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.
Find at “Biophilia”