The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language [Paperback]

Melvyn Bragg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 14, 2006 | ISBN-10: 1559707844 | ISBN-13: 978-1559707848

English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through the heart of world finance, medicine and the Internet, and it is understood by around two thousand million people across the world. Yet it was very nearly wiped out in its early years. In this book Melvyn Bragg shows us the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion and trade, but also the story of people, and how their day-to-day lives shaped and continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This compelling and charmingly personal companion to an eight-part television documentary (scheduled for the fall) makes for an idiosyncratic rival to PBS's bestselling blockbuster The Story of English, by Robert McCrum et al. Titling a history of the evolution and expansion of a language an "adventure" presupposes a hero, with such obvious choices as Alfred the Great, for defeating the Danes; Chaucer, for his Canterbury Tales; Shakespeare, for his poetic inventiveness; or Samuel Johnson, for his groundbreaking dictionary. Bragg, a British TV and radio personality and novelist (The Soldier's Return), gives all their contributions their due, but English itself, with its "deep obstinacy" and "astonishing flexibility," emerges as his favorite character. Bragg's enthusiasm for his subject-hero, whether the Old English of Beowulf or the new "Text English" of the Internet, makes up for his shortcomings as a linguist: his sources, unfootnoted, are at times at variance with the OED or Webster's Third. For instance, Bragg furnishes only one putative origin for the disputed "real McCoy." Moreover "candy" does not seem to have Anglo-Indian origins (it's from the Arabic "qandi"), and the first recorded use of "vast" is not from Shakespeare (the OED cites Archbishop Edwin Sandys). Nevertheless, this "biography" succeeds in its broad, sweeping narrative, carrying the reader from the origins of Anglo-Saxon through the Viking and Norman invasions to the consolidation of "British" English and outward to America, Australia, India, the West Indies and beyond. After some 1,500 years, with one billion speakers now worldwide, according to Bragg, the English language has displayed an amazing ability to repair and reinvent itself, as Bragg ably shows. 32 pages of color illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Why do Americans say fall when the British say autumn? How was English altered by the Black Death? What is Singlish and how has it evolved? Novelist Bragg explores these and other questions in his look at the English language's long march from obscure Sanskrit origins to a global lingua franca. Along the way, he examines the roles played by the Viking invasions, the Norman Conquest, the Tyndale Bible, the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare, and the Industrial Revolution. He also traces English's journey across the globe in the wake of British imperialism, following it to America, India, Australia, and elsewhere. Several chapters are devoted to American English and how it has been transformed by influences as diverse as the journals of Lewis and Clark and the African dialects that were transported with the slaves. Looking ahead, the book considers how standard language will be shaped by "other Englishes" employed by those for whom English is a second tongue. It is Bragg's contention that the prevalence of English can be explained in part by such inherent virtues as "astonishing precision and flexibility," and whether one agrees with him or not, he is the ideal tour guide here, both entertaining and informative. Mary Ellen Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (September 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559707844
• ISBN-13: 978-1559707848
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #915,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Appealing to History Buffs December 3, 2004

By T. Hooper

Format:Hardcover

This easy to read volume discusses the history and development of the English language. It covers the period from the invasion of the Angles and Saxons up to modern times. There were a few close calls in the history of English. We could be speaking Danish or French, if history had turned out differently. What would the world be like then?

Each chapter covers a different era of English history and towards the end of the book, American and International English history. It breaks down how certain important events influenced the development of the English language. It also provides some samples of word origins, and how grammar has gradually changed over the centuries. I think that anyone who is interested in English or history, and especially anyone who is interested in both, should pick this up.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction to the English Language February 4, 2006

By Gordon C. Duus

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

In this book Melvyn Bragg presents, in an easy to read style, the story of the evolution of the English language. Starting with the origins of Old English in the fifth century, he describes the impact on the language of the Viking invasion of England in the ninth century, the enormous effect of the victory of the french-speaking Normans over the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings, the breakthrough of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, how the publication of various bibles spread English to the households of Britain, and Shakespeare's preeminent impact on the development of the language. The focus then shifts to the influence on English of colonial America, the Wild West, African Americans, the Indian subcontinent, the Caribbean and Australia. His central thesis is that English is uniquely adaptive, absorbing other languages with which it comes into contact, thereby growing and becoming richer and more expressive.

This book is designed to accompany a PBS series to debut in 2006. It is aimed at the typical PBS viewer. The critical reviews on this site, which scold the author for not being more rigorous or scholarly, often seem to miss this point. This is an excellent introduction to the origins of the English language.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a PhD Level Thesis, But What Did You Expect? November 9, 2009

By Guy the Gorilla

Format:Paperback

Melvyn Bragg is the well-known writer, editor, and producer of the long running British South Bank Show, and is also a prolific writer and novelist. He is not a linguist, but with his background as a journalist for the BBC, he does appear to know how to collect and compile reasonably accurate information and make it presentable, readable, and accessible to anyone with a high school level education.

I suppose if someone wants an authoritative discourse on the development of English, there is always the Oxford History of English. However, a quick check on the Amazon site for that particular book shows exactly zero reader reviews, suggesting that it isn't exactly a best seller. I'm sure linguists consult books written at that level regularly, but for someone who wants a quick overview written in readable prose, Bragg's book is not bad.

I am not a historian by trade, though I am reasonably well-read on the subject. I did not detect any glaring historical errors in Bragg's book, though to read some of the one-star reviews you'd get the impression he completely fumbled the research. I don't believe that is the case - if there are mistakes here in the research - then they are minor and nothing that I could detect.

My chief complaint about the book is regarding Bragg's style. This is a book about the English language, so perhaps all the verbal flourishes were intended to highlight the utility of English to convey thoughts not only precisely but artistically. Nonetheless, I found the prose a bit much - a bit too flowery and florid and overdone. Writers are not supposed to call attention to themselves by overdoing the so-called fifty-dollar words - I think Bragg should have toned the descriptives down a tad. He also decided to personify the language - talking about the English language throughout the book as though it was some kind of living entity capable of making decisions and performing actions. When combined with the aforementioned flowery language, this became a distraction and really did not contribute to the book whatsoever.

That said, I learned a good deal of new information, so I think, all in all, this was a worthwhile read. I am not sure I will run out and read everything else Bragg has ever written, but he is to be congratulated here for producing a book on the history of the English language that should be accessible to the average high school or college graduate - which is in keeping with the spirit of his television program as well.