Re: Book: Lunatic Lovers of Language

Don't waste your money. Yaguello is a crank of precisely the sort she claims to
despise. As others have pointed out, she ignores artlangs and is thus able to
claim that all conlangers are driven by a frustrated lust for power. Lest there
be any doubt of this, she makes the absurd claim that conlangers are almost
exclusively male--from which, one supposes, her theories regarding power and
control complexes are intended to be self-evident, and probably are to the
puffed-up postmodernist pseudo-intellectuals who are her audience. Gah.

To be fair, I will admit that I was unable to finish this book. Perhaps it gets
better. I doubt it.

eli . ishmael@pocketmail.com
gone to croatan
<- Original Text ->

Many years ago, I posted a question about conlangs to sci.lang. One of
those who replied recommended the book Lunatic Lovers of Language by
Marina Yaguello, which is supposed to be about Tolkien's languages and
other conlangs. I have since tried to find this book, but with little
success. Until now. Today I noticed that it can be ordered from Amazon at
a price of approx. $40.

Before spending that kind of money, I would like to know what you people
think about the book. What does it contain? Is it worth the money? Is it
mostly about grammar? Vocabulary? The creative process? Something else?

Thanks in advance,

  /Fredrik