Do words--their sounds and shapes, their lengths and patterns--imitate the world
Thaïs E. Morgan is an associate professor of English at Arizona State University. To enhance the English-language edition further, Gerald Prince, author of Narrative as Theme: Studies in French Fiction (Nebraska 1992) and A Dictionary of Narratology (Nebraska 1987), has provided a foreword briefly describing Genette’s career and the particular values of this book.
"Mimologics (now very well and carefully translated) ... Gives a masterly account of Cratylism, and of the various ways in which its basic notions have been reformulated, stretched, narrowed or modernized by the succeeding waves of those anxious in one degree or another to re-aasert the claims of natural 'motivation' in language over those of a conventionalism damnable for being the mark of our cosmic alienation." - London Review of Books "Monumental... In [Mimologics], the influential structuralist/narratologist Genette traces a tradition of philosophical and linguistic arguments for the intrinsic connections between words and things... Morgan expertly renders into English the multitudinous examples of onomatopoeia, puns, double meanings, and other plays on the sounds and meanings of words. Morgan's theoretical introduction usefully locates the book's 18 chapters in the tradition of mimologics, and a brief but helpful foreword - written with characteristic crystalline wit by Gerald Prince - places this work in the context of Genette's career.d" - R. R. Warhol, Choice "This book will ... Enable Genette's work in its multifaceted richness to be better understood, as it is one of his most erudite and possibly the most provocative. Thais E. Morgan's translation is sensitive to the linguistic play of the original, given the fiercely mimetic nature of the subject; and when it does jar, which is seldom, one can only admire the sustained concentration of the work." - Forum of Modern Language Studies "Morgan has produced a fine translation of an extremely important book. It deserves to be wisely read." - David Galbraith, Literary Research/ Recherche Litteraire
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