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Book Cover
Book
Author Gísli Pálsson, 1949-

Title The textual life of savants : ethnography, Iceland and the linguistic turn / Gísli Pálsson
Published Chur, Switzerland ; United States : Harwood Academic Publishers, [1995]
©1995

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  949.12 Gis/Tlo  AVAILABLE
Description xi, 210 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Series Studies in anthropology and history ; 18
Studies in anthropology and history ; 18
Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. The Conventional Metaphor of Cultural Translation -- 3. The Factual, the Fictive and the Fabulous: Novel and Ethnography -- 4. Sagas, History, and Social Life -- 5. The Power of Words and the Context of Witchcraft -- 6. Fetishized Language, Symbolic Capital, and Social Identity -- 7. Beyond Environmental Orientalism -- 8. Conclusions: Towards a Theory of Living Discourse
Summary "Icelanders have always been keenly aware of the cultural importance of language and the social power of texts, language and literature have been the touchstones of Icelandic identity from the medieval Commonwealth to the modern nation-state. In this masterful and innovative study by an anthropologist Gisli Palsson, the preoccupation of Icelanders with language and texts serves not only as a highly productive point of departure for the anthropological exploration of Icelandic history, society and culture, but also as a frame of reference for a trenchant critique of textual ideologies and practices in anthropology itself. The range of Textual Life of Savants - from the Sturlunga Saga to The Sexual Life of Savages, nio to novels, orientalism to the dative case - is truly remarkable." "The work transcends disciplinary boundaries; it will be welcomed not only by students of Iceland, but by social linguistic anthropologists, social historians and literary scholars alike."--Jacket
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-200) and index
Subject Anthropological linguistics -- Iceland.
Books -- Iceland -- History.
Ethnology -- Iceland.
Icelanders -- Intellectual life.
Language and culture -- Iceland.
Literature and anthropology -- Iceland.
Sociolinguistics -- Iceland.
SUBJECT Iceland -- Civilization. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh94007700
Iceland -- History. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85064021
ISBN 371865721X
3718657228 (paperback)
Other Titles Ethnography, Iceland, and the linguistic turn