Political English
Language and the Decay of Politics
1st Edition
Published on 8. August 2019
224 pages
978-1-350-10141-8 (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.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
ISBN-13
978-1-350-10141-8 (9781350101418)
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
Book
08/2019
Bloomsbury Academic
€29.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
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
