The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters - Softcover

Kaplan, Justin; Bernays, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684838672 ISBN 13: 9780684838670

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1999

Synopsis

As delightful and playful as it is profound and serious, The Language of Names is an absolute original -- a fascinating book that reveals us to ourselves, that demonstrates the endless variety of ways in which names shape our daily lives. Drawing on social and literary history, psychology and anthropology, anecdotes, and life stories, biographer Justin Kaplan and novelist Anne Bernays have written a fascinating account of names and naming in contemporary society that touches on class structure, ethnic and religious practices, manners, and everyday life.
Graceful, eloquent, and richly informed, The Language of Names explores and illuminates our favorite subject -- ourselves.

About this title

Review:

To name a thing is to have power over it. Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays explore the history and social significance of names in this intriguing and thoughtful book. They trace the growing trend in the United States away from traditional naming conventions toward creative and individually meaningful personal names. They also illustrate how national character shows itself in the names people give in different countries, and they discuss naming lore from Adam and Eve to Ellis Island.

About the Author:

Justin Kaplan is the author of Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain, which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, and of Walt Whitman: A Life, which won the American Book Award. He is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife, novelist Anne Bernays.

Anne Bernays is a novelist (including Professor Romeo and Growing Up Rich) and coauthor, with her husband, Justin Kaplan, of Back Then: Two Lives in 1950s New York. Her articles, book reviews and essays have appeared in such major publications as The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and The Nation. A long-time teacher of writing, she is coauthor, with Pamela Painter, of the textbook What If? Ms. Bernays currently teaches at Harvard's Nieman Foundation. She and Mr. Kaplan have six grandchildren. They live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Truro, Cape Cod.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0684838672
• ISBN 13: 9780684838670
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256