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 ]
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David Nicholls' One Day (Hodder) sold almost twice as many copies as the next bestselling... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The number of apps downloaded on Google and Apple surged 125% worldwide to 242m on Christmas Day... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon.com has said Christmas Day was the "biggest ever day for Kindle book downloads,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Over 100,000 HarperCollins UK ebooks were downloaded on Christmas Day, the publisher has... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The website offering resources for National Libraries Day, the national day to celebrate... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers are planning to up their marketing campaigns over the crucial festive period,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Use it, Love it, Join it!" will be the strapline for National Libraries Day, to be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 09:15 World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions. WBD will return on 1st March 2012led by childrens marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 15:27 World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions. WBD will return on 1st March 2012led by childrens marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 31/10/2011 - 08:05 Foyles' seventh branch, in Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, is due to open on 10th November. The shopping centre site, situated near the London Olympic Stadium, opened in September but Foyles delayed its own opening... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hearsts House Beautiful magazine is taking advantage of the newest publishing technology trenddigital watermarksto provide expanded content options and to tap insights about readers. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-10-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 20/10/2011 - 08:30 Publishers and booksellers will soon be able to swap a working day in the life of each others businesses in a new joint initiative soon to be launched by the Booksellers Association and the Publisher Association. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 17/10/2011 - 14:00 Wednesday (17th October) is the last day for entries to The Bookseller's Reader Survey. The survey aims to discover what readers expect of The Bookseller's coverage of trade issues across news, features and profiles, both... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 13/10/2011 - 15:15 Yet more rights deals announced at Frankfurt Book Fair today, including Piatkus' foreign rights team is having a runaway success with début novel The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantynewhich they are likening to Nicci French and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 12/10/2011 - 14:00 A flurry of rights deals have been announced at Frankfurt Book Fair, including a memoir by BBC Radio 2 DJ Jeremy Vine and the history of Britain told through postal stamps. Michael Joseph has acquired world English-language... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 11/10/2011 - 15:00 Independent publisher Beautiful Books entered administration earlier today (11th October). The company has ceased to trade and four members of staff have been made redundant. A spokesperson for London firm Leonard Curtis, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 07/10/2011 - 16:18 An administrator for Beautiful Books is expected to be appointed by close of business on Monday (10th October). In a letter to authors, David Lewis, director of The Beautiful Group PLC, said the company has had cash flow... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As publishers spend more time and money on developing apps to deliver their digital content, audience demographics detailing app interaction are beginning to show how these efforts are panning out. According to a recent study from Gfk MRI, app users who install fewer apps are more likely to... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 09/09/2011 - 11:02 The nationwide celebration of libraries and librarians that is to be National Libraries Day has been confirmed for Saturday 4th February. Author Alan Gibbons of Campaign for the Book, a prime mover behind the initiative, said... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 06/09/2011 - 16:04 David Nicholls' One Day (Hodder) remains comfortably the bestselling book in the UK. The novel, which currently tops the Amazon, Apple and Waterstone's ebook charts, sold 83,050 physical copies of its original and tie-in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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