The Life Of Words

Author : David-Antoine Williams
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0198812477
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Life of Words written by David-Antoine Williams and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-05-07 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, investigations into the origins of words were entwined with investigations into the origins of humanity and the cosmos. With the development of modern etymological practice in the nineteenth century, however, many cherished etymologies were shown to be impossible, and the very idea of original 'true meaning' asserted in the etymology of 'etymology' declared a fallacy. Structural linguistics later held that the relationship between sound and meaning in language was 'arbitrary', or 'unmotivated', a truth that has survived with small modification until today. On the other hand, the relationship between sound and meaning has been a prime motivator of poems, at all times throughout history. The Life of Words studies a selection of poets inhabiting our 'Age of the Arbitrary', whose auditory-semantic sensibilities have additionally been motivated by a historical sense of the language, troubled as it may be by claims and counterclaims of 'fallacy' or 'true meaning'. Arguing that etymology activates peculiar kinds of epistemology in the modern poem, the book pays extended attention to poems by G. M. Hopkins, Anne Waldman, Ciaran Carson, and Anne Carson, and to the collected works of Geoffrey Hill, Paul Muldoon, Seamus Heaney, R. F. Langley, and J. H. Prynne.

Author : Henry Hitchings
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 13 : 142994157X
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Secret Life of Words written by Henry Hitchings and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters. The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind us of our past. Henry Hitchings delves into the insatiable, ever-changing English language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages—many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kiosk from Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as a living archive of our human experience. He uncovers the secrets behind everyday words and explores the surprising origins of our most commonplace expressions. The Secret Life of Words is a rich, lively celebration of the language and vocabulary that we too often take for granted.

Author : Kory Stamper
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 110197026X
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Word by Word written by Kory Stamper and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “We think of English as a fortress to be defended, but a better analogy is to think of English as a child. We love and nurture it into being, and once it gains gross motor skills, it starts going exactly where we don’t want it to go: it heads right for the goddamned electrical sockets.” With wit and irreverence, lexicographer Kory Stamper cracks open the obsessive world of dictionary writing, from the agonizing decisions about what to define and how to do it to the knotty questions of ever-changing word usage. Filled with fun facts—for example, the first documented usage of “OMG” was in a letter to Winston Churchill—and Stamper’s own stories from the linguistic front lines (including how she became America’s foremost “irregardless” apologist, despite loathing the word), Word by Word is an endlessly entertaining look at the wonderful complexities and eccentricities of the English language.

Author : Paul Auster
Publisher : Seven Stories Press
ISBN 13 : 1609807782
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Life in Words written by Paul Auster and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look into Paul Auster's art and craft, the inspirations and obsessions, mesmerizing and dramatic in turn. A remarkably candid, and often surprisingly dramatic, investigation into one writer's art, craft, and life, A Life in Words is rooted in three years of dialogue between Auster and Professor I. B. Siegumfeldt, starting in 2011, while Siegumfeldt was in the process of launching the Center for Paul Auster Studies at the University of Copenhagen. It includes a number of surprising disclosures, both concerning Auster's work and about the art of writing generally. It is a book that's full of surprises, unscripted yet amounting to a sharply focused portrait of the inner workings of one of America's most productive and successful writers, through all twenty-one of Auster's narrative works and the themes and obsessions that drive them.

Author : Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Publisher : Turner Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 1580235956
Total Pages : 125 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Book of Words written by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "According to the Hebrew Bible, God made the world with words. God just spoke and the world became reality. (The Aramaic for 'I create as I speak' is avara k’davara, or in magician’s language, abracadabra.) . . . This does not protect words from the numbing effects of overuse in any religious tradition. . . . We need to dust off the words, shake away the accretions, wonder again about what they originally might have meant and enable ourselves to live in the word." —from the Introduction With creativity and poetry (and occasional heresy) Kushner dusts off thirty classical Hebrew words, shakes them free of the effects of generations of overuse, “re-translates” them, and liberates their ancient holy power. The result is a contemporary spiritual guide for your personal religious life. According to the Hebrew Bible, God made the world with words. God just spoke and the world came into being. Words therefore are not merely sounds signifying something else; they are instruments of creation, primary reality itself. They need only to be read, spoken, and interpreted. And to know them is to know reality itself. Kushner has designed the book himself, seamlessly blending graphics and content. In doing so he evokes the aesthetics of an ancient manuscript and a vision of our power to shape the future. Each finely crafted chapter begins with a Hebrew word and Kushner’s provocative English translation. At the bottom of the page is a transliteration of the Hebrew along with its more customary English rendering. In addition to his own intriguing definition, he includes a biblical citation anchoring the word, along with a more recent text showing the word’s evolution. Finally, we are offered a personal, meditative exercise designed to enable you to “live in the word.”

