Rotten English: A Literary Anthology (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A remarkable collection...makes us aware of the incredible flexibility of English;charts its journey to become a truly global language. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

If we want to preserve the dignity of that strange adjective 'comparative' in comparative literature, we will embrace creolity. (Gayatri Chakravorty, author of In Other Worlds -- Gayatri Chakravorty

Smart, beautiful, passionate, necessary...as canny as it is exhaustive; an extraordinary X-ray of English. -- Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Product Description

A global anthology of fiction and poetry in vernacular English. Rotten English spans the globe to offer an overview of the best non-standard English writing of the past two centuries, with a focus on the most recent decades. During the last twelve years, half of the Man Booker awards went to novels written in non-standard English. What would once have been derogatorily termed "dialect literature" has come into its own in a language known variously as slang, creole, patois, pidgin, or, in the words of Nigerian novelist Ken Saro-Wiwa, "rotten English."

The first anthology of its kind, Rotten English celebrates vernacular literature from around the English-speaking world, from Robert Burns, Mark Twain, and Zora Neale Hurston to Papua New Guinea's John Kasaipwalova and Tobago's Marlene Nourbese Philip. With concise introductions that explain the context and aesthetics of the vernacular tradition, Rotten English pays tribute to the changes English has undergone as it has become a global language. .

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Product Details

• Paperback: 535 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (June 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393329607
• ISBN-13: 978-0393329605
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #591,294 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and timely anthology by an academic star, June 13, 2007

By	C. Bhuvaneswar "earthlady24" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a much-needed and insightfully wrought anthology of literary works by writers in the fascinating post-colonial world. Not only has Ms Ahmad put together writers who are both popular and critically acclaimed, ranging from Junot Diaz and Rohinton Mistry, to James Baldwin, to Sapphire, to Jonathan Safran Foer and Peter Carey, she has also provided beautiful introductions. After reading this, students will not only be lining up for her courses, but clamoring for more courses to be taught, period, about literature in vernacular English.
Readers will be looking forward eagerly to the next published work by this gifted scholar and writer.