Speaking and Being
How Language Binds and Frees Us
Kübra Gümüsay author Gesche Ipsen translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Profile Books Ltd
Published:5th May '22
£14.99
Available for immediate dispatch.
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£9.99(9781788168502)
What happens when our language is no longer fit for purpose, and how we can change the discourse
A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 'I can't stop talking about this book' Jamie Klingler, co-founder #ReclaimTheseStreets 'What a gem. ... Makes you look at the world, and yourself, afresh.' Minna Salami, author of Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone 'A generous combination of passion and practicality that is not easily resisted. A rare book that might actually change our minds' Daniel Hahn OBE 'A book at once vigorous and generous, pleasurable and galvanising' Sophie Hughes, International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator What does it really mean to speak freely? A wise, beautifully written book that explores the way language shapes our lives and how we see the world - and what happens when we learn new words, and new ways of speaking to each other. Language opens up our world, and in the same instant, limits it. What does it mean to exist in a language that was never meant for you to speak? Why are we missing certain words? How can we talk about our communal problems without fuelling them? What does it actually mean to speak freely? As a writer and activist fighting for equality, Kübra Gümüsay has been thinking about these questions for many years. In this book she explores how language shapes our thinking and determines our politics. She shows how people become invisible as individuals when they are always seen as part of a group, and the way those in the minority often have to expend energy cleaning up the messy thinking of others. But she also points to how we might shape conversations to allow for greater ambiguity and individuality, how arguments might happen in a space of learning and vulnerability without sacrificing principles - how we might all be able to speak freely.
I can't stop talking about this book. There is so much here that is so relevant to our fight for equality, and I really appreciated her arguments about language, gender and race. Really made me think -- Jamie Klingler, co-founder #ReclaimTheseStreets
From the very first lines of Speaking and Being, Kübra Gümüsay shows herself to be a master storyteller. Her stories are about language - the ways in which it shapes the very essence of our being, and its power to define how we perceive others and how we are perceived. It is a book at once vigorous and generous, pleasurable and galvanising. -- Sophie Hughes, International Booker Prize-shortlisted translator
What a gem. This book reminded me that reading a book means spending time with the intimate thoughts of an author, and so we typically enjoy books by authors whose company we imagine enjoying. Kübra Gümüsay makes you look at the world, and yourself, afresh. Read it anytime, but especially read it if you're feeling alone and/or alienated, or if you're at a loss for language to describe the world and its complex sociocultural and psychological existence. Her wisdom inspires you to 'speak and be'. -- Minna Salami, author of 'Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone'
Speaking and Being is as important a book as its title suggests. With an impressive array of trenchant examples, it reminds us how language shapes our world views and encourages us to question and alter them for the better. Kübra Gümüsay's is a rare voice that combines challenge and compassion in equal measure, and her message is all the more compelling for it. -- Chris Young, Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, University of Cambridge
Thought-provoking ... well researched, grounded in and citing the conversations and contexts it emerges out of. ... Timely and important -- Annie Rutherford * Goethe Institute Blog *
An act of liberation - and a clever essay of literary quality and political strength. * NZZ am Sonntag *
Precise, clever and extremely readable ... an important, thought-provoking commentary. Gümüsay's passionate plea for a new, free language and a new, free way of thinking questions the status quo. * Aachener Nachrichten *
A polemical plea for a new use of language in public discourse. A polemic, however, that counteracts the battle cries with a personal tone and an inviting gesture to start a dialogue. * Deutschlandfunk *
A reckoning with our linguistic habits * Zeit *
ISBN: 9781788168496
Dimensions: 202mm x 138mm x 28mm
Weight: 313g
240 pages
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