ABSTRACT
The chapter explores metaphors of multilingualism that criticize unilateral gender assignments and kinship metaphors emphasizing the uniqueness of the mother-tongue. The narrative leads from conflict to reconciliation, from adultery and unresolvable duality (Elsa Triolet and Vladimir Nabokov) to fluid bilingual bigamy opening up an interlinguistic space that eschews simple dichotomies. Beyond the seemingly irreconcilable tensions of bilingualism lie the promises of trilingualism and plurilingualism, and beyond bigamy beckons polygamy (Kellman 2013a:37). I will discuss this transition with the help of the work of the Argentinian writer Ariel Dorfman and the Moroccan author Abdelkébir Khatibi who have found their way out of insecurity and a crippling choice by embracing difference and multiplicity. The last section deals with the notion of trilingualism.
