Listen to a sample
Exophony
- Author
- Yoko Tawada
- Narrator
- Jacqui Bardelang
- Publisher
- John Murray Press
- Publish Date
- 24 July 2025
- Run Time
- 6 hours 4 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
Not available in your country
We don't have the rights to sell this audiobook where you are. If it's already in your library you can still listen to it in My Books.
What to expect
Are you formed by your mother tongue?
How might the world unfold if you stepped outside of its rhythms?
In this playful and daring interrogation of language, the globally acclaimed Yoko Tawada reveals the poetics, politics and potential of existing outside one's mother tongue. From Senegalese writers discarding colonial-enforced French to the increasing use of loan words in her native Japanese, Tawada deconstructs the ways in which the world shapes and is shaped by languages: their hidden systems of power, their sweeping histories and, ultimately, the people who claim, reject, adapt or romanticise them.
Exophony is an invitation to revel in the possibilities that emerge when we dare to seek beyond the familiar - and a sharp, incisive series of essays in which Tawada's erudite wit and multidimensional curiosity sing.
Critics Review
-
A polyglot's travelogue, steeped in the joys and peculiarities of exploring a foreign language . . . [Exophony is] a playful journey toward the space between languages.
Kirkus Reviews
-
The beauty of Tawada's work is that she treats the uncertain footing of the second language learner-and of the native speaker looking back on their first language with new eyes-not as a source of anxiety, but as a source of boundless creative potential.
The Baffler
-
Tawada explores the fertile ground of intermingled languages in this scintillating essay collection. Playful and erudite, these essays offer valuable insights into Tawada's own writing and her readings of classic world literature.
Publishers Weekly
-
Originally published in Japan in 2003, National Book Award-winning Tawada's enigmatic essay collection-her first in English translation-arrives meticulously enabled by Hofmann-Kuroda, who impressively renders Tawada's inventive linguistic acrobatics. For audiences familiar with Tawada's recent novels, Exophony is an ideal complement, illuminating, exploring, and experiencing 'the space between languages...the poetic ravine between them.'
Booklist
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
Doubles as a clever metatextual meditation on its own composition.
TLS
-
In its collisions of anecdote, history, and linguistic inquiry, Exophony advances a quietly radical theory of literature. Tawada's essays unfold like tidepools-shallow at first glance, but teeming with unpredictable life.
Foreign Policy
-
In these deft essays, Tawada, who writes in both Japanese and German, wanders through cities and languages, treating every border crossing as an adventure.
The New Yorker
-
Tawada asks what it means to exist outside of one's mother tongue-whether we can truly hear something using languages or ideas that are received and ready-made. Holding uncertainties, held by uncertainties, the languages Tawada seeks are not ones she wishes to command so much as to be changed by.
Kill Your Darlings
-
Exophony, of course, offers no answers to the condition of writing outside one's mother tongue.... Rather, Tawada collects luminous tales and tidbits: lanternfish illuminating unexplored depths.
Newcity Lit
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Yoko Tawada
- Narrator
- Jacqui Bardelang
- Duration
- 6 hours 4 minutes
- Release Date
- 24 July 2025
- ISBN
- 9780349704210
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- John Murray Press
- Genre
- Essays, Philosophy of language, Sociolinguistics, Bilingualism and multilingualism
Synopsis
'Tawada's strange, exquisite book toys with ideas of language, identity and what it means to own someone else's story or one's own' The New Yorker on Tawada's Memoirs of a Polar BearAre you formed by your mother tongue?How might the world unfold if you stepped outside of its rhythms?In this playful and daring interrogation of language, the globally acclaimed Yoko Tawada reveals the poetics, politics and potential of existing outside one's mother tongue. From Senegalese writers discarding colonial-enforced French to the increasing use of loan words in her native Japanese, Tawada deconstructs the ways in which the world shapes and is shaped by languages: their hidden systems of power, their sweeping histories and, ultimately, the people who claim, reject, adapt or romanticise them.Exophony is an invitation to revel in the possibilities that emerge when we dare to seek beyond the familiar - and a sharp, incisive series of essays in which Tawada's erudite wit and multidimensional curiosity sing.
About xigxag and the x-book®
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
Our x-book® format is the only fully integrated listen-and-read experience available. See the text on screen as you listen, look up words, take notes, search within the book, and share quotes. It is especially useful for accessibility, language learning, and getting more from non-fiction. Look for the purple x-book® ribbon on the cover, or filter your search by "x-book" to find them.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.