Native Tongue. - Couverture souple

Elgin, Suzette Haden

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1558612467 ISBN 13 : 9781558612464

Editeur : Feminist Press at The City University of New York, 2000

Synopsis

Called "fascinating" by the New York Times upon its first publication in 1984, "Native Tongue" won wide critical praise and cult status, and has often been compared to the futurist fiction of Margaret Atwood. Set in the twenty-second century, the novel tells of a world where women are once again property, denied civil rights and banned from public life. Earth's wealth depends on interplanetary commerce with alien races, and linguists ---a small, clannish group of families ---have become the ruling elite by controlling all interplanetary communication. Their women are used to breed perfect translators for all the galaxies' languages. Nazareth Chornyak, the most talented linguist of the family, is exhausted by her constant work translating for trade organizations, supervising the children's language education, running the compound, and caring for the elderly men. She longs to retire to the Barren House, where women past childbearing age knit, chat, and wait to die. What Nazareth comes to discover is that a slow revolution is going on in the Barren Houses: there, word by word, women are creating a language of their own to free them from men's control. ""Native Tongue" brings to life not only the possibility of a women's language, but a rationale for one,"--"Village Voice" "Elgin takes up more than linguistics, of course--everything from religion to sex...the story is absolutely compelling."--"Women's Review of Books" Suzette Haden Elgin is author of twelve science fiction novels and is widely know for her best-selling series "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" and for "The Grandmother Principles." She is director of the Ozark Center for Language Studies and is professor emerita of linguistics at San Diego State University. Susan Squier is Julia Brill professor of English and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

It is the year 2205 and the women of Earth are once again property. Two women, Nazareth and Michaela - one a brilliant linguist, the other a rebel servant - are destined to challenge the power of men. What neither woman realises is that a revolution is already underway: women, hidden away in Barren houses, are slowly creating a language of their own to free them from men's control and make resistance possible for all women. As Michaela and Nazareth's worlds collide, each of their secrets threatens to reveal the presence of a women's native tongue.

Biographie de l'auteur :

Suzette Haden Elgin is the author of twelve science fiction novels, and numerous non-fiction works. She is widely known for her best-selling The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense and The Grandmother Principles. She is Professor Emeritusof Linguistics at San Diego State University and Director of Ozark Center for Language Studies in Arkansas.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Feminist Press at The City University of New York
• Date d'édition: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1558612467
• ISBN 13: 9781558612464
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 327