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Author: Abdelfattah Kilito Publisher: New Directions Publishing ISBN: 0811224945 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 68
Book Description
A playful and erudite look at the origins of language In the beginning there was one language—one tongue that Adam used to compose the first poem, an elegy for Abel. “These days, no one bothers to ask about the tongue of Adam. It is a naive question, vaguely embarrassing and irksome, like questions posed by children, which one can only answer rather stupidly.” So begins Abdelfattah Kilito’s The Tongue of Adam, a delightful series of lectures. With a Borgesian flair for riddles, stories, and subtle scholarly distinctions, Kilito presents an assortment of discussions related to Adam’s tongue, including translation, comparative religion, and lexicography: for example, how, from Babel onward, can we explain the plurality of language? Or can Adam’s poetry be judged aesthetically, the same as any other poem? Drawing from the commentators of the Koran to Walter Benjamin, from the esoteric speculations of Judaism to Herodotus, The Tongue of Adam is a nimble book about the mysterious rise of humankind’s multilingualism.
Author: Abdelfattah Kilito Publisher: New Directions Publishing ISBN: 0811224945 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 68
Book Description
A playful and erudite look at the origins of language In the beginning there was one language—one tongue that Adam used to compose the first poem, an elegy for Abel. “These days, no one bothers to ask about the tongue of Adam. It is a naive question, vaguely embarrassing and irksome, like questions posed by children, which one can only answer rather stupidly.” So begins Abdelfattah Kilito’s The Tongue of Adam, a delightful series of lectures. With a Borgesian flair for riddles, stories, and subtle scholarly distinctions, Kilito presents an assortment of discussions related to Adam’s tongue, including translation, comparative religion, and lexicography: for example, how, from Babel onward, can we explain the plurality of language? Or can Adam’s poetry be judged aesthetically, the same as any other poem? Drawing from the commentators of the Koran to Walter Benjamin, from the esoteric speculations of Judaism to Herodotus, The Tongue of Adam is a nimble book about the mysterious rise of humankind’s multilingualism.
Author: Derek Bickerton Publisher: Hill and Wang ISBN: 1429930292 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
How language evolved has been called "the hardest problem in science." In Adam's Tongue, Derek Bickerton—long a leading authority in this field—shows how and why previous attempts to solve that problem have fallen short. Taking cues from topics as diverse as the foraging strategies of ants, the distribution of large prehistoric herbivores, and the construction of ecological niches, Bickerton produces a dazzling new alternative to the conventional wisdom. Language is unique to humans, but it isn't the only thing that sets us apart from other species—our cognitive powers are qualitatively different. So could there be two separate discontinuities between humans and the rest of nature? No, says Bickerton; he shows how the mere possession of symbolic units—words—automatically opened a new and different cognitive universe, one that yielded novel innovations ranging from barbed arrowheads to the Apollo spacecraft. Written in Bickerton's lucid and irreverent style, this book is the first that thoroughly integrates the story of how language evolved with the story of how humans evolved. Sure to be controversial, it will make indispensable reading both for experts in the field and for every reader who has ever wondered how a species as remarkable as ours could have come into existence.
Author: Abdelfattah Kilito Publisher: Darf Publishers Ltd. ISBN: 1850773114 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 92
Book Description
The Clash of Images is a sweet, Borgesian mix of bildungsroman memoir, family history, short-story collection, fable, and literary criticism. Written in a graceful and charming style, Kilito’s story takes place in an unnamed coastal city of memories where a child experiences first-hand the cultural clash of text and image in a changing, modern society. It is a time when the old Arabic world of texts and oral traditions is making way for something new: the era of the image, the comic book, photo IDs, and the cinema. The stories form a kaleidoscopic memoir of growing up in two worlds, a brilliant mixture of cultural and family history. Here are tales of first kisses and first reads, Tintin and the Prophet Muhammad, fantasies of the Wild West, the inferno of the bathhouse, and the lost paradises of childhood. The Clash of Images is a celebration of the pleasures of storytelling, a magic lantern that delicately reveals how the world of books intimately connects with the world outside their pages.
