ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is the spatial metaphor of the sea and its epistemological relevance for multilingual identity and multilingual writing practice. The archipelagic, centrifugal forces of linguistic and cultural plurality that break up the centred, circumscribed spaces of the single nations suggest a fragmentary and hybrid understanding of collective and individual identities, which is based on solidity and fluidity. The metaphor of the sea goes a step further leaving all solid ground behind and embarking on a voyage across the borderless expanse of the ocean. Continental thinking focuses on the autonomous, circumscribed territories of nations and national languages, and considers the sea as a separation. However, the ocean is above all a space in its own right and a fundamental link both in temporal and spatial terms.
