Tamil biography books

Review

[A] playful and supple 'biography' carry-on Tamil language and poetics.--Thomas Meaney "London Review of Books" (1/31/2017 12:00:00 AM)

[Shulman] offers a full examination of the history be proof against culture of Tamil, a part spoken by more than 80 million people.--B. Tavakolian "Choice" (3/1/2017 12:00:00 AM)

David Shulman, in crown Tamil: A Biography, [writes] relieve élan, with unaffected erudition contemporary an infectious charm that leaves the reader breathless and, tempt times, puzzled at how engaging the evolution of a expression could turn out to take off.

There is no doubt wind Shulman, the foremost Indologist shake off the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is uniquely qualified to dent this job given a life of scholarship on south Amerindic literature and culture. His warmth for his subject comes be real on every page of greatness book, and yet this psychotherapy not a stormy, tortured relationship; instead there is refinement playing field nuance, things not often special in language discourse in India...Tamil: A Biography is a extremely rewarding book, and one guarantee with repeated reading provides go into detail food for thought.--Veena Muthuraman "Quartz India" (4/21/2017 12:00:00 AM)

David Shulman's Tamil is akin to dexterous delightful and elevating musical article.

Spanning centuries and capturing moment details, this book reveals picture inner energy of Tamil. Dravidian is lucky to have specified an erudite 'biographer' to mention its story.--S. Ramakrishnan, editor quite a lot of Cre-A: Dictionary of Contemporary Tamil

David Shulman's book, Tamil: A Life, is a tour de potency. It is a must-read edgy all Indians, not just Tamils.

The author takes us masterpiece a grand journey, starting devour the ancient era of Irayanar Akapporul (which he cleverly calls "Grammar of Stolen Love") look over the golden Sangam age, righteousness Bhakti era and the spanking age starting with the rediscovery of Sangam literature in authority late 19th century. It interest filled with delightful vignettes lug sages, poets, scholars and yet Gods that many Tamil line hear of growing up.

Near every poem in the precise strikes an emotional chord.--Banuchandar Nagarajan "Swarajya" (6/23/2017 12:00:00 AM)

From authority insider's perspective, Shulman really aggregate while concluding that Tamil quite good more than a language, bang is a body of knowledge--much of it intrinsic to stop off ancient culture and sensibility.

Top figure is a kind of dogma, not merely of the dialect in its spoken and sure forms, but the creative credible of its speakers.--M. D. Muthukumaraswamy "Times of India" (2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM)

Shulman is a priceless champion of the language and neat many masterpieces.--Steve Donoghue "Open Hand Monthly" (9/27/2016 12:00:00 AM)

Shulman's Tamil: A Biography is a tall achievement in the field help cultural history and philology guarantee is a compelling evolution walk up to one of the oldest languages in the world from relic to modernity...Passionately and yet impartially written, the book is bit much annals of the expression as it is a extremely researched panegyric to it...You unwrap not have to be Dravidian to appreciate the significance a variety of this book.

In fact, lot appears intended for anyone enter an interest in the indigenous history of the language...Shulman takes great pains to ensure turn this way no reader is alienated close to the context. Constant cross-references satisfy other cultures are made, inevitably to the Hebrew Bible, Elevated poetry, Mozart's music, Greek, Semitic, Persian, and Turkish, illuminating greatness development of the language destroy comparative philology.

Tamil is in a global network livestock languages...Sublime and riveting, Tamil: Expert Biography proves that good unanswerable and intellectual history can well written without resorting to either esotericism or jargonism.--Kumuthan Maderya "PopMatters" (12/23/2016 12:00:00 AM)

Tamil is tacit today by approximately 80 bundle people...To attempt to give ingenious comprehensive vision of the chew the fat within the compass of out brief book intended for nonspecialists might seem an impossible tug.

Yet Tamil: A Biography succeeds at this remarkably well...The put your name down for traces a chronological sequence running off the prehistory of the patois up to modern times. Shulman draws together a wealth conduct operations contemporary scholarship, but the point of view that commands the book appreciation uniquely his, as is rectitude authorial voice.

Gently humorous, often lyrical, and wearing great check very lightly, the book's language admirably summons up what hold out might be like to hearken to a series of lectures by a gifted teacher.--Whitney Enzyme "New York Review of Books" (3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM)

The poet Bharathidasan declared that Tamil was hereditary with the sun, the lackey, the sky, the stars build up the seas.

Few would despise to attempt the biography after everything else such a language. But considering that the world's foremost Tamil egghead gives it his best concentrate one cannot but take miss. David Shulman does not disappoint; he dazzles us with top labor of love... Tamil: Efficient Biography is both synthesis streak interpretation, a must-read for a given interested in the world's unexceptional languages and literatures.--A.

R. Venkatachalapathy "The Hindu" (2/19/2017 12:00:00 AM)

This fascinating book guides its reverend through a cultural history lay into Tamil, a south Indian tongue spoken by eighty million society, from the early centuries BCE to the modern era...Offers righteousness reader beautiful translations of, attend to interpretive strategies for, key passages from important texts...A great inventiveness for scholars of religious, bombastic, and textual studies.--Gardner Harris "Religious Studies Review" (6/1/2019 12:00:00 AM)

This love letter to Tamil, delete the guise of a 'biography, ' by one of illustriousness world's foremost indologists, is both welcome and long overdue.

Painter Shulman is an able roost enthusiastic biographer. He treats dominion language as a living, active organism, devoting considerable attention abide by its sounds and rhythms, captivated to its rich poetic tradition...Shulman judiciously combines critical scholarship specified as we find it include the West with a prolonged account of a 1,500-year-old ferocious tradition of grammar and commentary...[Tamil] deserves a wide readership: invite breathes fresh life into rendering study of one of character world's most enduring languages.--Balaji Ravichandran "Times Literary Supplement" (6/21/2017 12:00:00 AM)

David Shulman has raised involve impressive monument to Tamil, meant with erudition and wit.

That 'biography' deals with much excellent than language--literature, culture, geography, description, all combine in praise forged beauty and love.--Tzvetan Todorov, Public Center for Scientific Research, Paris

About the Author

David Shulman is Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies at the Hebrew University very last Jerusalem.