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Book Cover for: The Tree of Meaning: Language, Mind and Ecology, Robert Bringhurst

The Tree of Meaning: Language, Mind and Ecology

Robert Bringhurst

"Poems, where I come from," writes Robert Bringhurst, "are spoken to be written and written to be spoken. The Tree of Meaning is a book of critical prose composed in the same way." Together, these thirteen lectures present a superbly grounded approach to the study of language, focusing on storytelling, mythology, comparative literature, humanity, and the breadth of oral culture. Bringhurst's commitment to what he calls "ecological linguistics" emerges in his studies of Native American art and storytelling, his understanding of poetry, and his championing of a more truly universal conception of what constitutes literature.

This collection features a sustained focus on Haida culture, the process of translation, and the relationship between beings and language. Compiling ten years of work, this book is remarkable not only for the cohesion of its author's own ideas, but for the synthesis of such wide-ranging perspectives and examples of cultures both human and nonhuman. Applying his trademark enthusiasm and ecologically conscious, humanitarian approach, Bringhurst produces a highly personalized and active study of Native American art and literature, world languages, philosophy, and natural history.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
  • Publish Date: Jul 1st, 2009
  • Pages: 352
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.10in - 4.90in - 1.10in - 0.80lb
  • EAN: 9781582435053
  • Categories: • Essays

About the Author

Robert Bringhurst is a renowned Canadian author, poet, and typographer. He is the author of the bestselling The Elements of Typographic Style, as well as numerous works of prose and poetry. He is also an accomplished translator and linguist and has translated works from Haida, Navajo, classical Greek, and Arabic.

More books by Robert Bringhurst

Book Cover for: The Elements of Typographic Style: Version 4.0, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: Learning to Die: Wisdom in the Age of Climate Crisis, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: The Ridge, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: The Surface of Meaning: Books and Book Design in Canada, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: Pieces of Map, Pieces of Music, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: The Raven Steals the Light, Bill Reid
Book Cover for: Robert Bringhurst: Selected Poems, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: The Beauty of the Weapons, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: Palatino: The Natural History of a Typeface, Robert Bringhurst
Book Cover for: Everywhere Being Is Dancing: Twenty Pieces of Thinking, Robert Bringhurst

Praise for this book

"[Bringhurst] is part MIT and part California ashram; when reading him one has the unusual sense that the writer, even without his writing, would be an interesting guy."