The Tree of Meaning Language, Mind and Ecology

by Bringhurst, Robert; Harrison, Jim

• ISBN13: 9781593761790
• ISBN10: 1593761791
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-28
• Publisher: Counterpoint

Summary

"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.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 1
Prologue	p. 9
The Polyhistorical Mind	p. 15
The Persistence of Poetry and the Destruction of the World	p. 40
The Vocation of Being, the Text of the Whole	p. 46
Native American Oral Literatures and the Unity of the Humanities	p. 64
The Audible Light in the Eyes	p. 81
The Voice in the Mirror	p. 107
Poetry and Thinking	p. 139
The Tree of Meaning and the Work of Ecological Linguistics	p. 159
The Humanity of Speaking: The Place of the Individual in the Making of Oral Culture	p. 177
Prosodies of Meaning: Literary Form in Native North America	p. 206
Wild Language	p. 257
Finding Home: The Legacy of Bill Reid	p. 277
The Silence That Is Not Poetry - and the Silence That Is	p. 299
Index	p. 323
Acknowledgements	p. 329
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