This well-written book explores contemporary literature in English by multilingual authors who reflect linguistic and cultural diversity. Doloughan (Open Univ., UK) illustrates their ‘translating’ and mediating role by analyzing such key texts as Polish-born Eva Hoffman's Lost in Translation (1989), Chilean Ariel Dorfman's play Death and the Maiden (1991), and Texan Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands (1987). Including James Kelman's Translated Accounts (2001) here is amply justified, since his idiomatic expression, informed by working-class roots and a Scottish dialect, deviates enough from the ‘norm’ to require some ‘translation’ by the reader. The most interesting case study deals with, among other texts, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (2008) by the incredibly prolific multilingual author and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo (b. 1973), who presently lives in London. Doloughan briefly acknowledges that Guo also uses ‘visual language’ as a medium but seems to ignore its full importance: Guo dedicated the award-winning 2011 film adaptation of her novel UFO in Her Eyes (2009) to Mikhail Kalatozov and his 1964 film Soy Cuba. Guo's latest novel, I Am China (2014), is an exact translation of this very title. Similarly, Guo pays homage to Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film La Chinoise with her films She, a Chinese and Once upon a Time Proletarian (both 2009). Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.
