Uncle Orson Reviews 1998

	Hatrack River - The Official Web Site of Orson Scott Card
	Print \| Back

Language and Criticism

The Atlas of Languages: The Origin and Development of Languages Throughout the World (Quarto/Facts on File, 1996, 224pp hc $35). What was supposed to be a fun book of maps became an intensely interesting read. I only wished it were longer and more detailed.

Bernard Comrie, ed., The World's Major Languages (Oxford University Press, 1990, 1025pp pb). The essays are not of equal interest, and the concentration on Indo-European languages, especially almost-redundant European ones, is perhaps unavoidable. Still, I read it all, except for some skimming where it got too deeply into the jargon of linguistics for a layman like me.

Douglas R. Hofstadter, Le Ton beau de Marot (HarperCollins/BasicBooks, 1997, 632pp hc $30). See review under "My Favorites of 1998" above.

Alvin Kernan, Shakespeare, The King's Playwright: Theater in the Stuart Court, 1603-1613 (Yale University Press, 1995, 230pp pb). Shakespeare seen from a completely different angle -- the influence of contemporary royal politics on the work of the leading playwright of the age.

John C. Meagher, Shakespeare's Shakespeare: How the Plays Were Made (Continuum Publishing Company, 1997, 240pp hc $34.50). See review under "My Favorites of 1998" above.

Takao Suzuki, Words in Context: A Japanese Perspective on Language and Culture, trans. Akira Miura (Kodansha International, 1973/1978/1984, 177pp pb $10). At first this book seemed very promising -- an exploration of how Japanese culture affects and is affected by the forms of language. In the end, though, Suzuki succumbs to the temptation to overclaim. Plenty of other languages -- including European ones -- find substitutes for pronouns which eventually evolve into new pronouns. To criticize linguistics for a western bias is fair; to condemn it for "ignoring" something that is perfectly well accounted for and attested in other languages besides Japanese is, ultimately, pointless and narrow-minded.

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/reviews98/language.shtml