The intelligent, well-informed reader who knows of Chomsky, but not all about Chomsky, would be well-advised to begin this Where-I-Stand treatise with the last chapter—a reasonably accessible presentation of Chomsky's definitions of linguistics and language; of "competence," grammatical and pragmatic. The chapter begins with homage to Eric Lenneberg, and does much to put in perspective Chomsky's quarrels with contemporary schools of linguistics and psychology (not just Skinner, but also Piaget), encapsulating what the preliminary chapters do ad nauseum: attack opponents with scholarly put-downs. Essentially, Chomsky defends his notion that the rules governing linguistic expression are universal and innate, part of the genotype which grows and matures to a steady state, all the while shaped by culture and circumstance. No reason for such a stance to be rejected as "purely hypothetical," he says; no reason for the dichotomy in the human sciences between empirically verifiable "psychological reality" (like reaction time) and abstract hypotheses (like universal unconscious grammatical principles). Physics, he says, never suffered such a dichotomy; and he is right. That said, Chomsky argues that his ideas are eminently testable and chides his critics as dogmatists. Much of this is hard going, assuming a competence at sentence-analysis in Chomsky's mathematico-logical style, not to mention familiarity with less well-known challengers. Chomsky's attack on empiricism and the "poverty of the stimulus" argument seem well-taken, but he is open to question on a number of fronts, including the inaccessibility of the unconscious and the uselessness of introspection. Still, this controversial scholar may have the edge over his detractors: he can point to a complex innate structure for the visual system and maintain, congruently, that the methods of natural science are the ultimate criteria by which rival linguistic schools will stand or fall. Difficult but not unrewarding.
Pub Date: April 1, 1980
ISBN: 0231132700
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Columbia Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1980
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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