‘VARIED IMAGINATION’ AND ‘LIVING BETWEEN LANGUAGES’

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.