Overview
The idea that there once existed a language which perfectly and unambiguously expressed the essence of all possible things and concepts has occupied the minds of philosophers, theologians, mystics and others for at least two millennia. This is an investigation into the history of that idea and of its profound influence on European thought, culture and history. From the early Dark Ages to the Renaissance it was widely believed that the language spoken in the Garden of Eden was just such a language, and that all current languages were its decadent descendants from the catastrophe of the Fall and at Babel. The recovery of that language would, for theologians, express the nature of divinity, for cabbalists allow access to hidden knowledge and power, and for philosophers reveal the nature of truth. Versions of these ideas remained current in the Enlightenment, and have recently received fresh impetus in attempts to create a natural language for artificial intelligence. The story that Umberto Eco tells ranges widely from the writings of Augustine, Dante, Descartes and Rousseau, arcane treatises on cabbalism and magic, to the history of the study of language and its origins. He demonstrates the initimate relation between language and identity and describes, for example, how and why the Irish, English, Germans and Swedes - one of whom presented God talking in Swedish to Adam, who replied in Danish, while the serpent tempted Eve in French - have variously claimed their language as closest to the original. He also shows how the late eighteenth-century discovery of a proto-language (Indo-European) for the Aryan peoples was perverted to support notions of racial superiority. To this subtle exposition of a history of extraordinary complexity, Umberto Eco links the associated history of the manner in which the sounds of language and concepts have been written and symbolized. Lucidly and wittily written, the book is, in sum, a tour de force of scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European History. The paperback edition of this book is not available through Blackwell outside of North America.
Full Product Details
Author: Umberto Eco (University of Bologna)
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint: Wiley-Blackwell
Dimensions:
Width: 16.30cm
, Height: 3.30cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.753kg
ISBN: 9780631174653
ISBN 10: 0631174656
Pages: 396
Publication Date: 09 September 1995
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
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Reviews
This is as much a history of the study of language and its origins as it is a tour de force pursuit using scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, thus providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European history. The Medieval Review
This is as much a history of the study of language and its origins as it is a tour de force pursuit using scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, thus providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European history. The Medieval Review
""This is as much a history of the study of language and its origins as it is a tour de force pursuit using scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, thus providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European history."" The Medieval Review
This dense archival study finds philosopher/novelist/essayist Eco (Semiotics/Univ. of Bologna, Italy; Foucault's Pendulum, 1989, etc.) excavating the labyrinthine history of early modern European linguistics. Eco traces how the desire to find - or, failing that, to forge - the ideal language motivated a series of philosophers to develop some of our most fundamental structures of thought. One line of descent begins with the Jewish Kabbalism of the Middle Ages. Kabbalistic practices of interpreting Torah by working out anagrams and other linguistic combinations inspired a host of philosophers. One key figure was Raymond Lull, a Christian mystic who sought to produce a new evangelical language. While Lull failed, his efforts influenced not only the magic languages of such occult figures as Jonathan Dee, Queen Elizabeth's astrologer, but also the scientific logic and encyclopedism of Enlightenment giants like Leibniz. Eco also traces how the search for the perfect language gave rise to linguistic ideas of history and national identity. Various thinkers sought to recapture the first language, some speculating on the secrets of the Garden of Eden, others attempting to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. Authors such as Dante, in contrast, sought to legitimate their national vernaculars as potentially perfect. From these roots developed the scientifically modern but ethically hazardous project of tracing etymologies back to a common Indo-European, or Aryan, ur-language. A few purple passages aside, Eco focuses on complete coverage rather than on imaginative recreation. Thus, while the text is readable, even intriguing in places, the general reader perusing this volume should anticipate some tough going. The Tower of Babel; Leibniz's passion for universal peace ; Renaissance espionage techniques; the 20th century project of Esperanto: Eco has intriguing subject matter to work with here. But some of the material is so leaden, even Eco's magical wit can't turn it all to gold. (Kirkus Reviews)
This is not a dry academic treatise, but a book that can be read with pleasure and delight. It is an investigation of the tantalizing idea that there once existed a language which perfectly and unambiguously expressed the essence of all possible things. Cultural historian Umberto Eco explores the writings of Augustine, Dante, Descartes and Rousseau together with early treatises on cabbalism and magic in his investigation into this corner of linguistic history. He shows how language helps to forge national identity but also how it can be perverted to promote notions of racial or cultural superiority. (Kirkus UK)
Author Information
Umberto Eco was born in Alessandria in 1932 and has been Professor of Semiotics at the University of Bologna since 1975 and the President of the International Center for Semiotic and Cognitive Studies at the Universityu of San Marino since 1988. His books include The Name of the Rose (1980), Foucault's Pendulum (1988) and the more recent works include Semiotics and Philosophy of Lanaguage (1984) and The Limits of Interpretation (1990).
