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LATIN OR THE EMPIRE OF A SIGN: FROM THE SIXTEENTH TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURIES.

LATIN OR THE EMPIRE OF A SIGN: FROM THE SIXTEENTH TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURIES. Hardcover - 2001

by Waquet, Francoise. Translated by John Howe

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London: Verso, 2001. 346 pp, large 8vo (9 7/16" H) "(This) enthralling history of Latin in the modern period describes the institutional setting in which it was adopted, transmitted, promoted, defended, attacked and eventually relegated to the secondary, specialist status it has today. Defended with extraordinary tenacity by the Catholic Church and the academic world against the rationalist criticisms that it was inaccessible to the great majority of people, and inconvenient and time-consuming for the rest, it became the 'European sign' par excellence, as well as denoting a wide range of other phenomena: sacredness, but also obscenity and impropriety; learning, but also pedantry and charlatanism; science, but also trickery and mumbo-jumbo. Because of the status and the many roles historically attributed to Latin it became, for westerners, much more than a language, and until the last fifty years or so reached deeply into almost everyone's life. Waquet's brisk but detailed history of a language many centuries dead will amuse anyone who did Latin at school and intrigue many who didn't, as well as providing an obituary of the liturgical and neo-classical Latin of the modern period ." Dust jacket has very light edge wrinkling, is price-clipped, small edge tear at top of rear panel - archivally taped.. First British Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Very Good.
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From the publisher

Françoise Waquet is a director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. Among her books are Latin, and in French, Les fêtes royales sous la Restauration ou l’Ancien Régime retrouvé and La République des Lettres (with Hans Bots).

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Media reviews

“... [a] fascinating and lively survey of the place of Latin western culture during the past 400 years.”—Independent

“... a lucid , learned retelling of the fortunes of the Latin language in the modern era. A scholarly work, this will nonetheless appeal to general readers as well.”—History

“... an eloquent obituary ...”—Spectator

“... detailed and wide-ranging ...”—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“... richly researched and delightful ... with scholars of Waquet’s generosity and ability, the old language might yet have a future.”—New Criterion

“... the book is valuable if for no other reason than for the historical light is sheds on contemporary debates over the value of a ‘traditional’ education—and for reminding us that a classical education is sometimes more about class than about education.”—Washington Times

“A splendid book: original in method, suggestive in argument, and a pleasure to read.”—London Review of Books

“And for something completely differently serious, read part of Europe’s future in part of its past: the fascinating Latin: or the Empire of a Sign.”—A.C. Grayling, Guardian, Summer Choice 2002

“It is a wonderful survey of the uses to which we have put Latin.”—A. N. Wilson

“Latin is dead and this book is its epitaph ... it is the merit and interest of Waquet's survey that she finds Latin not only deployed for the liturgy, but also to describe things carnal, pornographic, or otherwise shameful.”—Daily Telegraph

“Waquet.s wonderful, readable book (in Howe’s fine translation) provides an intellectual history of the Latin language ... Waquet memorabluy charts Latin’s reception in scholarly, comic, tender and exhaustive detail through learned, literary and popular sources.”—Choice

About the author

Francoise Waquet is a director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. Among her books are "Latin," and in French, "Les fetes royales sous la Restauration ou l'Ancien Regime retrouve" and "La Republique des Lettres" (with Hans Bots).

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