How Long to Read Sleeping with the Dictionary

How Long Does it Take to Read Sleeping with the Dictionary?

It takes the average reader 1 hour and 26 minutes to read Sleeping with the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

Harryette Mullen's fifth poetry collection, Sleeping with the Dictionary, is the abecedarian offspring of her collaboration with two of the poet's most seductive writing partners, Roget's Thesaurus and The American Heritage Dictionary. In her ménage à trois with these faithful companions, the poet is aware that while Roget seems obsessed with categories and hierarchies, the American Heritage, whatever its faults, was compiled with the assistance of a democratic usage panel that included black poets Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps, as well as feminist author and editor Gloria Steinem. With its arbitrary yet determinant alphabetical arrangement, its gleeful pursuit of the ludic pleasure of word games (acrostic, anagram, homophone, parody, pun), as well as its reflections on the politics of language and dialect, Mullen's work is serious play. A number of the poems are inspired or influenced by a technique of the international literary avant-garde group Oulipo, a dictionary game called S+7 or N+7. This method of textual transformation--which is used to compose nonsensical travesties reminiscent of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"--also creates a kind of automatic poetic discourse. Mullen's parodies reconceive the African American's relation to the English language and Anglophone writing, through textual reproduction, recombining the genetic structure of texts from the Shakespearean sonnet and the fairy tale to airline safety instructions and unsolicited mail. The poet admits to being "licked all over by the English tongue," and the title of this book may remind readers that an intimate partner who also gives language lessons is called, euphemistically, a "pillow dictionary."

How long is Sleeping with the Dictionary?

Sleeping with the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen is 85 pages long, and a total of 21,675 words.

This makes it 29% the length of the average book. It also has 26% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Sleeping with the Dictionary Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 1 hour and 58 minutes to read Sleeping with the Dictionary aloud.

What Reading Level is Sleeping with the Dictionary?

Sleeping with the Dictionary is suitable for students ages 10 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Sleeping with the Dictionary?

Sleeping with the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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