When Words Lose Their Meaning Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language, Character, and Community

Through fresh readings of texts ranging from Homer'sIliad, Swift'sTale of a Tub, and Austen'sEmmathrough the United States Constitution andMcCulloch v. Maryland, James Boyd White examines the relationship between an individual mind and its language and culture as well as the "textual community" established between writer and audience. These striking textual analyses develop a rhetorica "way of reading" that can be brought to any text but that, in broader terms, becomes a way of learning that can shape the reader's life."In this ambitious and demanding work of literary criticism, James Boyd White seeks to communicate 'a sense of reading in a new and different way.' . . . [White's] marriage of lawyerly acumen and classically trained literary sensibilityequally evident in his earlier work,The Legal Imaginationgives the best parts ofWhen Words Lose Their Meaninga gravity and moral earnestness rare in the pages of contemporary literary criticism."Roger Kimball,American Scholar"James Boyd White makes a state-of-the-art attempt to enrich legal theory with the insights of modern literary theory. Of its kind, it is a singular and standout achievement. . . . [White's] selections span the whole range of legal, literary, and political offerings, and his writing evidences a sustained and intimate experience with these texts. Writing with natural elegance, White manages to be insightful and inciteful. Throughout, his timely book is energized by an urgent love of literature and law and their liberating potential. His passion and sincerity are palpable."Allan C. Hutchinson,Yale Law Journal"Undeniably a unique and significant work. . . .When Words Lose Their Meaningis a rewarding book by a distinguished legal scholar. It is a showcase for the most interesting sort of inter-disciplinary work: the kind that brings together from traditionally separate fields not so much information as ideas and approaches."R. B. Kershner, Jr.,Georgia ReviewWhite, James B. is the author of 'When Words Lose Their Meaning Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language, Character, and Community', published 1985 under ISBN 9780226895024 and ISBN 0226895025.