Author : Jennifer Berne
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 1452172072
Total Pages : 54 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book On Wings of Words written by Jennifer Berne and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inspiring and kid-accessible biography of one of the world's most famous poets. Emily Dickinson, who famously wrote "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul," is brought to life in this moving story. In a small New England town lives Emily Dickinson, a girl in love with small things—a flower petal, a bird, a ray of light, a word. In those small things, her brilliant imagination can see the wide world—and in her words, she takes wing. From celebrated children's author Jennifer Berne comes a lyrical and lovely account of the life of Emily Dickinson: her courage, her faith, and her gift to the world. With Dickinson's own inimitable poetry woven throughout, this lyrical biography is not just a tale of prodigious talent, but also of the power we have to transform ourselves and to reach one another when we speak from the soul. • Fantastic educational opportunity to share Emily Dickinson's story and poetry with young readers • An inspirational real-life story that will appeal to children and adults alike. • Jennifer Berne is the author of critically acclaimed children's biographies of Albert Einstein and Jacques Cousteau. Fans who enjoyed Emily Writes: Emily Dickinson and her Poetic Beginnings, Emily and Carlo, and Uncle Emily will love On Wings of Words. • Books for kids ages 5–8 • Poetry for children • Biographies for children Jennifer Berne is the award-winning author of the biographies Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau and On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein. She lives in Copake, New York. Becca Stadtlander is the illustrator of many children's and young adult publications, including Sleep Tight Farm. She was born and raised in Covington, Kentucky.

Author : Richard B. Wright
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476785368
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Life with Words written by Richard B. Wright and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed writer of the beloved Clara Callan comes a beautifully crafted, charming portrait of the writing life. Combining his characteristic wit and self-deprecation with his extraordinary imagination and insight, Richard B. Wright has created a deeply affecting memoir that reads like a novel. As a small, watchful boy growing up in a working class family in Midland, Ontario, during the Second World War, Wright gradually discovered that he saw the world through different eyes. His intellectual and sexual awakenings, his exploits as a young salesman in Canadian publishing, his painful struggles to become a writer—all of this is balanced against the extraordinary reception that in the 1970s greeted his first novel, The Weekend Man, which was published around the world to great acclaim. In spite of the sometimes crippling depression that haunted him and the ups and downs of the mid-life writer, he would finally achieve overwhelming success with Clara Callan, the Giller-winning work that swept every award in Canada and revitalized his career. Lovers of Wright’s work will appreciate behind-the-scenes glimpses of his craft in individual novels and his exploration of how a writer transmutes experience into art. And readers will enjoy his thoughtful exploration of the essential role of storytelling in our lives. A Life with Words is both a celebration of the writing life and a deeply personal—at times revelatory—invitation into the world of the imagination.

Author : Avel Louise Gordly
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780870716041
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Remembering the Power of Words written by Avel Louise Gordly and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remembering the Power of Wordsrecounts the personal and professional journey of Avel Gordly, the first African-American woman elected to the Oregon State Senate. The book is a brave and honest telling of Gordly's life. She shares the challenges and struggles she faced growing up black in Portland in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as her determination to attend college, the dedication to activism that took her from Portland to Africa, and her eventual decision to run for a seat in the state legislature. That words have power is a constant undercurrent in Gordly's account and a truth she learned early in life. "Growing up, finding my own voice," she writes, "was tied up with denying my voice or having it forcefully rejected and in all of that the memory of my father is very strong. To this day--and I am today a very experienced public speaker--preparation to speak takes a great deal of energy." That this memoir has its origins as an oral history is fitting since Gordly has used her voice, out loud, to teach and inspire others for so many years. Important as a biographical account of one significant Oregonian's story, the book also contributes "broader narratives touching on Black history (and Oregon's place within it), and most particularly the politics associated with being an African American woman," according to series editor Melody Rose. The inaugural volume in the Women and Politics in the Pacific Northwest Series (series editor, Melody Rose)

Author : Raj Parmeshwar Kaitwad
Publisher : JEC PUBLICATION
ISBN 13 : 9358501189
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book My Life in Words written by Raj Parmeshwar Kaitwad and published by JEC PUBLICATION. This book was released on with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To everyone reading this,the book contains the great situations that have occurred in my life in the past.This book is a collection of such situations in the form of poems that show some good and bad phases that once occurred.

Author : Manny Garcia
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781732013599
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Glossary of Life written by Manny Garcia and published by . This book was released on 2018-07-05 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Glossary of Life is an endeavor to reconnect humanity to ancient truths by retelling them in easy to understand, modern-day language. This book - and each of its 133 glossary topics - distills ageless philosophy and wisdom into bite-sized paragraphs intended to expand awareness and take the reader on a journey of self-discovery.