Exploring Swiss Multilingualism and Identity in Kim De L’horizon’s Debut Novel Blutbuch (Bloodbook)

This article examines the narrative and identity-forming functions of multilingualism in Kim de l’Horizon’s Blutbuch, highlighting the interplay between Swiss German, Helvetisms, French, and English within Switzerland’s distinctive linguistic landscape. Rather than treating these linguistic choices as mere stylistic embellishments, the analysis reveals how they convey emotion, memory, social belonging, and generational tension. Particular attention is paid to translanguaging as a fluid mode of expression that enables the protagonist to navigate familial intimacy, trauma, and the constraints of the postmonolingual condition. Swiss German emerges as a language of heritage and ambivalence, Helvetic German indicates educational and social hierarchies, French evokes aspirational refinement, and English functions as a distanced, protective space. Through this multilingual repertoire, Blutbuch challenges the norm of literary language and articulates a dynamic, intersectional identity in process, contributing to contemporary debates on multilingual poetics, queerness, and narrative fluidity.