Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Metropolitan Books (2016), Edition: First Edition, 384 pages
Description
"A rich and passionate biography of a language and the dream of world harmony it sought to realize. In 1887, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, a Polish Jew, had the idea of putting an end to tribalism by creating a universal language, one that would be equally accessible to everyone in the world. The result was Esperanto, a utopian scheme full of the brilliance, craziness, and grandiosity that characterize all such messianic visions. In this first full history of a constructed language, poet and scholar Esther Schor traces the life of Esperanto. She follows the path from its invention by Zamenhof, through its turn-of-the-century golden age as the great hope of embattled cosmopolites, to its suppression by nationalist regimes and its resurgence as a bridge across the Cold War. She plunges into the mechanics of creating a language from scratch, one based on rational systems that would be easy to learn, politically neutral, and allow all to speak to all. Rooted in the dark soil of Europe, Esperanto failed to stem the continent's bloodletting, of course, but as Schor shows, the ideal continues draw a following of modern universalists dedicated to its visionary goal. Rich and subtle, Bridge of Words is at once a biography of an idea, an original history of Europe, and a spirited exploration of the only language charged with saving the world from itself"-- "A history of Esperanto, the utopian "universal language" invented in 1887"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member simchaboston
Too much drama-rama, not enough linguistics. Schor's history of Esperanto and its adherents spends an inordinate amount of time on infighting, arguments over agendas, and personality clashes; this is ironic, given the fantasy that converting everyone into Esperanto speakers would usher in world
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peace and dissolve the tribal bonds of nationalism, sectarianism and chauvinism. While I also didn't completely buy her arguments for the language's importance, I appreciate that she covers the community with sympathy (if with a certain lack of critical distance). And her descriptions of her midlife crisis are both too intrusive and too intermittent (Wait, she's married? Wait, they're separated?!) to mesh well with the rest of her narrative. In the end, I learned quite a bit, but less than I wanted to about Esperanto itself. Show Less
LibraryThing member waltzmn
"Happy hour's over. You've had enough; time to go home."
That really was the feeling I came away with from this book. What has author Esther Schor been drinking?
I requested this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers because I'm interested in languages, and I have a good friend who reads Esperanto.
But what I got wasn't really about a language. Or even about the hopes for a universal language. It's about a bunch of people who let their lives revolve around this language, at least part of the time. It's a strange culture, mostly cooperative, occasionally fractured. It might be a nice thing to be part of. But this culture is not about the language. It really isn't. And that makes the title, to me at least, false advertising.
Of course, there is plenty of room for a book about Esperanto culture. I might have found that easier if there hadn't been so many niggles about this book. This is an "advance reader edition," so perhaps some of these will be fixed -- but when you find a misplaced comma in the very first sentence of the preface, it makes you wonder if anyone actually read the thing!
And some of my complaints won't go away once they hire a competent proofreader. The whole thing is laid out as a sort of gigantic outline, but the purpose of an outline is organization, and I just couldn't get it. And then there is the use of asterisks by names. We are told that a name with an asterisk in front of it is a real name, but a name without an asterisk may be:
1. A pseudonym
2. An historical figure you've heard of
3. An historical figure author Schor thinks you should have heard of, but you haven't, so you think it's a pseudonym
4. A real person whose real name is being used, but who was last mentioned so long ago that you have forgotten and think it's a pseudonym.
I ended up feeling as if I needed a dramatis personae. To someone who knew these people, perhaps it's easy to remember who's who. But not for me. And why do all these Esperantists need their names concealed anyway? Are they afraid of the real world? If there is a genuine reason for this, just put the names in quotes, for pity's sake! It's easy, it works every time, and it's clear.
All this gives a faint air of unreality to the whole thing. This is reinforced by the "Coda," in which Schor claims that Esperanto is doing just fine, it didn't have a heyday, and it's still going to be there long into the future. Obviously this is what Esperantists hope. But let's be real.
Zamenhof's goals were laudable. And not just his language; also his cultural goals. And the idea of a universal language is interesting and noble. But getting together for classes with other members of the converted, or visiting them in other countries, isn't going to promote the language.
What this all adds up to is a book that just didn't seem to have a message. It's more of a travel guide than a history. A book about a universal language really should speak to people. This one doesn't.
That really was the feeling I came away with from this book. What has author Esther Schor been drinking?
I requested this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers because I'm interested in languages, and I have a good friend who reads Esperanto.
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I have a few ideas about universal languages myself. And I'm very interested in the thought processes of L. L. Zamenhof, who created Esperanto.But what I got wasn't really about a language. Or even about the hopes for a universal language. It's about a bunch of people who let their lives revolve around this language, at least part of the time. It's a strange culture, mostly cooperative, occasionally fractured. It might be a nice thing to be part of. But this culture is not about the language. It really isn't. And that makes the title, to me at least, false advertising.
