Speaking in Tongues

Language, historically speaking, has always been slippery. Two dictionaries provide two different maps of the universe: which one is true, or are both false? Speaking in Tongues--taking the form of a dialogue between Nobel laureate novelist J. M. Coetzee and eminent translator Mariana Dimópulos--examines some of the most pressing linguistic issues that plague writers and translators well into the twenty-first century.

The authors address questions that we must answer in order to understand contemporary society. They inquire if one can truly love an acquired language, and they question why certain languages, like Spanish, have gender differences built into them. They examine the threat of monolingualism and ask how we can counter, if at all, the global spread of the English language, which seems to maraud like a colonial power. They question whether it should be the duty of the translator to remove morally objectionable, misogynistic, or racist language. And in the conclusion, Coetzee even speculates whether it's only mathematics that can tell the truth about everything.

Drawing from decades of experience in the craft of language, both Dimópulos and Coetzee face the reality, as did Walter Benjamin over a century ago in his seminal essay "The Task of the Translator," that when it comes to self-expression, some things will always get lost in translation. Speaking in Tongues finally emerges as an engaging and accessible work of philosophy, shining a light on some of the most important linguistic and philological issues of our time.



Author: J. M. Coetzee,Mariana Dimópulos
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Published: 05/06/2025
Pages: 144
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.60w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781324096450


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2025
Publishers Weekly 03/31/2025

About the Author
Coetzee, J. M.: - Born in Cape Town, South Africa, J. M. Coetzee is the author of more than twenty books, including The Pole; Waiting for the Barbarians; Life and Times of Michael K, for which Coetzee was awarded the Booker Prize; Boyhood: Scenes from a Provincial Life; and several essay collections. With his novel Disgrace, Coetzee became the first author to win the Booker Prize twice. In 2003, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.Dimópulos, Mariana: - Mariana Dimópulos is an Argentine writer, translator, and teacher specializing in German philosophy and the work of Walter Benjamin. She has published four novels, including Quemar El Cielo (2019), which was a finalist for the Fundación Medifé Filba Novel Prize. She is a professor at the University of Saarland and the University of Halle. She lives in Berlin.