MacNeil, Robert Wordstruck ISBN 13: 9780140104011

Wordstruck - Softcover

9780140104011: Wordstruck
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
A Nova Scotia boyhood is recaptured through remembrances of early encounters with the written word and love of the language and the quiet but unforgettable special moments of youth

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
People become writers, in large part, because they are in love with language. Wordstruck is the story of one such writer's unabashed affair with words, from his Halifax childhood awash with intriguing accents to life as a traveling journalist who "delighted in finding pockets of distinctive English, as a botanist is thrilled to discover a new variety of plant." Each aspect of Robert MacNeil's youthful existence prompted yet another linguistic thrill. Childhood churchgoing "did not provide me with any spiritual awakening ... but it anointed me with language." His mother's passion for the natural world and his father's life as a ship's skipper gave him two more complete vocabularies. And "If you define yourself by the language you acquire as you enter different spheres," MacNeil writes, the absurd language of "cricket was another piece of my self-definition."

MacNeil is best known as a novelist, coauthor of The Story of English, and onetime executive editor of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. In Wordstruck he imparts a passion for Shakespeare (in particular, Hamlet), Dylan Thomas, and T. S. Eliot, whose ear for the English language, he says, was "the equivalent of perfect pitch--for the harmonic range of our tongue, its rhythms, and all its voices." Wordstruck is a charming memoir from a man "crazy about the sound of words, the look of words, the taste of words, the feeling for words on the tongue and in the mind."

From Library Journal:
MacNeil is best known as the executive editor of the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour , but he is also an author of note (e.g., with Robert McCrum and others, he wrote The Story of English, LJ 8/86; and he was editor of The Way We Were: 1963, The Year Kennedy Was Shot , LJ 11/1/88). This second memoir captures his love affair with the English language, which he traces to the music of his Canadian mother's voice as she read aloud to him from the King James Bible and to the imaginary vistas unlocked by disembodied words on the radio. Along the way, he rediscovers his delight in numerous authors, including Chaucer, and shares his pleasure with offbeat phrases. Finally, he worries that the currency of language is being cheapened and offers solutions to the problem. Lively, reflective, and well written. Recommended.
- Linda L. Rome, Mentor, Ohio
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPenguin Books
  • Publication date1990
  • ISBN 10 0140104011
  • ISBN 13 9780140104011
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages230
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780670818716: Wordstruck: A Memoir

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780670818716
Publisher: Viking Adult, 1989
Hardcover

  • 9780517080184: Wordstruck: A Memoir

    Random..., 1992
    Hardcover

  • 9780816148882: Wordstruck (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)

    G K Ha..., 1990
    Hardcover

  • 9780804500784: Wordstruck: A Memoir/Audio Cassettes

    G K Ha..., 1989
    Unknown Binding

  • 9780571143009: Wordstruck: A Memoir

    Faber ..., 1990
    Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

MacNeil, Robert
Published by Penguin Books (1990)
ISBN 10: 0140104011 ISBN 13: 9780140104011
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0140104011

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 22.84
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

MacNeil, Robert
Published by Penguin Books (1990)
ISBN 10: 0140104011 ISBN 13: 9780140104011
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0140104011

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 26.11
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

MacNeil, Robert
Published by Penguin Books (1990)
ISBN 10: 0140104011 ISBN 13: 9780140104011
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0140104011

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 26.92
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

MacNeil, Robert
Published by Penguin Books (1990)
ISBN 10: 0140104011 ISBN 13: 9780140104011
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0140104011

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 28.98
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

MacNeil, Robert
Published by Penguin Books (1990)
ISBN 10: 0140104011 ISBN 13: 9780140104011
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.35. Seller Inventory # Q-0140104011

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 94.06
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds