num_pages: 304
description: Once languages become written, they change. Only in writing does language develop the artfulness and richness that we associate with a Shakespeare, a Proust or a Whitman. Yet over the last forty years, the English-language has effectively gone into reverse - taking our lead from America and the legacy of the 19060s, our culture increasingly privileges the oral over the written, spurning the art of elaborated, 'written'-style language in favour of returning to the state of a spoken culture. Parallel developments have occurred in music. In this controversial and thought-provoking book, Jon McWhorter argues that the 1960's rejection of cultural traits associated with the Establishment, as well as a democratic celebration of what anyone can do over what requires training or talent, has led to our culture being increasingly impoverished, both intellectually and artistically, a culture that hates itself.
language: English
title: Doing Our Own Thing : The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care
titlecomplete: Doing Our Own Thing : The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care
genres: Linguistics, Language, Music, Cultural, History, Education, Sociology, Social Issues, Essays, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 285
publisher: Heinemann