Rotten English

"Rotten English" spans the globe to offer an overview of the best non-standard English writing of the past two centuries, with a focus on the most recent decades. During the last twelve years, half of the Man Booker awards went to novels written in non-standard English. What would once have been derogatorily termed "dialect literature" has come into its own in a language known variously as slang, creole, patois, pidgin, or, in the words of Nigerian novelist Ken Saro-Wiwa, "rotten English."The first anthology of its kind, "Rotten English" celebrates vernacular literature from around the English-speaking world, from Robert Burns, Mark Twain, and Zora Neale Hurston to Papua New Guinea's John Kasaipwalova and Tobago's Marlene Nourbese Philip. With concise introductions that explain the context and aesthetics of the vernacular tradition, Rotten English pays tribute to the changes English has undergone as it has become a global language.

ISBN 0393329607   Pages 352 ISBN13 9780393329605 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher WW Norton & Co   Weight (grammes) 478 Imprint WW Norton & Co   Published in New York Format Paperback   Height (mm) 211 Publication date 07 Aug 2007   Width (mm) 143 Library of Congress PR1109   Spine width (mm) 26 DEWEY 820.8   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

		Introduction : "this is Ma Trooth"		15
		Colonization in reverse by Louise Bennett		30
		Bans O'Killing by Louise Bennett		38
		Wings of a dove by Kamau Brathwaite		43
		Auld lang syne by Robert Burns		50
		Highland Mary by Robert Burns		50
		Bonnie Lesley by Robert Burns		50
		A Negro love song by Paul Laurence Dunbar		57
		When Malindy sings by Paul Laurence Dunbar		57
		Mother to son by Langston Hughes		62
		Po' boy blues by Langston Hughes		62
		Inglan is a bitch by Linton Kwesi Johnson		65
		Wukhand by Paul Keens-Douglas		69
		Tommy by Rudyard Kipling		74
		Unrelated incidents - No. 3 by Tom Leonard		78
		Comin back ower the border by Mary McCabe		81
		Quashie to Buccra by Claude McKay		83
		Dis poem by Mutabaruka		86
		Questions! : questions! by M. NourbeSe Philip		91
		No more love poems # 1 by Ntozake Shange		93
		Po' Sandy by Charles Chesnutt		102
		The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz		116
		Letters from Whetu by Patricia Grace		166
		Spunk by Zora Neale Hurston		182
		Story in Harlem slang by Zora Neale Hurston		182
		Betel nut is bad magic for airplanes by John Kasaipwalova		203
		Joebell and America by Earl Lovelace		215
		More...

 Be the first to write a customer review