2010-10-03

William James Sidis & Vendergood

"William James Sidis (April 1, 1898 – July 17, 1944) was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic abilities."

T.e.: William James Sidis (1 aprilo 1898 - 17 julio 1944) estis Usona mirinfano posedanta elstarajn matematikajn kaj lingvajn kapablojn.

Here is the deleted Wikipedia entry on Vendergood.

A curiosity:

The Mirror: It can only be expressed in Vendergood
The Websafe Times, Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Here is one book review (another review of the same book follows, next section):

A Review of Amy Wallace's The Prodigy by Doug Renselle



William’s Ouija Board Phase

William became interested during this period in Ouija boards. William, of course, could make the Oujia pointer sing and dance. When the spirits of the Ouija board declared themselves to be citizens of the planet Venus, William and 7-year-old Helena began to take careful notes.
    “Soon, the Venusians were communicating with William in their own language, which he ably decoded. Helena recalls the language being a blend of the multitude of tongues William had mastered, akin to Esperanto or to his own Vendergood. In his usual methodical manner, William concocted a full grammar in Venusian. He posed questions about Venusian civilization and recorded the answers (decoded) in a little book in tiny handwriting.”
    When his notebook was full, he spun the material into his first science fiction novel, now lost. The science fiction novel is primarily about the nature of the Venusians, and the organization and character of their society. The Venusians looked like us but wore very little clothing, probably because Venus is presumed to be hotter than the Earth. Not surprisingly, The Venusian polity resembles “Hesperia”.
    In the meantime, William became enmeshed in radically liberal politics. On April 6, 1917, following the sinking of the Lusitania by a German U-boat, the United States entered Wor[l]d War I on the side of the “Allies”. The Socialist party voted to reaffirm its antiwar stance, and virtually all U. S. intellectuals deserted en masse. But not William. There was rampant mob violence. “Religious pacifists were jailed and tortured.”

SOURCE: Seitz, Robert N. "The Prodigy: A Book Review," May 31, 2002. [Book author is Amy Wallace.]



El Vikipedio:

Vendergood estis planlingvo verkita de William James Sidis. Li priskribas la lingvon en sia dua libro, angle titolita Book of Vendergood ("Libro de Vendergood"), kiun li skribis, kiam li estis infano. La planlingvo baziĝis sur la latina lingvo, kaj ĝi havis dekduuman sistemon de kalkulado. Oni diras, ke ĝi estis pli facila kaj pli simpla ol Esperanto.

1 comment:

Bizarre News said...

What are the basics of Vendergood, the language invented by William James Sidis?
Where i can find this book?