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yanailedit's review against another edition
5.0
This has been one of the set texts for my final bachelor's Linguistics class and it has been an absolute pleasure and priviledge to be able to learn from it. The selection is incredible—perfectly curated. I've got an unending respect for Dohra Ahmad's work and would highly recommend anything by her to anyone.
Hilariously, yesterday I accidentally ended up eavesdropping on an interview between one of the PhD student scientists who works at my university and a journalist for BBC World. After finishing their interview, they had a passionate and very awkward discussion about the dangers of being seen as holding an ideology, the kind that happens between two people very politely disagreeing and misunderstanding eachother.
I wanted to apologise for eavesdropping and thank them for the riveting lecture my coffee break had turned into, but was only able to catch the journalist while the scientist left. Upon finding out that I was reading "Productive Paradoxes" by Ahmad and Nero re: vernacular literature, the journalist in question excitedly recommended a speech by David Foster Wallace in which he "tells students how it's all well and good for them to write in vernacular, but there's a good reason why we all function and operate in the Queen's English, you know, so don't shoot yourself in the feet". I think the irony about ideologies was lost on him and I probably left him thinking my academic integrity is seriously compromised.
So there ya have it folks, linguistic purism is alive, well, damaging, and having a coffee right behind you. I was already fully convinced of the urgency of Ahmad and my Rotten English course's arguments and content, but apparently the world felt it necessary to heavy handedly reiterate.
Hilariously, yesterday I accidentally ended up eavesdropping on an interview between one of the PhD student scientists who works at my university and a journalist for BBC World. After finishing their interview, they had a passionate and very awkward discussion about the dangers of being seen as holding an ideology, the kind that happens between two people very politely disagreeing and misunderstanding eachother.
I wanted to apologise for eavesdropping and thank them for the riveting lecture my coffee break had turned into, but was only able to catch the journalist while the scientist left. Upon finding out that I was reading "Productive Paradoxes" by Ahmad and Nero re: vernacular literature, the journalist in question excitedly recommended a speech by David Foster Wallace in which he "tells students how it's all well and good for them to write in vernacular, but there's a good reason why we all function and operate in the Queen's English, you know, so don't shoot yourself in the feet". I think the irony about ideologies was lost on him and I probably left him thinking my academic integrity is seriously compromised.
So there ya have it folks, linguistic purism is alive, well, damaging, and having a coffee right behind you. I was already fully convinced of the urgency of Ahmad and my Rotten English course's arguments and content, but apparently the world felt it necessary to heavy handedly reiterate.
hellmiina's review
4.0
Standard English should absolutely not be the only way that literature can be written and I adored this celebration of vernacular. My favourites were the essays In The Absence of Writing or How I Became A Spy by NourbeSe Philip which is about the loss of African languages through colonialism and slavery and how she navigates that as a writer writing in English, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan which is about her mother's broken English and explores the idea of "broken" English, and African Speech, English Words by Gabriel Okra about writing with African syntax and language features even if you're writing in English to maintain an African identity in a work even if it's in English, like directly translating rather than translating to the English equivalent. My favourite short stories were Po Sandy by Charles Chestnutt, Letters from Whetu by Patricia Grace, and Betel Nut is Bad Magic for Airplanes by John Kasaipwalova. I adored all the poems! Removed one star because of course there were some works I enjoyed less than others.
pretentiouslyemely's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
js thank you for the recommendation!! as an english major nerd, i really enjoyed reading the variety of texts! i loved the short stories and essays
asilrenrut's review
5.0
This is my dream anthology: vernacular English poetry, stories and essays from around the world. Brilliant! Combines Robert Burns, Zora Neale Hurston, Junot DÃaz, and the essay that helped launch my thesis, "The Absence of Writing (Or How I Almost Became a Spy)" by M. NourbeSe Philip. A delicious read for postcolonialists everywhere.
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