Switching Languages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft ed. by Steven G. Kellman (review)

Reviews parate cultural manifestations" of "utopian post-phallic culture" (68). With examples drawn from art, literature, film, politics, society, and entertainment, Barr weaves a cultural critique ofsociety through the lens ofFeminist Science Fiction. Another important scholar in the field of feminist science fiction (and feminist fiction in general), Anne Cranny-Francis, combines feminist theories ofthe body and the cyborg with an analysis of"the figure ofthe cyborg" or "Borg" characters in several Star Trek productions, both television and film (145). Another remarkable contribution is made by Deirdre Byrne in "Truth and Story: History in Ursula K. Le Guin's Short Fiction and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission ," wherein the author juxtaposes some ofLe Guin's work with the current political and societal challenges facing the leaders and citizens ofher homeland. The multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural emphasis ofthis collection makes it a perfect reader for Cultural Studies courses as well as for any Science Fiction course at the graduate level and as an excellent resource for advanced undergraduate students interested in Science Fiction scholarship. This book serves as an important tool in the promotion of science fiction scholarship well into the next decade or until Barr graces us with the next Future Females] % Steven G. Kellman, ed. SwitchingLanguages: Translingual Writers Reflect on Their Craft. Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press, 2003. 339p. Christa Albrecht-Crane Utah Valley State College Readers ofthis journal might remember a special issue ofthe New Yorker in June 1997 devoted to Indian literature; I recall a large number of colleagues in the English department in which I was a graduate student at that time, at Washington State University, reading the issue with great interest. Salman Rushdie had been asked to guest edit the issue, introducing and selecting texts by other contemporary Indian writers. In his introduction, "Damme, This Is the Oriental Scene for You!" Rushdie offered a provocative argument suggesting that in terms ofprose writing Indian writers working in English—the language left behind by the British Empire—are currently producing more important work than what has been written in the other vernacular languages ofIndia during the same time. For Rushdie, "Indo-Anglian literature represents perhaps the most valuable contribution India has yet made to the world of books" (246). He suggests that Indian writers appropriate and bend the received English languages to process and articulate their very own Indian experiences. FALL 2003 + ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW * 93 This issue oflanguage's ability to function as both a site ofoppression and resistance addresses the very concern ofthe book under review: Steven G. Kellman's SwitchingLanguages: TranslingualWritersReflecton TheirCraft, in which Rushdie's essay is reprinted. Kellman, a professor ofcomparative literature at the University ofTexas at San Antonio, also author of The Translingual Imagination, presents a collection ofessays and excerpts by prominent translingual writers from the past one hundred years who ponder issues related to writing in more than one language or in a language other than one's primary language. The book does much more, however, than simply address writing; it contextualizes why and how we use and are used by language to make sense of our worlds. In that context, the book is a resoundingsuccess: it offers multiple perspectives and diverse arguments to complicate and enrich our understanding oflanguage and language use. The book is organized into four major sections, "Proclamations," "Conversions ," "Between Languages," and "Controversies." Each section contains essays, excerpts from longer works, poetry, and interviews conducted by Kellman. The selection ofwriters is thorough, coveringevery continent, multiple languages, and many genres of writing. Kellman succinctly introduces translingual writing and follows with a short bio ofeach writer, references to the writer's work, and a synopsis of each writer's literary and intellectual achievements. Readers of the book will undoubtedly encounter many of their favorite writers (for example, in my case Rushdie, Gloria Anzaldua, Julia Alvarez, Chinua Achebe, and Elias Canetti), who speak to us not through their fiction but, refreshingly so, as intellectuals and thinkers. One will draw the conclusion from this collection of respected writers reflecting on their trans- and multilingual experiences that writing, and language, form active and malleable sites ofstruggle and meaning-making. For instance, Ian Buruma's essay in the first section...