Language History

يكاد قارئُ تاريخِ الفَلْسَفَة يتساءَل: لم كانت الفلسفةُ حِكراً على الذكور دون النساء؟ لكنَّه يعْدِل عن السُّؤال حينَ يبحث في كتبٍ أَفردتْ مساحةً للفَيلسوفات من النساء، ومنها «مَلِكات الفَلْسَفَة»، الذي اقتصرت صفحاته على 20 مُفكِّرةً مِمَّنْ برزْنَ، فنحتْنَ مصطلحاتٍ، وقدَّمْنَ إِسهاماتٍ رفدت الفكرَ الفَلسفيَّ على امتداد أَلْفِيَّتَيْن ونيِّف، بَدْءاً من دَيوتيما، وبانْ تجو (أوَّل مؤرِّخةٍ في تاريخ الصين القديم)، وحَنَّة آرِنتْ، والأكسفورديَّات، وهيباتْيا، مروراً بآنْجِلا ديفِزْ (الرَّمْز الأشهر لحركة القوَّة السوداء الأمريكيَّة)، ثم عزيزة الهِبْري (التي أوقفتْ بَحْثَها على تقاطُع مَفاهيم غربيَّةٍ مُعاصرة، مثل المُساواة بين الجنسيْن، مع التَّشريع الإسلاميِّ). سيجدُ القارئُ الـمعنيُّ بالمُنْجَز الفلسفِيِّ النِّسويِّ ضالَّته في «مَلِكات الفَلْسَفَة»، بما حوى مِنْ سِيَرٍ شخصيَّة ورُسومات، وبما توفَّر عليه من تبصُّرٍ وفكر. لكنَّ السُّؤال، بأثرٍ مِنْ هذا الكتاب وأَضْرابه، قد غدا: لماذا أقصيَتْ النِّساءُ من المِضْمار الفَلْسَفيِّ؟!

يُعد هذا الكتاب مدخلاً ممتازاً إلى الأدب الكلاسيكي. وعلى الرغم من صعوبة مهمة المؤلف، المتمثلة في تغطية موضوع واسع ومتشعب مثل هذا، فإنه استطاع لـمَّ شتاته، وعالج موضوعاته معالجة لا يُعوِزها العمق، فألقى ضوءاً كاشفاً على تطور الأجناس الأدبية الرئيسة في الأدبين اليوناني والروماني، مع تحليل عميق لخصائصها، وقدم أمثلة كاشفة عن محتوى كل جنس أدبي تناوله بالتحليل. كذلك، ناقش المؤلف -على امتداد تسعة فصول هي قوام كتابه- مختلف جوانب الأدب الكلاسيكي، مستهلاً بعرض لتاريخ الأدب الكلاسيكي، ومفهوم الجنس الأدبي عند المؤلفين القدامى، ومتون الأدب الكلاسيكي والكيفية التي وصلتنا بها، ثم عرض لكل جنس أدبي، كالملحمة، والشعر الغنائي والذاتي، والدراما بشقيها: التراجيديا والكوميديا، والتأريخ، والخطابة، والشعر الرعوي، والهجاء، والرواية.

The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth. At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book answers fundamental questions: Just what is a pun, and why do people make them? How did punning impact the development of human language, and how did that drive creativity and progress? And why, after centuries of decline, does the pun still matter?

A charming and indispensable tour of two thousand years of the written word, Shady Characters weaves a fascinating trail across the parallel histories of language and typography. Whether investigating the asterisk (*) and dagger (†)—which alternately illuminated and skewered heretical verses of the early Bible—or the at sign (@), which languished in obscurity for centuries until rescued by the Internet, Keith Houston draws on myriad sources to chart the life and times of these enigmatic squiggles, both exotic (¶) and everyday (&).

Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully abridged versions are shorter...

Here is the remarkable story of how this humble language took vigorous root in Eastern European shtetls and in the Jewish quarters of cities across Europe; how it achieved a rich literary flowering between the wars in Europe and America; how it was rejected by emancipated Jews; and how it fell victim to the Holocaust. And also how, in yet another twist of destiny, Yiddish today is becoming the darling of academia. Yiddish is a history as story; a tale of flesh-and-blood people with manic humor.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST From the acclaimed author of My Cat Yugoslavia: a stunning, incandescent new novel that speaks to identity, war, exile, love, betrayal, and heartbreak The death of head of state Enver Hoxha and the loss of his father leave Bujar growing up in the ruins of Communist...

As the main spoken language of the Jews for more than a thousand years, Yiddish has had plenty to lament, plenty to conceal. Its phrases and expressions paint a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled the Jews of Europe to survive persecution: they never stopped kvetching about God...

With three straight #1 bestsellers and more than 4 million copies of his books in print, the most powerful traditional force in the American media now takes off his gloves in the ongoing struggle for America’s heart and soul. Bill O’Reilly is the very embodiment of the idea of a Culture...

Entre los intelectuales de izquierda, Noam Chomsky se distingue por su especial relación con el activismo, y por ser él mismo un activista político de larguísimo recorrido, además de un crítico implacable y clarividente. En este libro, que puede leerse como el legado de Chomsky a los...

The inspiring stories of 6 people who changed history. Contents: Edward Jenner, the man who fought the terrible disease, smallpox Florence Nightingale, the nurse known as ‘the lady with the lamp’ Elizabeth Garrett, England’s first female doctor Carl Jung, the doctor who wanted to...

The inspiring stories of 6 people who changed history. Contents: Voltaire, the French writer who believed in equality for all Charlotte Brontë, the British novelist who wrote Jane Eyre Mark Twain, the American who wrote Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer Jacques Prévert, the writer known in...

The inspiring stories of 6 people who changed history. Contents: Mayer Amschel Rothschild who started a bank which made his family rich Cornelius Vanderbilt who became one of the richest people in the USA W. K. Kellogg who started the world’s biggest cereal company Elizabeth Arden who built...

The French point of view: “La langue anglaise n’existe pas. C’est du français mal prononcé.” (“The English language doesn’t exist. It is badly pronounced French.”) Georges Clemenceau, French Prime Minister, 1917-1920.

What happens to Queen Bees and Wannabes when they grow up? Even the most well-adjusted moms and dads can experience peer pressure and conflicts with other adults that make them act like they’re back in seventh grade. In Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads, Rosalind Wiseman gives us the tools to...

Why did once-stone-faced animals evolve to be so emotionally expressive—to be us? The answer, as evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi and mathematician Tim Barber reveal, is that emotional expressions are our first and most important language—one that allows us, as social animals, to engage in highly sophisticated communications and negotiations.

Addresses how tech empowers community organizing and protest movements to combat the systems of capitalism and data exploitation that helped drive tech’s own rise to ubiquity. Our smartphones have brought digital technology into the most intimate spheres of life. It’s time to take control of...

Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully abridged versions are shorter...

Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully abridged versions are shorter...

Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully abridged versions are shorter...