Of course, there is plenty of room for a book about Esperanto culture. I might have found that easier if there hadn't been so many niggles about this book. This is an "advance reader edition," so perhaps some of these will be fixed -- but when you find a misplaced comma in the very first sentence of the preface, it makes you wonder if anyone actually read the thing!
And some of my complaints won't go away once they hire a competent proofreader. The whole thing is laid out as a sort of gigantic outline, but the purpose of an outline is organization, and I just couldn't get it. And then there is the use of asterisks by names. We are told that a name with an asterisk in front of it is a real name, but a name without an asterisk may be:
1. A pseudonym
2. An historical figure you've heard of
3. An historical figure author Schor thinks you should have heard of, but you haven't, so you think it's a pseudonym
4. A real person whose real name is being used, but who was last mentioned so long ago that you have forgotten and think it's a pseudonym.
I ended up feeling as if I needed a dramatis personae. To someone who knew these people, perhaps it's easy to remember who's who. But not for me. And why do all these Esperantists need their names concealed anyway? Are they afraid of the real world? If there is a genuine reason for this, just put the names in quotes, for pity's sake! It's easy, it works every time, and it's clear.
All this gives a faint air of unreality to the whole thing. This is reinforced by the "Coda," in which Schor claims that Esperanto is doing just fine, it didn't have a heyday, and it's still going to be there long into the future. Obviously this is what Esperantists hope. But let's be real.
Zamenhof's goals were laudable. And not just his language; also his cultural goals. And the idea of a universal language is interesting and noble. But getting together for classes with other members of the converted, or visiting them in other countries, isn't going to promote the language.
What this all adds up to is a book that just didn't seem to have a message. It's more of a travel guide than a history. A book about a universal language really should speak to people. This one doesn't.
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LibraryThing member GaryLeeJones
I found this book engaging, perceptive, thoughtful, and (mostly) clear. It's title, __Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language__ does not promise an Esperanto grammar, or a biography of its creator, L. L. Zamenhof, despite what another Early Reviewer (waltzmn) seems to
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think. waltzmn is right about the confusing handling of proper names, but unless you are wishing to to look the names up for further research, that confusion doesn't matter. That sort of research is not what the book is about. It is more general; it is about the language, its history, the purposes of Zamenhof, and how the language has and has not accomplished his hopes and dreams. So it surveys also the culture of Esperantists over the past century or so, and describes what they do with the language and how it currently fares--not very close to a universal language, partly because it is subject to cultural forces that are still at work upon it--as is every true language. It will take much longer for any aspiring universal language to achieve that goal. That, I think, is the center of the author's thesis. Meanwhile, it is attracting people, and cultures are developing around it. So who knows--maybe, some day. The author, Esther Schor, arranges the book around her explorations of the language and her engagements with current advocates and users, and shows how she herself was drawn into its culture, but without claiming more for the culture than is appropriate. She is an interesting person and this is an interesting book. I like it a lot. Show Less
LibraryThing member Clara53
I knew next to nothing about Esperanto when I started this book, I just had a vague idea about it. But I was very curious. And happy to say that my curiosity was satisfied many times over. The author, Esther Schor, who herself learned and speaks Esperanto, offers a fair account of the structure of
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the language (with numerous linguistic details), its history, the biography of its founder L.L. Zamenhof. It was fascinating to read how it came about. The author goes into great detail of what Esperanto actually is and is not (for there are many myths that surround it). I was quite struck by the fact that Esperanto is still alive and being spoken all around the globe by quite a number of devoted followers. And even though "Esperanto emerged... as an answer to the Jewish question", it became much more than that. And I think that's what Zamenhof would have wanted. True, it didn't develop into a universal second language, but it didn't die out altogether. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lindoula
Note: I received a free review copy from a LibraryThing giveaway.
What this book does not offer: an overview of Esperanto. What the language is, why it exists, who the speakers are, etc. The author jumps in assuming, apparently, that the reader already knows these things. If you don't, you might
For that and other reasons, I don't feel that the title of the book really reflect the contents of the book. It's largely about leaders within the Esperanto world, not about Esperanto. To me, "Esperanto and the Bridge of Words" implies that it's going to be about Esperanto: the language itself, the community of speakers, etc. The back cover also says it is the "first full history of a constructed language" and that Schor traces the life of Esperanto, including "the mechanics of creating a language from scratch." No, she doesn't. There's less than one page about the actual creation of Esperanto in terms of its linguistic features. The focus is much more narrow, so I think a more specific title would have been more apt. The history of the founding and leadership of Esperanto over the years is interesting and well cited with sources.
