The Toils of LanguageNew Amsterdam Books, 1990 - 140 頁 About thirty-five years ago, Noah Jacobs published a modest work entitled Naming Day in Eden, an ingenious, learned, entertaining, playful, and altogether joyous disquisition on language. More than a quarter-century on, the author himself looked upon his handiwork and saw that it was good. So the Toils of Language returns to the primal Edenic scene. But, multum in parvo (while deprecating French, Mr. Jacobs welcomes Latin), in those few Paradisal acres were sown all the joys and woes of man. Accordingly, this new Shandean classic is even more philosophical than its predecessor; Jacobs has license to treat, briefly and profoundly, things like the basis of our nature as revealed in language, the role of illusion in human life, the armed truce between the sexes, the hate-filled origins of whole tribes of words now quite anodyne, and many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. This marriage of dulce et utile, having been arranged in Eden, is warranted sound in wind and limb, with strength for the plow, looks for the shafts, and places for the saddle. |
內容
Adam Naming the Animals in a TwelfthCentury | 7 |
The First Spelling Bee or the Game of Life | 15 |
Woman as Inspiration or Hindrance | 27 |
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Adam Adam Smith Adam's ancient animal beauty century character clerihew CLOOP common conceal creation culture D.H. Lawrence deception derived described devil dictionary dominant drama early English words etymological example expression face Francis Ponge French Garden Gerard Manley Hopkins German German language gestures God's Greek hand Hebrew herostratic horse human speech inspired intellectual Johannes Agricola John Keats Joyce Kant knife knowledge language learned letter linguistic lips literary live look Luther man's Mark Twain masculine matter meaning mind mood moral mother tongue native nature nose obscure one's origin Oscar Wilde philosophers phonetic play poem poet principle proverb Rainer Maria Rilke reason reveal root Russian schweigen schweigen schweigen sense silence social society sound speak spirit Talmud theory things Thomas Hardy thought tion truth verbal voice Wallace Stevens woman women writers written Yiddish