Paradigms Lost: Reflections On Literacy And Its Decline
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Jacket: good, worn/faded (refer to image). Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
In an age when language is increasingly battered by slang, jargon, and willful ignorance, John Simon's Paradigms Lost: Reflections on Literacy and Its Decline stands as a passionate and uncompromising defence of the English language. With the sharpness of a celebrated critic, Simon chronicles the erosion of grammatical standards, clear prose, and linguistic precision across American culture, dissecting examples from media, academia, and everyday speech with surgical wit and unmistakable fury. Simon argues with the conviction of a purist that the decline of language signals a deeper civilisational failure — a retreat from rigour, beauty, and thought itself. His prose is bracingly direct, laced with acerbic humour and a refusal to suffer linguistic laziness gladly. Illustrated by Michele Chessare, Paradigms Lost is both a lament and a call to arms — one that leaves the reader wondering whether the battle for language can ever truly be won.
Author: John Simon
Format: Hardback
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Jacket: good, worn/faded (refer to image). Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
In an age when language is increasingly battered by slang, jargon, and willful ignorance, John Simon's Paradigms Lost: Reflections on Literacy and Its Decline stands as a passionate and uncompromising defence of the English language. With the sharpness of a celebrated critic, Simon chronicles the erosion of grammatical standards, clear prose, and linguistic precision across American culture, dissecting examples from media, academia, and everyday speech with surgical wit and unmistakable fury. Simon argues with the conviction of a purist that the decline of language signals a deeper civilisational failure — a retreat from rigour, beauty, and thought itself. His prose is bracingly direct, laced with acerbic humour and a refusal to suffer linguistic laziness gladly. Illustrated by Michele Chessare, Paradigms Lost is both a lament and a call to arms — one that leaves the reader wondering whether the battle for language can ever truly be won.