Political English
Language and the Decay of Politics
Published on 8. August 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-1-350-10138-8 (ISBN)
Description
From post-truth politics to "no-platforming" on university campuses, the English language has been both a potent weapon and a crucial battlefield for our divided politics. In this important and wide-ranging intervention, Thomas Docherty explores the politics of the English language, its implication in the dynamics of political power and the spaces it offers for dissent and resistance. From the authorised English of the King James Bible to the colonial project of University English Studies, this book develops a powerful history for contemporary debates about propaganda, free speech and truth-telling in our politics. Taking examples from the US, UK and beyond - from debates about the Second Amendment and free-speech on campus, to the Iraq War and the Grenfell Tower fire - this book is a powerful and polemical return to Orwell's observation that a degraded political language is intimately connected to an equally degraded political culture.
Reviews / Votes
This brilliant text demands immediate attention. Gathering research from a wide spectrum of disciplines in order to gain understanding of the normalizing of "atrocious" language (p. 1), Docherty (English, Univ. of Warwick, UK) argues that such language has the power to shape democratic discourse, culture, and politics and widen divisions between those who find truth in facts and reality and those who measure truth by agreement as prescribed by ideology and community. Summing Up: Essential. * CHOICE * With deep research, knowledge of modern Britain, a citizen's passion, and a boxer's punch, Docherty provides an eloquent defence of a civil, informed public sphere over habit, hate, and clannism. Everyone who can read should read his chapters on free speech, academic freedom, and no-platforming. * Regenia Gagnier, Chair of English Language and Literature, University of Exeter, UK and author of Literatures of Liberalization *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
290 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-10138-8 (9781350101388)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2019
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€29.99
Available for download
E-Book
08/2019
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€29.99
Available for download
Person
Thomas Docherty is Professor of English at the University of Warwick, UK. He has published on most areas of English and comparative literature from the Renaissance to the present day. He specializes in the philosophy of literary criticism, in critical theory, and in cultural history in relation primarily to European philosophy and literatures. His previous publications include After Theory (1996), The English Question (2008) and Literature and Capital (Bloomsbury, 2018).
Content
Introduction
Chapter 1 On Pluck: English and Money
Chapter 2 English Nativism and Linguistic Xenophobia
Chapter 3 Fundamentalist English; or The Stiff Upper Lip
Chapter 4 On Truth and Lying in a Political Sense
Chapter 5 Words, Deeds, and Democracy
Chapter 6 Profanity and Free Speech
Chapter 7 Remnants of Dissent
Index
Chapter 1 On Pluck: English and Money
Chapter 2 English Nativism and Linguistic Xenophobia
Chapter 3 Fundamentalist English; or The Stiff Upper Lip
Chapter 4 On Truth and Lying in a Political Sense
Chapter 5 Words, Deeds, and Democracy
Chapter 6 Profanity and Free Speech
Chapter 7 Remnants of Dissent
Index