Derrick Jensen is a writer, ecophilosopher and environment activist. „A Language Older Than Words“ shows the authors deep connection and harmony with the beauty of living nature. On the one hand, it is one man`s personal and honest survey of our civilization and culture. He sees nature as a living, sharing and communicating power speaking in the language older than words. He is achingly honest in evoking his memories of abusive childhood and linking this model of abuse to the whole human culture, or as he himself puts it „the culture of abuse“. To survive we wear cultural eyeglasses: we shut down emotionally, we ignore vast amounts of information pretending that ugliness does not exist. This is up to the reader to decide, whether the author speaks through his wounded psyche or whether his rough childhood has helped him develop a much deeper understanding of how our culture operates.
This is emotionally intense experience, tough read moving between beauty and atrocity. If you are the one who cares about the future of our earth, you will never forget it.
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Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004
Check from the e-catalogue ESTER
Eha Elmi
Department of Literature in Foreign Languages