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A Child's Garden of Grammar
In demystifying the complex world of grammar, Tom Disch and Dave Morice have constructed a wonderful new entertainment stimulated by many of the rules of the English language. The engaging verbal and visual wit of the Disch/Morice duo amuses as it informs, appealing to both the grammatically challenged and the rare soul who delights in diagramming dense sentences. Disch's playful verses lead us to see anew rules long forgotten or never fully understood, while Morice's comic treatments flesh out the dry, chalky terrain of pronouns, tenses, infinitives, and prepositions.
A perfect gift for anyone needing introduction, or reintroduction, to the rules of the verbal road, and for those who enjoy the clever play of word and image.
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A perfect gift for anyone needing introduction, or reintroduction, to the rules of the verbal road, and for those who enjoy the clever play of word and image.
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- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
14 people want to read
About the author
Thomas M. Disch
379 books320 followersThomas Michael Disch was an American science fiction writer and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book—previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book"—in 1999. He had two other Hugo nominations and nine Nebula Award nominations to his credit, plus one win of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, a Rhysling Award, and two Seiun Awards, among others.
His writing includes substantial periodical work, such as regular book and theater reviews for The Nation, The Weekly Standard, Harper's, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and Entertainment Weekly.
As a fiction writer and a poet, Disch felt typecast by his science fiction roots. "I have a class theory of literature. I come from the wrong neighborhood to sell to The New Yorker. No matter how good I am as an artist, they always can smell where I come from".
Following an extended period of depression after the death in 2005 of his life-partner, Charles Naylor, Disch stopped writing almost entirely, except for poetry and blog entries, although he did produce two novellas. Disch fatally shot himself on July 4, 2008, in his Manhatten (NYC) apartment.
Naylor and Disch are buried alongside each other at Saint Johns Episcopal Church Columbarium, Dubuque, Iowa. His last book, The Word of God, which was written shortly before Naylor died, was published a few days before Disch's death.
His writing includes substantial periodical work, such as regular book and theater reviews for The Nation, The Weekly Standard, Harper's, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and Entertainment Weekly.
As a fiction writer and a poet, Disch felt typecast by his science fiction roots. "I have a class theory of literature. I come from the wrong neighborhood to sell to The New Yorker. No matter how good I am as an artist, they always can smell where I come from".
Following an extended period of depression after the death in 2005 of his life-partner, Charles Naylor, Disch stopped writing almost entirely, except for poetry and blog entries, although he did produce two novellas. Disch fatally shot himself on July 4, 2008, in his Manhatten (NYC) apartment.
Naylor and Disch are buried alongside each other at Saint Johns Episcopal Church Columbarium, Dubuque, Iowa. His last book, The Word of God, which was written shortly before Naylor died, was published a few days before Disch's death.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 20, 2020
Thomas Disch (1940-2008) was a New Wave SF author, poet, theater critic, computer game creator, and much else. Not surprising, then, that his Grammar is a strange book. Sadly, it's not really informative for either the grammar-beginner (it's too obscure) or the grammar-expert (there's nothing new). It has odd poems, some nice and simple like 'Either/Or':
Either and Or came to a door.
Either would enter, but not before Or,
So still they stand outside that door,
But now their names are Neither and Nor.
Some playing little games, as in the explanation of 'The Indirect Object':
I have to hand it to you, dear:
You're the indirect object here--
Along with Thelma, Hank and Hugh.
I tip my hat to all of you.
You've set a fine example to me--
But I don't get it, and I'm gloomy.
OK, so "to you" is the indirect object... and "I" can't be an indirect object... Cute, but rather spoiled for me by the rhyme of "to me" (which I stress on the last syllable, as with all the previous lines of the poem) but then, having to rhyme it with the next line's "gloomy", have to go back and reread the previous line to get the rhyme...
And every poem is illustrated with simple cartoons by Dave Morice. If you're addicted to strange, by all means buy it. To me it's just an oddity, and without either the visual or verbal charm of other cartoon-illustrated short poetry collections such as Piet Hein's Grooks. But after all, Disch is best-known for his SF, not his verse.
Either and Or came to a door.
Either would enter, but not before Or,
So still they stand outside that door,
But now their names are Neither and Nor.
Some playing little games, as in the explanation of 'The Indirect Object':
I have to hand it to you, dear:
You're the indirect object here--
Along with Thelma, Hank and Hugh.
I tip my hat to all of you.
You've set a fine example to me--
But I don't get it, and I'm gloomy.
OK, so "to you" is the indirect object... and "I" can't be an indirect object... Cute, but rather spoiled for me by the rhyme of "to me" (which I stress on the last syllable, as with all the previous lines of the poem) but then, having to rhyme it with the next line's "gloomy", have to go back and reread the previous line to get the rhyme...
And every poem is illustrated with simple cartoons by Dave Morice. If you're addicted to strange, by all means buy it. To me it's just an oddity, and without either the visual or verbal charm of other cartoon-illustrated short poetry collections such as Piet Hein's Grooks. But after all, Disch is best-known for his SF, not his verse.
Displaying 1 of 1 review