language
Sharing the burden of language disorientation
At my church, some of us are learning Spanish. Others are learning English.
Why is progressive activism so ineffective?
Fredrik deBoer explains why the mobilization of 2020 produced so few concrete gains.
Falling into metaphor
I heard a variation on the Eden story that offers a new look at Eve.
God’s underwater language
As a marine biologist, I ask how—and dance at the edge of asking why.
Should we avoid liturgical language of light and dark?
While struggling with this question as a church songwriter, I came up with six guidelines.
Can you like Dostoevsky?
Philosopher and linguist Julia Kristeva asks but does not answer this question about the Russian novelist’s complex work.
Underlined words
As it tells the story of our time, the Century makes readers and writers of us all.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book crosses boundaries
It doesn’t matter what genre Translating Myself and Others is. What matters is that it is irresistibly immersive.
Lauren Groff builds a proto-feminist medieval world
But the enchantment of Matrix is ultimately broken by her language.
by Amy Frykholm
In this Easter season, words fail
After the resurrection, the disciples’ words failed too.
Sacred impulse, poetic form
For Sofia Starnes, poetry is the language of faith.
Zadie Smith leaves no cultural stone unturned
Smith's collection of essays considers the self as an improvised response to language and the world.
Reading Elie Wiesel after fleeing Rwanda
You cannot bear witness with a single word like genocide. Yet Night describes exactly what happened to me.
Why people still speak Guaraní
The Jesuits didn't impose a European language on the Guaraní people; they actively cultivated the indigenous one.
Philosophy and parody in a murder mystery
Laurent Binet's latest novel is at once a lecture, a detective story, and an exploration of the limits of fiction.
Dreaming in Israel
In Aharon Appelfeld's novel, a teenage Holocaust survivor sleeps, remembers, and learns to speak anew.
What words mean to us
John Simpson's new memoir is about words. More significantly, it’s about our relationship to them.