Yoko Tawada. A transnational writer of world literature - Monica Tamas

This monograph delineates Yoko Tawada’s position in World Literature by exploring her evolution within the liminal space between Japanese and German, the two languages she uses in her writing. The study interrogates how “writers in-between cultures” challenge the traditional boundaries of national literary systems, tracing the trajectory of migrant writing and diasporic identities in relation to German and Japanese literatures. Against this background, Tawada represents a pivotal shift toward a truly transnational literary consciousness that transcends linguistic and geographical borders.
Central to this analysis is Tawada’s unique literary practice as a bilingual author. The book examines the concept of “exophony”–writing and living outside one’s mother tongue. By investigating Tawada’s self-translation practices and the visual dimension of her writings, the study reveals her strategies for building a linguistic continuum that bridges the gap between the Self and the Linguistic Other, thereby maintaining an open passage between them.

Finally, the monograph addresses the “spatial turn” in Tawada’s fiction, exploring her deconstruction of established geopolitical concepts such as “Europe” and “Eurasia”. Through a close analysis of Tawada’s use of maps and flags as paratexts, the study highlights a key strategy by which she materializes shifting geographical fictions. Ultimately, Yoko Tawada: A Transnational Writer of World Literature offers a comprehensive look at an author whose work redefines the global landscape by forging an unprecedented synthesis of two unrelated traditions and translating them into a world where identities and geographies are as fluid and open as the languages used to describe them.