Customer Reviews

Dictionary Days

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Even though Ilan Stavans is an OED man and I prefer the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, he is still one of my favorite writers and Dictionary Days is a great pleasure to read. The book has its origins in an improvised talk Stavans gave in Ann Arbor, Michigan [Ink, Inc.] and the essays in Dictionary Days all have a stream of consciousness, jamming on the dictionary and word theme feel. Desert Notes by Barry Lopez and Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman cover very different subjects from Dictionary Days, but they're the books that came to mind when I finished reading Dictionary Days. If the reader is looking for a scholarly book on words and dictionaries, this isn't it, but one hopes Stavans will write that book someday. [And since we're on the subject of dictionaries, I recommend that all dictionary freaks check out a copy of Glossary of Geology, Fourth Edition (4th ed) by Julia A. Jackson (Editor), a technical dictionary with a twist.]

Dr. Samuel Johnson, in his 1755 dictionary of the English language, defined an "essay" as "not a regular and orderly composition." Stavans, in this collection of essays on dictionaries and words, is consistent in his adherence to that definition, if nothing else. The author explores the history of dictionaries across languages and cultures, the exclusion of "cacophonous words" (i.e., swear words), the inclusion of cultural biases, and more general thoughts on language and thought. Sometimes fascinating, sometimes taxing, Stavans takes us on a ride through a mind fascinated (and perhaps obsessed) by words.

Interesting vignettes fill the book. We learn that Founding Father John Adams predicted the ultimate dominance of English as a world language, why "African" was excluded from the original Oxford English Dictionary and "American" was not, and how a severed arm (not his) inspired Stavans to write. The author gives us examples of humorous mistakes in dictionaries gone by: for example, a 1967 Spanish dictionary defines a day as "the space of time needed by the Sun to completely round the Earth."

Stavans is creative: in one chapter he retells a dream, in another he recounts an imagined visit by the 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson to the author's Massachusetts home, and in a third he explores cross-cultural linguistic challenges through the story of an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. He spends most of one essay ruminating on a certain swear word and whether its exclusion from many lexicons is right or wise. We read passages in Latin, Greek, Yiddish, and Spanish. The book has an all-star cast, with quotes from Neruda, Flaubert, Carroll, Shakespeare, Conrad, and the musical Singing in the Rain, and allusions to many more (Milton, Pope, Swift, and Kafka among them).

Yet, the essays often lack coherence, evoking the feeling of a stream of consciousness, with lines like "Ink + reason = power," and "Ink is playful, whereas Inc. denotes consent." These are fine musings, but they are not well explained or reasoned. The author also tosses out strong opinions without strong backing. For example, a diatribe against the lack of books on language at large chain bookstores culminates with, "The lack of respect for books in these so-called Temples of Knowledge is obscene." It's not clear who claimed this lofty title for the espresso-serving bookmarts.

Even though the meandering narrative wore me down, the essays are ultimately effective. As he praised the dictionary, he sent me running for my own, time and time again, to look up "encaustic," "tergiversation," "onomastic," "palliative." He reminded me of how fun the thesaurus can be; I laughed at the suggested alternatives for "disaster" for a report I was writing on natural disasters: "hard luck," "hot water," "cataclysm." Stavans' passion for words and their home is infectious, and that may be reason enough to enjoy this fun, light collection.

I heard Stavans give a brilliant presentation at the American Translators Association's annual conference in Toronto about his then most recent autobiographical book "On Borrowed Words." In it we learn that the author's last name is Stavchansky, and that it was his father who first started using its abbreviated form, Stavans, as his professional stage name.

I introduced myself after the talk and then wrote him a short 'thank you' email from home. It did not surprise me that he answered it, for I knew from his demeanor that he was eminently approachable, but what did surprise me was its warmth and playfulness. Not three weeks later he was due in my home town to present on his edition of I.B. Singer and we had him for dinner. He took to my bookshelves like fish to water and zeroed in on my dictionaries. It was then that he told me that he was finishing up a book entitled "Dictionary Days." No sooner was he back home that I got the next-to-final draft by email asking for comments from a fellow dictionary addict. It was then that I knew that Stavans ought not to be defined solely in terms of intelligence, erudition, and approachability, but also on generosity and trust, for he was sending the unpublished work to someone he barely knew and who has written on dictionaries. After a few exchanges, I knew that I needed to add at least one more hue to my previous impressions if I was to define Ilan accurately: unarrogant (yes, there is such a word!). Zero, zilch, niente, nada de arrogancia. You will get exactly that erudite, down-to-earth, and approachable Ilan in Dictionary Days. The essay collection is warm, and playful, and smart, and generous...

What is Dictionary Days's crowning achievement? I'd say that it makes us look at words anew. Stavans invites us "to look at the private life of words." So I took that sound advice and found a gem. "Stavans," in the Jain tradition, is a "chant," an "incantation," and "Ilan" means palm tree in Hebrew. There cannot be a better way to define Ilan or what he has done in this book. Dictionary Days is the chant of a palm tree swaying in the breeze... and it will make you soar.

Verónica Albin
Rice University

Ilan Stavans is a multiculturalist at its best: born in Mexico of Jewish descent with Eastern European origins, he speaks six languages fluently and has been immersed in dictionaries all his life. His history of lexicography surveys many different languages in essays which survey the history of words, cultures, and dictionaries alike. Fun anecdotes juxtapose serious scholarship combine in the pages of Dictionary Days providing a lively read which is very highly recommended for both leisure and study.

The author seems more interested in his own life story and personal flights of fancy than I expected when choosing to buy this small book. Not a bad book, but not great either. I do agree with Professor Stavans on the importance of Dr. Johnson, and urge everyone to read James Boswell's great biography of the London drudge.

One sidelight: Anyone wondering about the current U.S. problem with illegal immigration might benefit from reading chapter nine of Dictionary Days.