The Seventh Function of Language

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374715084
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 367

Book Description
From the prizewinning author of HHhH, “the most insolent novel of the year” (L’Express) comes a romp through the French intelligentsia of the twentieth century. Paris, 1980. The literary critic Roland Barthes dies—struck by a laundry van—after lunch with the presidential candidate François Mitterand. The world of letters mourns a tragic accident. But what if it wasn’t an accident at all? What if Barthes was . . . murdered? In The Seventh Function of Language, Laurent Binet spins a madcap secret history of the French intelligentsia, starring such luminaries as Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Julia Kristeva—as well as the hapless police detective Jacques Bayard, whose new case will plunge him into the depths of literary theory (starting with the French version of Roland Barthes for Dummies). Soon Bayard finds himself in search of a lost manuscript by the linguist Roman Jakobson on the mysterious “seventh function of language.” A brilliantly erudite comedy, The Seventh Function of Language takes us from the cafés of Saint-Germain to the corridors of Cornell University, and into the duels and orgies of the Logos Club, a secret philosophical society that dates to the Roman Empire. Binet has written both a send-up and a wildly exuberant celebration of the French intellectual tradition.

The Seventh Function of Language

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher:
ISBN: 0374261563
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
The suspicious death of literary critic Roland Barthes in 1980 Paris reveals the secret history of the French intelligentsia, plunging a hapless police detective into the depths of literary theory as it was documented in a famed linguist's lost manuscript.

The 7th Function of Language

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1473524636
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Book Description
'One of the funniest, most riotously inventive and enjoyable novels you’ll read this year' - Observer Roland Barthes is knocked down in a Paris street by a laundry van. It’s February 1980 and he has just come from lunch with Francois Mitterrand. Barthes dies soon afterwards. History tells us it was an accident. But what if it were an assassination? What if Barthes was carrying a document of unbelievable, global importance? A document explaining the seventh function of language – an idea so powerful it gives whoever masters it the ability to convince anyone, in any situation, to do anything. Police Captain Jacques Bayard and his reluctant accomplice Simon Herzog set off on a chase that takes them from the corridors of power to backstreet saunas and midnight meetings. What they discover is a worldwide conspiracy involving the President, murderous Bulgarians and a secret international debating society.

Civilisations

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 9781529112818
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
It's world history. But not as we know it. c.1000AD- Erik the Red's daughter heads south from Greenland 1492- Columbus does not discover America 1531- the Incas invade Europe Freydis is the leader of a band of Viking warriors who get as far as Panama. Nobody knows what became of them. Five hundred years later, Christopher Columbus is sailing for the Americas, dreaming of gold and conquest. Even when captured, his faith in his mission is unshaken. Thirty years after that, Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, arrives in a Europe ready for revolution. Fortunately, he has a recent guidebook to acquiring power - Machiavelli's The Prince. So, the stage is set for a Europe ruled by Incas and, when the Aztecs arrive on the scene, for a great war that will change history forever. 'Binet's best book yet- the work of a major writer just hitting his stride. A delightful counterfactual novel' ***** - Daily Telegraph

An Historical Study of English

Author: Jeremy Smith
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134787324
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
Through his analysis of selected major developments in the history of English, Jeremy Smith argues that the history of the language can only be understood from a dynamic perspective. He proposes that internal linguistic mechanisms for language change cannot be meaningfully explained in isolation or without reference to external linguistic factors. Smith provides the reader with an accessible synthesis of recent developments in English historical linguistics. His book: Looks at the theory and methodology of linguistic historiography . Considers the major changes in writing systems, pronunciation and grammar. Provides examples of these changes, such as the standardisation of spellings and accent and the origins of the Great Vowel Shift Focuses on the origins of two non-standard varieties; eighteenth century Scots and twentieth century British Black English.This book makes fascinating reading for students of English Historical linguistics, and is an original, important and above all, lively contribution to the field.

