The Word on Words: The Play of Language
Dr. Norman German is an award-winning teacher and writer who has taught vocabulary and etymology courses for over thirty years. In addition to publishing nearly 50 pop articles on various aspects of language, his essay “The Veil of Words in ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’” was singled out in 1990 as a significant contribution to Nathaniel Hawthorne scholarship. Among his four novels, the best-selling A Savage Wisdom imaginatively reconstructs the life of Toni Jo Henry, the only woman executed in Louisiana’s electric chair.     Dr. German has also published articles on Ernest Hemingway, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ray Carver, James Dickey, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and other important American writers. His short stories have been featured in leading literary magazines likeShenandoahandThe Virginia Quarterly Review, as well as commercial venues, includingSalt Water SportsmanandSport Fishing.    Norman has studied literature, linguistics, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and German at McNeese State University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is a professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University.