Speaking of focus, I also think this would have been better as three separate books: one about Zamenhof and Judaism, one about the leadership and/or movers-and-shakers within the Esperanto world over the decades, and one about the author's personal experiences with Esperanto. As it is, there are quite different narratives spread across the book, not always balanced very successfully. There are hints of the author's life spread thinly here and there, few of which seem to help drive the narrative along. For example, about a third of the way in, she talks about meeting Leo after an Esperanto event but hasn't yet introduced Leo (later, you find out it's her then-husband).
What you will find is a detailed narrative of the politics of Esperanto. The in-fighting, the factions, the very human behavior that pops up no matter which languages people speak.
Overall, the book is a good historical narrative of Esperanto's leaders even if it wasn't what I was expecting from the title and back cover blurbs. However, it could use some editing for typos at the very least. I also hope the editors reverse the author's decision to use asterisks to mark real names rather than pseudonyms. It's confusing and doesn't do the reader any favors.
What this book does not offer: an overview of Esperanto. What the language is, why it exists, who the speakers are, etc. The author jumps in assuming, apparently, that the reader already knows these things. If you don't, you might
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want to look for a basic overview of Esperanto before beginning this.For that and other reasons, I don't feel that the title of the book really reflect the contents of the book. It's largely about leaders within the Esperanto world, not about Esperanto. To me, "Esperanto and the Bridge of Words" implies that it's going to be about Esperanto: the language itself, the community of speakers, etc. The back cover also says it is the "first full history of a constructed language" and that Schor traces the life of Esperanto, including "the mechanics of creating a language from scratch." No, she doesn't. There's less than one page about the actual creation of Esperanto in terms of its linguistic features. The focus is much more narrow, so I think a more specific title would have been more apt. The history of the founding and leadership of Esperanto over the years is interesting and well cited with sources.
Speaking of focus, I also think this would have been better as three separate books: one about Zamenhof and Judaism, one about the leadership and/or movers-and-shakers within the Esperanto world over the decades, and one about the author's personal experiences with Esperanto. As it is, there are quite different narratives spread across the book, not always balanced very successfully. There are hints of the author's life spread thinly here and there, few of which seem to help drive the narrative along. For example, about a third of the way in, she talks about meeting Leo after an Esperanto event but hasn't yet introduced Leo (later, you find out it's her then-husband).
What you will find is a detailed narrative of the politics of Esperanto. The in-fighting, the factions, the very human behavior that pops up no matter which languages people speak.
Overall, the book is a good historical narrative of Esperanto's leaders even if it wasn't what I was expecting from the title and back cover blurbs. However, it could use some editing for typos at the very least. I also hope the editors reverse the author's decision to use asterisks to mark real names rather than pseudonyms. It's confusing and doesn't do the reader any favors.
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LibraryThing member Taphophile13
As a child I wanted to invent a new language. I even went so far as to make a list of words and assign other words in their place which is a code rather than a language. Others have tried their hand at constructing new languages with much better results. Perhaps the best known of these created
According to the back cover Bridges of Words Schor "plunges into the mechanics of creating a language from scratch" but it contained little information about how Zamenhof created the language. Instead there were many irrelevant stories that had little or nothing to do with the history of Esperanto.
Most of the book is a meticulous account of Schor's attending the NASK (North American Summer Course) and various other Esperanto conferences. She faithfully reports who was present and every banal detail of their conversations. At one point she even includes her to-do list. Later, while attending a Youth Conference in Viet Nam, Schor skips the presentations to tour the Củ Chi tunnels and Hanoi Hilton, and then recounts her conversation with a young Vietnamese man who is collecting English slang phrases which he plans to compile into a book to sell to other Vietnamese. The conference in Havana provides trivia such as Cubans' anti-American sentiments, Cuban fertility rates and the pervasive panhandling/pilfering by residents of the city. Again, this adds nothing to the story of Esperanto.
There is a lot about Zamenhof's Zionist efforts (he favored Mississippi rather than Palestine) and the infighting among various factions. Against a back drop of antisemitism, communism and Nazism different groups sought to exploit or suppress Esperanto to further their own purposes. There seems to be more European politico-history than Esperanto history. Schor also includes quite a bit about the foibles and peccadilloes of members of the Esperanto community.
Words in Esperanto within the text are translated and there is a small glossary at the back although some of the word choices are a bid odd. I generally don't need to know how to say homophobia, sex or weirdo in other languages. But I did learn the word for anteater—mirmekofago—also not very useful but more interesting. I found this bit of advice, neniam krokodilu—never crocodile, i.e. speak your native language at an Esperanto meeting, mildly amusing.