HHhH

Author: Laurent Binet
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1429942762
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
“Captivating . . . [HHhH] has a vitality very different from that of most historical fiction.” —James Wood, The New Yorker The basis for the major motion picture, "The Man with the Iron Heart " available on streaming and home video. HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich," or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich." The most lethal man in Hitler's cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich seemed indestructible—until two exiled operatives, a Slovak and a Czech, killed him and changed the course of history. In Laurent Binet's mesmerizing debut, we follow Jozef Gabcík and Jan Kubiš from their dramatic escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to their fatal attack on Heydrich and their own brutal deaths in the basement of a Prague church. A seamless blend of memory, actuality, and Binet's own remarkable imagination, HHhH is at once thrilling and intellectually engrossing—a fast-paced novel of the Second World War that is also a profound meditation on the debt we owe to history. A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction A Financial Times Best Book of the Year A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

The Secret Language of Feelings

Author: Calvin D. Banyan
Publisher: Hypnosis.org
ISBN: 0971229058
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
This book reveals what people have wanted to know about the human condition from the very beginning of time: What are feelings for? Within its pages, you will discover the secret language of feelings. That language is a voice within us. Sometimes it is as soft as a whisper; sometimes it is as loud as a roar. It is an important voice, which, when fully understood, gives you a kind of guidance that no other voice can. The information in The Secret Language of Feelings was revealed during thousands of hours of working with hypnotherapy clients at the Banyan Hypnosis Center for Training & Services. It came from clients who spoke to us both in the normal waking state and in the state of hypnosis. You do not need to undergo hypnotherapy in order to benefit from this book; however, it would make a perfect companion book for anyone involved in any therapy process or working on self-improvement. The Secret Language of Feelings gives you a rational and reliable approach to understanding and responding to your feelings and emotions. It shows you how to create a more satisfying life right now! You will learn how to overcome anger, guilt, frustration, sadness, loneliness and even "everyday" depression. You will better understand yourself, your family and the people you interact with on a daily basis. In short, The Secret Language of Feelings offers the key to emotional rescue and beyond to happiness and success in life.

The Language Instinct

Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062032526
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 578

Book Description
"A brilliant, witty, and altogether satisfying book." — New York Times Book Review The classic work on the development of human language by the world’s leading expert on language and the mind In The Language Instinct, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.

Language

Author: Edward Sapir
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language and languages
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
Professor Sapir analyzes, for student and common reader, the elements of language. Among these are the units of language, grammatical concepts and their origins, how languages differ and resemble each other, and the history of the growth of representative languages--Cover.

Language and Woman's Place

Author: Robin Tolmach Lakoff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019534717X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
The 1975 publication of Robin Tolmach Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place, is widely recognized as having inaugurated feminist research on the relationship between language and gender, touching off a remarkable response among language scholars, feminists, and general readers. For the past thirty years, scholars of language and gender have been debating and developing Lakoff's initial observations. Arguing that language is fundamental to gender inequality, Lakoff pointed to two areas in which inequalities can be found: Language used about women, such as the asymmetries between seemingly parallel terms like master and mistress, and language used by women, which places women in a double bind between being appropriately feminine and being fully human. Lakoff's central argument that "women's language" expresses powerlessness triggered a controversy that continues to this day. The revised and expanded edition presents the full text of the original first edition, along with an introduction and annotations by Lakoff in which she reflects on the text a quarter century later and expands on some of the most widely discussed issues it raises. The volume also brings together commentaries from twenty-six leading scholars of language, gender, and sexuality, within linguistics, anthropology, modern languages, education, information sciences, and other disciplines. The commentaries discuss the book's contribution to feminist research on language and explore its ongoing relevance for scholarship in the field. This new edition of Language and Woman's Place not only makes available once again the pioneering text of feminist linguistics; just as important, it places the text in the context of contemporary feminist and gender theory for a new generation of readers.