The tongue of Adam, Abdelfattah Kilito ; translated form the French by Robyn Creswell ; foreword by Marina Warner
Type
Label
The tongue of Adam, Abdelfattah Kilito ; translated form the French by Robyn Creswell ; foreword by Marina Warner
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 91-98)
Index
no index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
The tongue of Adam
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
940362000
Responsibility statement
Abdelfattah Kilito ; translated form the French by Robyn Creswell ; foreword by Marina Warner
Series statement
NDP New Directions Paperback, 1339
Summary
In the beginning there was one language?one tongue that Adam used to compose the first poem, an elegy for Abel.?These days, no one bothers to ask about the tongue of Adam. It is a naive question, vaguely embarrassing and irksome, like questions posed by children, which one can only answer rather stupidly.? So begins Abdelfattah Kilito?s The Tongue of Adam, a delightful series of lectures. With a Borgesian flair for riddles, stories, and subtle scholarly distinctions, Kilito presents an assortment of discussions related to Adam?s tongue, including translation, comparative religion, and lexicography: for example, how, from Babel onward, can we explain the plurality of language? Or can Adam?s poetry be judged aesthetically, the same as any other poem? Drawing from the commentators of the Koran to Walter Benjamin, from the esoteric speculations of Judaism to Herodotus, The Tongue of Adam is a nimble book about the mysterious rise of humankind?s multilingualism
Table Of Contents
Babblings -- Babels -- A babelian Eden -- The oldest poem in the world -- Poet or prophet? -- The oblivion of Adam -- Poetic destiny -- "That's ... nice" (an afterword)