Author: Abdelfattah Kilito Publisher: Syracuse University Press ISBN: 0815654251 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 130
Book Description
It has been said that the difference between and language and a dialect is that a language is a dialect with an army. Both the act of translation and bilingualism are steeped in a tension between surrender and conquest, yielding conscious and unconscious effects on language. Thou Shall Not Speak My Language explores this tension in his address of the dynamics of literary influence and canon formation within the Arabic literary tradition. As one of the Arab world’s most original and provocative literary critics, Kilito challenges the reader to reexamine contemporary notions of translation, bilingualism, postcoloniality, and the discipline of comparative literature. Wail S. Hassan’s superb translation makes Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language available to an English audience for the first time, capturing the charm and elegance of the original in a chaste and seemingly effortless style.
Author: Andrew Wilson Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1416538356 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 342
Book Description
Fresh from finishing university in England, Adam Woods arrives in Venice to begin a new chapter in his life. He soon secures employment as the personal assistant of Gordon Crace -- a famous expatriate novelist who makes his home in a dank and crumbling palazzo, surrounded by fabulous works of art, piles of unanswered correspondence and the memories of his former literary glory. Before long Adam becomes indispensable to the feeble Crace, and he finds himself at once drawn to and repelled by his elderly employer's brilliant mind and eccentric habits. As Adam comes to learn more about the scandal that brought Crace to Venice years ago, he realizes he has stumbled upon the raw material that could launch his own literary career and makes a bold decision: He will secretly write the famous author's biography. But outsmarting Crace is easier said than done, and the two soon find themselves locked in a bitter contest over the right to determine how the story of Crace's life will end. Against the haunting backdrop of the serene city, the two men engage in a ruthless game of cat and mouse that builds to a breathtaking and unexpected conclusion.
Author: Adam Smith Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781545276204 Category : Languages : en Pages : 66
Book Description
A tongue twister is a phrase that's supposed to be difficult to articulate properly. Often times, they take practice to say correctly. Tongue twisters are good practice for children as they learn to form words, phrases, and vowels. It's hard to say a tongue twister without a smile on your face. Kids will be entertained with these tongue twisters for hours. Also if you want to become a better voiceover actor, singer, or public speaker this book is for you and contains fun and challenging tongue twisters and vocal warm-ups that prepare you to read commercial, promo, narration, trailer, and animation copy with the proper energy and vocal dexterity.
Author: Robert G. Brown Publisher: Lulu.com ISBN: 1430322454 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 236
Book Description
"The book of Lilith tells the real story of creation. Lilith is the first human to be given a soul by God following a thirteen billion year process of mechanical, soulless evolution. Her job is to give souls to all things and awaken them to the Watcher that watches the watcher, watching the world. The first person she grants a soul to is Adam, who is given a job of his own: to invent the definition of sin, create a moral sense in a world that utterly lacks one, and hence bring about the rule of law in a compassionate society. Unfortunately, Adam has a hard time accepting the fact that he was given his soul second, instead of first, and by Lilith, not God. The conflict this engenders leads to the destruction of Eden, the creation of Eve, and a voyage of self-discovery that spans a world"--P. [4] of cover.
Author: Adam Jacot de Boinod Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101201290 Category : Foreign Language Study Languages : en Pages : 228
Book Description
Did you know that in Hungary, pigs go rof-rof-rof, but in Japan they go boo boo boo? That there’s apparently the need in Bolivia for a word that means "I was rather too drunk last night but it was all their fault"? Adam Jacot de Boinod's book on extraordinary words from around the world will give you the definitions and phrases you need to make friends in every culture. A true writer's resource and the perfect gift for linguists, librarians, logophiles, and international jet-setters. While there’s no guarantee you’ll never pana po’o again (Hawaiian for "scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten"), or mingmu (Chinese for "die without regret"), at least you’ll know what tingo means, and that’s a start. “A book no well-stocked bookshelf, cistern top or handbag should be without. At last we know those Eskimo words for snow and how the Dutch render the sound of Rice Krispies. Adam Jacot de Boinod has produced an absolutely delicious little book: It goes Pif! Paf! Pouf! Cric! Crac! Croc! and Knisper! Knasper! Knusper! on every page.”—Stephen Fry
Author: Abdelfattah Kilito
Author: Abdelfattah Kilito
Author: Derek Bickerton
Author: Theodore A. Liebler
Author: Abdelfattah Kilito
Author: Edmund Shaftesbury
Author: Abdelfattah Kilito
Author: Andrew Wilson
Author: Adam Smith
Author: Robert G. Brown
Author: Adam Jacot de Boinod