Inhabiting Three Languages. Self-Translation, Migration, Identity

Abstract

This editorial introduces the special issue of Oltreoceano devoted to trilingual self-translation, a practice that remains less explored than bilingual self-translation. By presenting Rainier Grutman’s theoretical framework and Eva Gentes’s typology, it highlights the multidirectional and recursive nature of self-translational processes, in which the notions of original, version, and authorial identity are redefined. The case studies brought together in the issue, from Monika Zgustova to Carlo Coccioli, Luigi Donato Ventura, Felicia Mihali, Lisa Carducci, Jaroslav Melnik, and Amelia Rosselli, show how movement across three languages intersects with migration, exile, cultural mediation, publishing markets, and the rewriting of the self. Trilingual self-translation thus emerges as a privileged field for rethinking mobility, belonging, and literary creation.