Farewell to mother language: foreign language writing as an act of disidence. The case of José María Blanco White

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between José María Blanco White, his adoptive tongue, English, and his mother language, Spanish. Living in exile in England since 1810, the author from Sevilla expresses his will to become an English man of letters whilst abandoning Spanish in his literary writing. This linguistic renounce is an act of political and religious dissidence, as well as a step forward in his intellectual evolution. Even though Blanco White becomes a successful literary author in England, writing in his adoptive tongue, he never manages to fully break his relationship to Spain neither he quits completely writing in Spanish. This paper also discusses how his supposed English identity is an imaginary construction in which Blanco White is willing to break with his roots, even though he is inevitably attached to them.