Language and Imaginary
This article will explore imaginary creations that are informed by the relationship of the subject to his or her language(s). Examples will be drawn from novels and essays by authors such as Ferenc Karinthy, Nancy Huston, Julia Kristeva and Claude Esteban. The first part of the article explores a vision of language as hermetically foreign and then moves on to the polar opposite, a “panglossic” image, in which all languages appear to be known. The second part of the article centres on the first-language/foreign-language problematic—the experience of the bilingual subject, who is torn between two languages, a problematic which can, however, find its resolution in the creative process.