Age: A Travel Book of Words

by Daniel Ardrey

Age is a novel only because it isn't something else. It's fiction. It's imaginary. It's historical in a sense as two narratives interweave with a sense of language that combines them to form a whole. The words that do this are those that come into our English language from elsewhere, especially from exotic places and traditions in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. These help shape the stories of both past and present. One narrative is of a young traveler moving in vignettes through a strange world he doesn't quite understand. The other is of men in an indeterminate past, a merchant, a general, a philosopher and so on. These are not generalized; they are particular people, each with his own destiny, which is in large part shaped by a certain language that surrounds him. At the end of the novel is A Little Primer of Age where the author explains his aim and his sources. Since it's a novel unlike any other, it's helpful to have this as you go back in time through various traditions of language - and even magic. 

120 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 30, 2016