Description

Book Synopsis

In Dead Languages by David Shields, Jeremy Zorn''s mother tries unsuccessfully to coax him into saying "Philadelphia," and his life becomes framed by his unwieldy attempts at articulation. Through family rituals with his word-obsessed parents and sister, failed first love, an ill-fated run for class president, as the only Jewish boy on an otherwise all-black basketball team, all of the passages of Jeremy''s life are marked in some way by his stutter and his wildly off-the-mark attempts at a cure. It is only when he enters college and learns his strong-willed mother is dying that he realizes all languages, when used as hiding places for the heart, are dead ones.

Dead Languages

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    A Paperback / softback by David Shields

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      Publisher: Graywolf Press,U.S.
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 01/05/1998
      ISBN13: 9781555972745, 978-1555972745
      ISBN10: 1555972748

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      In Dead Languages by David Shields, Jeremy Zorn''s mother tries unsuccessfully to coax him into saying "Philadelphia," and his life becomes framed by his unwieldy attempts at articulation. Through family rituals with his word-obsessed parents and sister, failed first love, an ill-fated run for class president, as the only Jewish boy on an otherwise all-black basketball team, all of the passages of Jeremy''s life are marked in some way by his stutter and his wildly off-the-mark attempts at a cure. It is only when he enters college and learns his strong-willed mother is dying that he realizes all languages, when used as hiding places for the heart, are dead ones.

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