Identifies the idea of monolingualism as a modern European invention dating to the 18th century that functions to obscure the widespread nature of multilingualism. Analyses the tension between multilingual practices and the monolingual paradigm in 20th century literature through the German writings of Kafka, Adorno, Tawada, Özdamar, and Zaimoglu.

Beyond the Mother Tongue examines distinct forms of multilingualism, such as writing in one socially unsanctioned "mother tongue" about another language (Franz Kafka); mobilizing words of foreign derivation as part of a multilingual constellation within one language (Theodor W. Adorno); producing an oeuvre in two separate languages simultaneously (Yoko Tawada); and mixing different languages, codes, and registers within one text (Feridun Zaimoglu).