Free eBooks Native Tongue (Native Tongue Trilogy) Available To Downloads
First published in 1984, Native Tongue earned wide critical praise, and cult status as well.Set in the twenty-second century after the repeal of the Nineteenth Amendment, the novel reveals a world where women are once again property, denied civil rights, and banned from public life. In this world, Earth’s wealth relies on interplanetary commerce, for which the population depends on linguists, a small, clannish group of families whose women breed and become perfect translators of all the galaxies’ languages. The linguists wield power, but live in isolated compounds, hated by the population, and in fear of class warfare. But a group of women is destined to challenge the power of men and linguists.Nazareth, the most talented linguist of her family, is exhausted by her constant work translating for the government, supervising the children’s language education in the Alien-in-Residence interface chambers, running the compound, and caring for the elderly men. She longs to retire to the Barren House, where women past childbearing age knit, chat, and wait to die. What Nazareth does not yet know is that a clandestine revolution is going on in the Barren Houses: there, word by word, women are creating a language of their own to free them of men’s domination. Their secret must, above all, be kept until the language is ready for use. The women’s language, Láadan, is only one of the brilliant creations found in this stunningly original novel, which combines a page-turning plot with challenging meditations on the tensions between freedom and control, individuals and communities, thought and action. A complete work in itself, it is also the first volume in Elgin’s acclaimed Native Tongue trilogy.
Series: Native Tongue Trilogy
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY; Reprint edition (November 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1558612467
ISBN-13: 978-1558612464
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #171,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #27 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Feminist #96 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Women's Studies > Women Writers #1033 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Dystopian
I first read this book over 10 years ago. Even then I thought it was a little dated -- the author was clearly reacting against the Reagan era and extrapolating a hypothetical future where women have become chattel (albeit somewhat pampered chattel).This is an "idea" book, and the ideas are fascinating. Laadan, the "women's tongue," (Elgin has actually created and published Laadan books), the power of communication, very alien aliens.. these are all interesting. If you are a linguist, a feminist, or someone who just likes far-out social speculation, this book will be interesting to you. It does have a certain hold on the imagination, such that I still remember it and think about it years later.But as fiction, much less as science fiction, it leaves something to be desired. The entire premise, that the U.S. will become a sort of genteel Protestant patriarchal dictatorship, falls flat. (Some people may argue we are already heading in that direction, but I really can't see the repeal of the 19th Amendment and every man in the country becoming convinced that women have no more intellectual abilities than children.) Technology and space exploration is poorly explained, all the "sci-fi" bits are handwaved and thus there are some notable gaps in my suspension of disbelief. The aliens and the interstellar society exist as a backdrop for Elgin to explore her social views, which is fine if you are reading the book for social/feminist-linguistic theory, but will disappoint if you are reading the book for science fiction.Most annoyingly, every single male character is one-dimensional. All the men are at best condescending egotists, at worst thugs.
Native Tongue (Native Tongue Trilogy) Oceanography in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas, B.W.I.: a report on oceanographic observations in the Tongue of the Ocean between Fresh Creek, Andros and the western end of New Providence Native America: A Concise Guide To Native American History - Native Americans, Indian American, Slavery & Colonization (Crazy Horse, Custer, Slavery, American Archaeology, Genocide, Aztec) Native Tongue Native Tongue (Skink Book 2) The Twelve (Book Two of The Passage Trilogy): A Novel (Book Two of The Passage Trilogy) The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants, an Illustrated Guide Personal Persistence, Identity Development, and Suicide: A Study of Native and Non-Native North American Adolescents I Have Spoken: a Chapbook of Native American Poetry by a Native American author National Geographic Kids Just Joking 2: 300 Hilarious Jokes About Everything, Including Tongue Twisters, Riddles, and More National Geographic Kids Just Joking: 300 Hilarious Jokes, Tricky Tongue Twisters, and Ridiculous Riddles 500+ Jokes, Tongue-Twisters, & Fun Facts For Kids! (Corny Humor For The Family) (Volume 1) Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine Atlas of Chinese Tongue Diagnosis, Vol. 1 Trinidad Yoruba: From Mother-Tongue to Memory (Caribbean Archaeology and Ethnohistory) Tongue Fu!: How to Deflect, Disarm, and Defuse Any Verbal Conflict She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks (Wesleyan Poetry Series) Tongue Thrust Book: Oral Myofunctional Therapy And Articulation Correction 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence Our Mother Tongue: An Introductory Guide to English Grammar
