Loaded Words

by Marjorie Garber

In Loaded Words the inimitable literary and cultural critic Marjorie Garber invites readers to join her in a rigorous and exuberant exploration of language. What links the pieces included in this vibrant new collection is the author's contention that all words are inescapably loaded--that is, highly charged, explosive, substantial, intoxicating, fruitful, and overbrimming--and that such loading is what makes language matter.



Garber casts her keen eye on terms from knowledge, belief, madness, interruption, genius, and celebrity to humanities, general education, and academia. Included here are an array of stirring essays, from the title piece, with its demonstration of the importance of language to our thinking about the world; to the superb "Mad Lib," on the concept of madness from Mad magazine to debates between Foucault and Derrida; to pieces on Shakespeare, "the most culturally loaded name of our time," and the Renaissance.

With its wide range of cultural references and engaging style coupled with fresh intellectual inquiry, Loaded Words will draw in and enchant scholars, students, and general readers alike.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction

ebook

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Marjorie B. Garber (born June 11, 1944) is a professor at Harvard University and the author of a wide variety of books, most notably ones about William Shakespeare and aspects of popular culture including sexuality.

She wrote Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety, a ground breaking theoretical work on transvestitism's contribution to culture. Other works include Sex and Real Estate:Why We Love Houses, Academic Instincts, Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life, Shakespeare After All, and Dog Love (which is not primarily about bestiality, except for one chapter titled "Sex and the Single Dog").

Her book Shakespeare After All (Pantheon, 2004) was chosen one of Newsweek's ten best nonfiction books of the year, and was awarded the 2005 Christian Gauss Book Award from Phi Beta Kappa.

She was educated at Swarthmore College (B.A., 1966; L.H.D., 2004) and Yale University (Ph.D., 1969).

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garber, being a Shakespeare scholar, writes beautifully; I enjoyed her observations on the decay and generalization of meaning, and the analogy to dead metaphors, for words like “madness”, “hysteria”, and “rock star”. The last few chapters become an argument for the academic humanities, a leitmotif that became a little tiresome for someone who already believes in a need for the humanities.

[John Fredrickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting mix of essays. I would be hard-pressed to state a unifying theme in them, but Garber's thoughts are always engaging.

[Tracey]

Amazon Omnivoracious Blog 17 Jul 2012