An afternoon with De Gids on multilingualism

The November edition of De Gids explores the topic of multilingualism. As Wittgenstein wrote: ‘The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.’ But where does a language start and end? In this edition, we take a look at the fluid space in between languages that influences our thoughts and actions. A living language is ever-changing, influencing and being influenced by other languages. We asked writers and artists to find out what happens when they attempt not to be monolingual, but rather to put all the languages they speak to use. 

Poet and translator Don Mee Choi will be presenting a lecture, titled MY HARDLY ENGLISH. Don Mee Choi (born in Seoul, South-Korea) is the author of the poetry collections DMZ Colony, Hardly War and The Morning News is Exciting. In 2020 she won the National Book Award for Poetry, and has been the recipient of fellowships from institutions such as the Guggenheim and the Lannan Foundation. She currently lives in Berlin, where she writes poetry and translates Korean poetry into English. 

Don Mee Choi was raised under the military dictatorship in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which was installed in 1953, after the Korean War and 35 years of Japanese occupation. Her multilingualism is not without friction: for Choi, English is inseparable from American imperialism and militaristic violence. 

 

Poet and researcher from the University of Utrecht Mia You will give an introduction to multilingualism. 

The Sri Lankan-Australian-Flemish artist Ahilan Ratnamohan will give a performance. 

Artist Nicoline van Harskamp will screen a short film, followed by a conversation with Maria Barnas about the work. 

Poets Pelumi Adejumo and Maria Paris Borda will be reading the poems that they wrote specially for the multilingualism issue of De Gids.