"In 2205, the Nineteenth Amendment has been repealed and men hold absolute power. The Earth's economy relies on an insular group of linguists who 'breed' women to become interstellar translators until they are sent to the Barren House to await death. But instead, these women are secretly creating a language of their own to reclaim their autonomy and make resistance possible for all."--Back cover.
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"In 2205, the Nineteenth Amendment has been repealed and men hold absolute power. The Earth's economy relies on an insular group of linguists who 'breed' women to become interstellar translators until they are sent to the Barren House to await death. But instead, these women are secretly creating a language of their own to reclaim their autonomy and make resistance possible for all."--Back cover.
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Add this copy of Native Tongue to cart. $35.43, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by DAW.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Native Tongue to cart. $35.43, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by DAW.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Native Tongue to cart. $36.30, very good condition, Sold by Keeper of the Page rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Enumclaw, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by DAW.
Add this copy of Native Tongue to cart. $53.15, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by DAW.
Add this copy of Native Tongue to cart. $148.56, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by DAW.
This is the first book in a feminist sci-fi trilogy, written by a linguistics professor. For me, it was a bit heavy going at times, perhaps because I'm a male. However, I'm glad I persevered; it is a very good book and one can see why it is regarded as a classic. It's compared to Margaret Atwood's books on the same general subject, and while Atwood is unquestionably the better wordsmith, in my opinion Elgin's plot and her ability to express her views on issues, are superior to those of Atwood.
A bit of a struggle, at least for a male, but worth it, and I will look for more of her books.
scifilinguist
Nov 16, 2008
Native Tongue: A feminist sci fi classic
Native Tongue is the product of Suzette Haden Elgin, a linguist who is also a science fiction writer. It tells the story of how Earth in the year 2205 (now dominated by the Linguist Lines) reverts to a patriarchal society in which women are again subjugated to masculine control. However, among the needleworking, post-menopausal women in the Barren House, a revolution is simmering, fueled by the creation of a new female-based language (Laadan) that permits women to express the unique aspects of their experiences that are not transmitted by the existing sexist language and to plot the eventual overthrow of the patriarchy. The book is accompanied by a glossary of this unique language. To make things even more interesting, the male Linguists are allowed to become aware of the development of an unworkable decoy female language called Langlish, which confirms the male Linguists' view that the women Linguists are inferior. This gives the women the freedom to work on Laadan, which is the true revolutionary language.
The premise of the book is that language is a powerful tool for bringing about social change (within the tradition of the Whorf hypothesis that language serves to structure or constrain thought). This notion underlies much of the feminist literature of the 1970s and 1980s. The basic idea is that if we change the language, we can change the way people think and ultimately change society. Elgin uses the scifi format as a "thought experiment" to show how men and women perceive the world in very distinct manners which in an extreme form could result in the development of separate languages to encode those differences. Laadan provides ways to talk about feminine concerns like pregnancy, mothering, menopause, sisterhood, emotional states, and female oppression that are not currently present in the English language. In secondary narrative strands, the distinction between human and non-human forms of communication and their accompanying worldviews is also explored.
In addition to its importance for examining gender relations, the book serves to bolster the status of scifi / fantasy as a valuable form of literature that allows us to imagine the possibilities of human (and extra-terrestrial) life. Elgin hoped to attract more women to the male-dominated genre with her story.
When the book was published, there were those who condemned it as preachy and didactic and criticized it for certain structural flaws, but others praised it for its strong characters and its unflinching exploration of male/female relations. The book went out of print in 1996 but was kept alive by an almost cult following. It is now regarded as a classic in feminist literature, along with Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and the works of Ursula Leguin, Naomi Mitchison, and Joanna Russ.
If you want to read a scifi book that's a cut above the rest, try this one.
Knitter
Nov 2, 2007
A disappointment
This book was recommended as a science fiction book which used knitting to stage a revolution. Instead, knitting was never mentioned--they did mention crochet and needlework, but no knitting!!
It was also formulaic--obviously written in the early 80s using the catastrophic scenarios of what will happen without the passage of the ERA. This doesn't seem like the work of a serious science fiction writer.
