Böcker av Sharron Gu

This innovative study examines imperialism from a cultural and linguistic perspective, portraying the rise and fall of ancient Greek, Roman, medieval Islamic, modern British, Russian and American empires as a part of the natural life of world civilizations. As these cultures matured through centuries of literary accumulation and interaction with other cultures, it shows, they finally found their confidence on the world stage and transitioned from an aggressive policy towards others to a more tolerant one.

This is a multimedia history of literary Arabic that describes the evolution of Arabic poetry and prose in the context of music, ritual performance, the arts, and architecture. It is written for scholars and educated readers of Arabic and Islamic culture whose first language is not Arabic. It focuses on what is unique about Arabic compared to other major languages of the world and how the distinct characteristics of Arabic took shape at various points of its history.

Chinese, one of the oldest active languages, evolved over 5,000 years. As such, it makes for a fascinating case study in the development of language. This cultural history of Chinese demonstrates that the language grew and responded to its music and visual expression in a manner very similar to contemporary English and other western languages. Within Chinese cultural history lie the answers to numerous questions that have haunted scholars for decades: How does language relate to worldview? What would happen to law after its language loses absolute binding power? How do music, visual, and theatrical images influence literature? By presenting Chinese not as a system of signs but as the history of a community, this study shows how language has expanded the scope of Chinese imagination and offers a glimpse into the future of younger languages throughout the world.