Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

BECAUSE INTERNET by Gretchen McCulloch is a unique text that deals with fluidity of language and changes in meaning, especially as we continue to produce more informal, internet-based writing. I am looking forward to sending more time with this text, reflecting, for example, on McCulloch’s comments about differences in users: “your experience of the internet and the language therein is shaped by who you were and who else was around at the time that you joined.” After a discussion of the founding population (often more “techy” and users of topic-based tools like Bulletin Board Systems, forums, or listservs), she describes the next wave as split between “Full Internet People” and “Semi Internet People,” differentiated by what they were doing on the internet (daily instant messaging and eventual Facebook users vs. forwarding funny emails). She describes a third wave, calling some “Post Internet People” who are “socially influenced by the internet regardless of their own level of use.” Much more to think about here; subsequent chapters cover emojis and memes. With roughly twenty percent of this text devoted to notes and index, McCulloch also references many researchers like dana boyd (speaker and author of It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens) and states that the purpose of this new book is “to provide a snapshot of a particular era and a lens that we can use to look at future changes.” 

As a linguist and pattern-seeker, McCulloch would undoubtedly be interested in the graphic detail shown about “Ageing on Facebook” and “Teenage Wasteland” recently in The Economist. Taking that a step further, she (and our students) might want to look at the NPR video on how moods spread and other non-verbal clues.  BECAUSE INTERNET was just named a Wired magazine "must read" and also reviewed in The Economist and by in Jennifer Szalai in the New York Times.  

The Prodigal Tongue by Lynne Murphy

THE PRODIGAL TONGUE by Lynne Murphy is subtitled: “The Love-Hate Relationship between American and British English.” And Murphy, born and raised in New York State, but now a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex, is awesome/brilliant at describing differences and analyzing the impact of time, environment, and social class on language.   She is very good at finding amusingly relevant quotes, too: “There is no such thing as American English.  There is English. And there are mistakes.”

Murphy provides a series of extensive notes and references as well as some fun quizzes about word origins.  Debrief, for example, came from the Royal Air Force in WWII while ear muffs are a mid-19^th century American invention.  Have fun with THE PRODIGAL TONGUE – writers for The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal  and The Boston Globe certainly did  - and you will be surprised at all you learn! Starred review from Library Journal.

On language and writing

THE IDIOT by Elif Batuman appealed because of its cast of characters:

• Selin, daughter of Turkish immigrants beginning her undergraduate studies at Harvard
• Svetlana, a classmate from Serbia and
• Ivan, an older mathematics student from Hungary.

The time period, 1995, and setting - both in Boston and across Europe – also grabbed interest as I began reading and reflecting on college experiences, the efforts to find oneself, and to establish adult relationships. However, I soon felt that Selin was a little too self-centered; although clearly very introspective and clever. Here is an example of her mind at work: “I was thinking about the structural equivalencies between a tissue box and a book: both consisted of slips of white paper in a cardboard case; yet – and this was ironic – there was very little functional equivalence, especially if the book wasn’t yours.” After a time, Selin’s frequent musings did seem less amusing and began to grate, slowing down the story, even though  Batuman is an award winning author who provides a thoughtful commentary on culture, language and “adulting.”

Booklist, Kirkus and Publishers Weekly all gave starred reviews to this semi-autobiographical debut novel and despite its being over 400 pages, I am curious to see if any of our Senior English classes will decide to explore this unique text. 

 BLEAKER HOUSE by Nell Stevens is also about language, writing and finding oneself. She subtitles this memoir “Chasing My Novel to the End of the World” and describes her experiences during a three month fellowship writing on Bleaker Island in the Falklands.  I have to be honest and say I was a little jealous of her ability to get completely away and write in isolation. Granted, she must forego Internet access and lists some “Habits I am being forced to break: Wondering: ‘What year was so-and-so born?’ .... Or any other general, non-urgent but niggling questions, and looking it up at once. Instead, I start a WORD document listing all the things I’d Google if I could: a sprawling, eclectic list of idle curiosity ....”  

I also really enjoyed her observations of the desolation of the Falkland Islands: “I walk for hours and see only monosyllables: cliffs, birds, waves, sand, sheep, rock, moss.” Future writers, travel enthusiasts and anyone with an active imagination should read the excerpt from BLEAKER HOUSE provided by the publisher and then turn to the book itself; there is also a Reading Guide for this debut work which will appeal to book groups.