Books in brief
Reviews by MICHAEL KERRIGAN
THE UNFOLDING OF
LANGUAGE *****
BY GUY DEUTSCHER (Heinemann, �20)
THIS sprightly introduction to historical
linguistics reveals the complexities the least articulate of us masters in a
lifetime, and the number of ways the world's societies have
found to skin a communicative cat. From Hittite to Hungarian, languages evolve
in utter haphazardness yet still manage to function like well-oiled machines.
The precondition of all human endeavour, languages are our greatest invention,
says Deutscher - except, of course, that no-one actually invented them. This
is, by its nature, not always easy reading, but Deutscher does a remarkable job
in a book which is full of lively interest.
AUGUSTINE, SINNER
AND SAINT ****
BY JAMES J O'DONNELL (Profile, �25)
"I HAD become a mystery to myself
..." The inaugurator of a long, lurid tradition of spiritual struggle,
Augustine has been more of a mystery to us than is generally realised. His
views are often travestied, says O'Donnell - although in some areas (such as
predestination) he was every bit as uncompromising as his caricature. He was
also a mover and shaker, by no means entirely felicitously. This absorbing new
biography makes sense of a fascinating life and a complex, often confused
posterity.