. This ambitious, engaging book is an important contribution to the study of American literature, history and culture.

'This is a splendid book, unlike any currently in the field, and setting a standard for literary scholarship the rest of us can only aspire toLawrence Rosenwald brings to the project an impressive range of languages and a different vision of what we might want to do with texts. His goal is to write a history of American literature showcasing languages as the key players. Multilingual America is an impressive achievement: all Americanists will sit up and pay attention.' Wai Chi Dimock, Yale University
'This is a remarkable work. This book addresses an extremely important and timely subject. It combines high intelligence and lucidity with deep erudition and modesty. Every page is extremely interesting. Every scholar or teacher of American literature will learn much from it, and it will be greatly useful to many students of American literature and culture (around the world as well as domestically), as well as to students and scholars of comparative literature and of intercultural encounter more broadly.' Jonathan Arac, University of Pittsburgh

Lawrence Rosenwald is Anne Pierce Rogers Professor of American Literature at Wellesley College.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521721615
ISBN 10	052172161X
Title	Multilingual America
Author	Lawrence Alan Rosenwald
Series	Cambridge Studies In American Literature And Culture
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2008-09-25
Number of pages	216
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.