The writing is dry and has all the excitement of minutes from last month's meeting. Mi pensis ĉi libro estis enuiga. (I thought this book was boring.) There are a few black and white photographs as well as Notes and a Bibliography. The finished book will be indexed.
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languages is Ludwig Zamenhof's Esperanto.According to the back cover Bridges of Words Schor "plunges into the mechanics of creating a language from scratch" but it contained little information about how Zamenhof created the language. Instead there were many irrelevant stories that had little or nothing to do with the history of Esperanto.
Most of the book is a meticulous account of Schor's attending the NASK (North American Summer Course) and various other Esperanto conferences. She faithfully reports who was present and every banal detail of their conversations. At one point she even includes her to-do list. Later, while attending a Youth Conference in Viet Nam, Schor skips the presentations to tour the Củ Chi tunnels and Hanoi Hilton, and then recounts her conversation with a young Vietnamese man who is collecting English slang phrases which he plans to compile into a book to sell to other Vietnamese. The conference in Havana provides trivia such as Cubans' anti-American sentiments, Cuban fertility rates and the pervasive panhandling/pilfering by residents of the city. Again, this adds nothing to the story of Esperanto.
There is a lot about Zamenhof's Zionist efforts (he favored Mississippi rather than Palestine) and the infighting among various factions. Against a back drop of antisemitism, communism and Nazism different groups sought to exploit or suppress Esperanto to further their own purposes. There seems to be more European politico-history than Esperanto history. Schor also includes quite a bit about the foibles and peccadilloes of members of the Esperanto community.
Words in Esperanto within the text are translated and there is a small glossary at the back although some of the word choices are a bid odd. I generally don't need to know how to say homophobia, sex or weirdo in other languages. But I did learn the word for anteater—mirmekofago—also not very useful but more interesting. I found this bit of advice, neniam krokodilu—never crocodile, i.e. speak your native language at an Esperanto meeting, mildly amusing.
The writing is dry and has all the excitement of minutes from last month's meeting. Mi pensis ĉi libro estis enuiga. (I thought this book was boring.) There are a few black and white photographs as well as Notes and a Bibliography. The finished book will be indexed.
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LibraryThing member drneutron
Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal language isn't the book about Esperanto you're looking for, if what you're looking for is information about the language. Instead, it's about the idea of a universal language and how the creator of Esperanto believed that a universal language
Worth reading? Depends on what you're looking for. I was more interested in reading about the language, so was a bit disappointed. But the human story will touch a lot of readers.
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could change the world into a better place. It's about how this language was used to rally anarchists and socialists to fight against national governments. It's about how some governments suppressed the language and persecuted the speakers. It's about how the dream is still alive in a somewhat sad group trying to keep the language alive in the face of universal adoption of English, or maybe Chinese. And it's about the author's use of Esperanto and the Esperanto speaking world-wide community to work through her own life issues. Worth reading? Depends on what you're looking for. I was more interested in reading about the language, so was a bit disappointed. But the human story will touch a lot of readers.
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LibraryThing member kaulsu
Would I rate _Bridge of Words_ at 4.5 stars were there other books devoted to the invention and promulgation of Esperanto? Very possibly, no, but this is the book we have. This book suffers from the same issues shared by many other "advance copy" LTER books--namely the lack of a good copy editor to
But this is a biography of a language. Where was it born? Why was it conceived? Who was its father? How many countries did it live in? Was there a mean uncle in the background? Does it still live? Is it healthy after all these years?
I found the answers to these questions interesting. I actually had a friend who spoke Esperanto, and this book brought me closer to his memory than I have been in years. Thank you, Ms. Schor.
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correct the grammar, the spelling, and questionable choices. For instance, I think most readers will find the treatment of names rather confusing. But this is a biography of a language. Where was it born? Why was it conceived? Who was its father? How many countries did it live in? Was there a mean uncle in the background? Does it still live? Is it healthy after all these years?
I found the answers to these questions interesting. I actually had a friend who spoke Esperanto, and this book brought me closer to his memory than I have been in years. Thank you, Ms. Schor.
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LibraryThing member Kesterbird
All the dry-ness of the documentary it wants to be, paired with all the bias and rambling of the love letter she wanted to write.
It's an interesting topic. You might find the book worth the effort. It is -not- a good book.
_received as part of an early review program_
It's an interesting topic. You might find the book worth the effort. It is -not- a good book.
_received as part of an early review program_
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2016
Physical description
384 p.; 6.3 inches
ISBN
0805090797 / 9780805090796
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