Speaking in Tongues

Reviews

"What happens when we consider translation not as a solitary act of perception but as a negotiation—one shaped by institutional constraints imposed from without or even by unequal relationships of global power? Speaking in Tongues, a dialogue between J.M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos, repeatedly shifts the focus from individual choices to the structural forces that shape translation." — Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Review of Books

"[Speaking in Tongues is] stimulating and occasionally surprising, with insights that can only arise from two authors who have ‘the experience of using our language as if it were a foreign one.’" — Henry Hitchings, Wall Street Journal

"Growing out of their collaboration on Dimópulos’s Spanish translation of Coetzee’s 2023 novel The Pole, [Speaking in Tongues] examines limitations as much as possibilities—even as, in this thought-provoking set of interrogations, such a distinction is often rendered moot. Think of Speaking in Tongues, then, as a work of what we might call quantum criticism, in which every argument comes encoded with its antithesis, with ‘reality’ depending on the observer’s position." — David L. Ulin, 4Columns

"A slim book, Speaking in Tongues considers many interesting questions and offers much food for thought. Both Coetzee and Dimópulos bring interesting personal experience and opinions…to the conversation." — M.A. Orthofer, The Complete Review

"Cerebral, far-reaching . . . Coetzee and Dimópulos engage comfortably and earnestly, imbuing the erudite conversation with a natural rhythm . . . littered with pearls of insight . . . a rewarding rumination on translation, language, and power." — Publishers Weekly

"An evocative conversation between the Nobel Prize–winning novelist and his translator . . . [Speaking in Tongues] will compel many American readers to reassess the politics of translation and their own literary and linguistic imperialism. Fans of Coetzee will also find a refreshing colloquialism to this book and a respite from his recent judgmentalism about animal rights, Western power, and public institutions. You could read this book in an hour. You could think about it for the rest of your life." — Kirkus Reviews

"Dialogue has, through the ages, been the archetypal form for intellectual inquiry, and J. M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos remind us why. These are two extraordinarily well-stocked and agile minds and they're thinking aloud here. For anyone engaged by the workings of language, the results are truly gratifying. Page after page is layered with observation, elaboration, qualification, and provocation." — K. Anthony Appiah, Author of The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity

"The kind of book you get once in a lifetime, Speaking in Tongues is a mithril-blend of scholarship and artistry that will transform your ideas of language, translation, identity, and possibly the universe." — Junot Diaz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"It is a thrill to eavesdrop on J. M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos, whose spellbinding exchange of ideas touches on every aspect of translation as it has shaped their lives and their art. Speaking in Tongues is an intelligent, moving, and supremely humane act of criticism that reveals just how difficult and wondrous it can be to inhabit a language that is not your own." — Merve Emre, Contributing Writer, The New Yorker

"From a variety of perspectives, J. M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos take up, in both abstract and practical terms, such matters as the linguistic hegemony of English, gender, and the role and duty of the translator. Their conversation investigates language in compelling, astute, and often surprising ways." — Ann Goldstein, Translator of Elena Ferrante and Primo Levi