The book of nonexistent words / Stefano Massini ; translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Massini, Stefano, author.

Contributor:

Dixon, Richard, translator.

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Standardized Title:

Dizionario inesistente. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Massini, Stefano--Literary style.

Massini, Stefano.

Words, New.

Literary style.

Genre:

Essays.

Physical Description:

256 pages : color illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

First HarperVia edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : HarperVia, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2021.

Summary:

"How many times have words not been enough? How many complex feelings don't have a corresponding noun that properly describes them in the dictionary? How many times has a language left us like an archer without arrows in the labyrinth of our emotions? Award winning author Stefano Massini found himself feeling this way too often. With great surprise, he began to feel that the ancient rules of language were not a flowing palette of colors he could use to paint all things, but instead a limiting force robbing him of the freedom of expression. So, he returned to the wondrous mechanism that has fed our dictionaries from time immemorial. If a word was missing, he created one. Every chapter mentions a new word that comes from a story about a real person, from Louis XIV to an American gangster. The result is a flowing, beautifully-illustrated collection of linguistic origin stories wrought from the mind of an internationally renowned storytelling icon. In doing so, Massini effectively liberates the human capacity for using language creatively, and for embracing storytelling to fine tune our way of being in the world. If the language in the dictionary doesn't feel adequate to deal with reality here and now, he inspires readers to create new words that ring true"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: The Words You Don't Have

A. Annonism and Anchorism

B. Biroism and Bicism

C. Caransebic

D. Dottism

E. Eastmanian

F. Faradian

G. Gamainic and Grantairic

H. Hearstian

I. Innesian

L. Liarism

M. Mapuchize

N. Nazinate

O. Oatism and Olivarism

P. Parksian and Pietersonism

Q. Questic

R. Rosabellian

S. Shenshinism

T. Tautonaic and Telegramic

U. Unloyalism

V. Villanism or Vecellism

Z. Zacharian and Zeissian.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

9780063004771

0063004771

9780063004788

006300478X

OCLC:

1226073015