Bridge of words : Esperanto and the dream of a universal language / Esther Schor.

Author
Schor, Esther H. [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
New York : Metropolitan Books, 2016.
Description
xiv, 364 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Faculty Publications PM8209 .S36 2016 Browse related items Request
    Firestone Library - Stacks PM8209 .S36 2016 Browse related items Request

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      Subject(s)
      Summary note
      • "A rich and passionate biography of a language and the dream of world harmony it sought to realize. In 1887, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, a Polish Jew, had the idea of putting an end to tribalism by creating a universal language, one that would be equally accessible to everyone in the world. The result was Esperanto, a utopian scheme full of the brilliance, craziness, and grandiosity that characterize all such messianic visions. In this first full history of a constructed language, poet and scholar Esther Schor traces the life of Esperanto. She follows the path from its invention by Zamenhof, through its turn-of-the-century golden age as the great hope of embattled cosmopolites, to its suppression by nationalist regimes and its resurgence as a bridge across the Cold War. She plunges into the mechanics of creating a language from scratch, one based on rational systems that would be easy to learn, politically neutral, and allow all to speak to all. Rooted in the dark soil of Europe, Esperanto failed to stem the continent's bloodletting, of course, but as Schor shows, the ideal continues draw a following of modern universalists dedicated to its visionary goal. Rich and subtle, Bridge of Words is at once a biography of an idea, an original history of Europe, and a spirited exploration of the only language charged with saving the world from itself"-- Provided by publisher.
      • "A history of Esperanto, the utopian "universal language" invented in 1887"-- Provided by publisher.
      Notes
      Includes index.
      Bibliographic references
      Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-348) and index.
      Contents
      • The dream of a universal language
      • Samideanoj I : NASK, or total immersion
      • Doktoro Esperanto and the Shadow People
      • Samideanoj II :iznik to białystok, or, una granda rondo familia
      • The Heretic, the Priestess, and the Invisible Empire
      • Samideanoj III : Hanoi to Havana, or, Usonozo
      • Esperanto in a global Babel
      • Samideanoj IV : bona espero, or, androids.
      ISBN
      • 9780805090796 ((hardback))
      • 0805090797 ((hardback))
      LCCN
      2015018907
      OCLC
      898529359
      Other standard number
      • 40026532330
      Statement on language in description
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