Totalitarian Speech

Totalitarian Speech brings together a range of texts on totalitarian manipulations of language. The author analyzes various phenomena, from the hateful rhetoric of Nazi Germany to the obfuscating newspeak of communist Poland, finding certain common characteristics. Above all, totalitarian speech in its diverse manifestations imposes an all-embracing worldview and an associated set of dichotomous divisions from an omniscient and authoritative perspective. This volume collects the work of over three decades, including essays written during the communist era and more recent pieces assessing the legacy of totalitarian ways of thinking in contemporary Poland.

List of contents

Contents: Totalitarian Speech - Newspeak - Communism - Nazism - Anti-Semitism - Polish Literature.

About the author

Michal Glowinski is among the most eminent Polish literary scholars. In a career spanning almost six decades at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN), he has published over thirty books, largely specializing in twentieth-century Polish literature and literary theory.

Product details

• Authors: Michal Glowinski
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.2014
• EAN: 9783631629192
• ISBN: 978-3-631-62919-2
• No. of pages: 351
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 27 mm x 212 mm
• Weight: 550 g
• Series: Studien zur Kulturellen und Literarischen Kommunismusforschung; Studien zur Kulturellen und Literarischen Kommunismusforschung
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Slavonic linguistics / literary studies