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Editor for this issue: Marisa Ferrara <marisalinguistlist.org>
oup-usa.org>Title: Narrative Gravity Subtitle: Conversation, Cognition, Culture Publication Year: 2002 Publisher: Oxford University Press http://www.oup-usa.org/ Book URL: http://www.oup-usa.org/isbn/0195657004.html Author: Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Indian Institute of Technology, Dehli Hardback: ISBN: 0195657004, Pages: 338 pp, Price: $19.95 Abstract: "This remarkable book builds on Chomsky's key insight that language provides an inbuilt key to our identity as a symbol using species. To the role of grammar as a cognitive tool enabling us to construct 'selves', Nair adds a second tool in the realm of discourse: narrative. She has a wonderfully subtle account of the psychology of narrative as a 'species of natural theory'. Nair's work is not yet very well known in the United States but I anticipate that with this book she will be recognized as a major figure."--Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University "Nair's brilliant study of narrative combines anthropological and sociolinguistic perspectives with cognitive ones to bring out the magical impulses that animate this genre."--Michael J. Toolan, University of Birmingham, author of Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction Lingfield(s): Literary Stylistics (Sociolinguistics) Sociolinguistics Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue