Reviews for A Comparative Dictionary of the Languages of India and High Asia, With a Dissertation. Based...

The average rating for A Comparative Dictionary of the Languages of India and High Asia, With a Dissertation. Based... based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-05 00:00:00 Lance Enget if a world can be described in a word, then the word for Pao is passive. language has helped make the Paonese content but also ill-equipped to handle invasion and other forms of aggression. the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis posits that "the structure of a language affects the ways in which its respective speakers conceptualize their world... or otherwise influences their cognitive processes" (thank you, Wikipedia)... linguistic relativity can mean that the way different cultures talk impacts how different cultures act. or as the character Finisterle notes: "every language impresses a certain world-view upon the mind." this is the chilliest Jack Vance novel that I've read to date. all of the Vancean virtues are present - sly, almost subliminal wit; elegant prose; absorbing world-building; an illustration of how easily monstrous egos can blossom into actual monstrosity - but Vance seems disinterested in providing a way for the reader to connect with the story except on a purely intellectual level. I am the sort of under-evolved reader who needs an emotional connection for me to truly enjoy a work. there is much to fascinate within its pages. but the bland protagonist, the casual and vague handling of a pact that includes sex slaves to be exported, a narrative full of suspense that lacks much narrative drive, and especially a debilitating ending that illustrates the need to give in to physical force... all of that contributed to a detachment I felt throughout the experience. this is not a bad book by any means and there is much that provided food for thought. it has a cerebral quality that makes it in some ways a superior book to other, more shallow Jack Vance adventures. overall I liked it. but it is perhaps the first book by the author that I am disinclined to read a second time.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-10-08 00:00:00 Albert Baur Cover Artist: Rik Binkley.