The Fall of Language in the Age of English, by the Japanese novelist and scholar Minae Mizumura, has all the ingredients of a rage-read. Indeed, when it was published in Japan in 2008, it infuriated commentators, who dismissed Mizumura as “reactionary,” “jingoistic,” or “elitist” and swarmed across Amazon deleting positive reviews. More than 65,000 copies have sold since then—which suggests the slender work’s declinist soothsaying continues to touch a nerve. The book appears this month in English (enemy territory!), where—if we Yanks could be trusted to read something first penned in a non-Western tongue—it would likely inspire more umbrage, more name-calling, more amorphous unease. The book’s basic premise, developed in a sinuous line through seven chapters, is that every language creates and nourishes untranslatable truths. Dominant languages infuse their verities into the wider world, crowding out alternative visions from more minor tongues. Linguistic asymmetry isn’t new—over the past two centuries, Latin, classical Chinese, and French each took a turn in the sun—but never has one language so completely eclipsed the rest, Mizumura says, as today, in the age of the Internet, with English. Continue reading at 'Slate'
[ Slate | 2015-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
A key figure in getting Arabic literature into the wider world, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s secretary general calls for ‘solid channels of communication’ with the international industry and its cultures. By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson ‘Pushing the Outreach of Arabic... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-10-03 05:44:28 UTC ]
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Fifteen years ago, the social network site was set up to connect people. But now, with lives increasingly played out online, have we forgotten how to be alone?‘Thefacebook is an online directory that connects people through social networks at colleges. We have opened up Thefacebook for popular... Continue reading at The Guardian
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Facebook's plans to topple TV advertising have come to a halt as it shut down key programs that delivered commercials to TV networks and publishers online.Ads are no longer being served to connected TV devices like smart TVs, Apple TV and Roku, the company confirmed. The reason, according to... Continue reading at Advertising Age
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Norwich-based independent publisher Galley Beggar Press is opening up general submissions in order to "keep [itself] open to surprises and the wider world". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Fall of Language in the Age of English, by the Japanese novelist and scholar Minae Mizumura, has all the ingredients of a rage-read. Indeed, when it was published in Japan in 2008, it infuriated commentators, who dismissed Mizumura as “reactionary,” “jingoistic,” or “elitist” and swarmed... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2015-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publisher of great 20th-century writers and thinkers who lifted the lid on the business of booksIn March 1990, the publishing world was stunned by news of André Schiffrin's controversial resignation from the position he had held for the previous 29 years as editor-in-chief of Pantheon Books.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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