Transcendental Wordplay: America'S Romantic Punsters & Search [Hardcover]

Michael West (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Nineteenth-century Americans were fascinated by the meanings and origins of words and also loved a good joke. In this impressive work of scholarship, West (English, Univ. of Pittsburgh) explores the intense interest in etymology and verbal jesting that informed the writings of the era's major authors. Well-known passages from classic books are reinterpreted by West to show how they are rife with puns, off-color innuendoes, and jocularity. With his main emphasis on Thoreau and other transcendentalists, West also examines works by Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman. His extensive discussion of early figures in philology and language theory, and their impact upon the American curriculum, is especially noteworthy. Highly recommended for larger collections of literary criticism, linguistics, or American studies.
-Ellen Sullivan, Ferguson Lib., Stamford, CT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 542 pages
• Publisher: Ohio University Press (June 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821413244
• ISBN-13: 978-0821413241
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Punning in the 19th century - what it's all about, August 21, 2000

By 

Brian Claxton (Lakewood, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transcendental Wordplay: America'S Romantic Punsters & Search (Hardcover)

This book is wondrous. For openers, it is written so well that it is a marvel of English usage and will shame most of us that think we know the language. Secondly, it strikes a marvelous balance between pedagogy - for fundamentally this is a serious scholastic work - and the delight that the author takes in his subject.

Dealing with Thoreau to great degree, it shows how punning was a significant part of romantic literature, and should not be dealt with contempt, but rather as a serious and significant part of our literary heritage.

Plus the humor in both the the subject matter and Professor West's treatment thereof are incomparable. Highly recommended to both the scholar and the interested dilletante atracted to our language and its associated history.