Living with a Dead Language

You’re never too old to learn Latin!  This book goes into how and why the author learned Latin:

Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin.  Ann Patty.  Viking 2016

This book can be read on many levels: as the story of an older woman who decided to learn Latin, her ability as a “Latinist,” and as a way for the author to come to grips with her mother and her death.

It succeeds most as the first and third; as a “Latinist,” Patty has some of the most convoluted discussions of grammar I have ever seen!  The autobiographical points, both of her actually learning Latin and how it felt to be an adult learner, are very well done.  She stretches the point sometimes, trying to draw parallels to her studies at a particular time and a chronological description of her work and home life; but it is interesting to see how she goes about her studies (although, ghastly, she uses “myself” instead of “me” – and this from a book editor!).  At times it drags, but it is interesting, especially if you can get it from the public library.

By Ruth Breindel, who taught Latin, Greek, Linguistics and Mythology at Moses Brown School for 30 years.

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