Towards an Ethics of Linguistic Accuracy in Literature

This Forum, appearing in each issue of the Journal of Literary Multilingualism , aims to continue the conversation started in the very first issue, where we collected articles which assessed and debated the field of Literary Multilingualism Studies. The Forum is a space for shorter, more informal reflections on the field and its future: position papers, dialogues between scholars, roundtable discussions, responses to articles within the journal, and responses to recent multilingualism conferences or events. We welcome proposals for contributions, particularly from marginalized perspectives or on neglected aspects of literary multilingualism. Please contact us directly to discuss ideas. For this Forum, we invited Lawrence A. Rosenwald to review his thoughts on the role of what he calls “linguistic accuracy” in multilingual literature through an ethical lens. To what extent does it matter whether literary works accurately represent how languages are used, such as in the representation of protagonists’ speech? In his analysis of a wide range of examples, Rosenwald argues that accuracy does indeed matter – with inaccuracy immediately raising problems of cultural representation. — Juliette Taylor-Batty and Till Dembeck, Forum Moderators