James M. Wilce,Eloquence in trouble: The poetics and politics of complaint in rural Bangladesh. (Oxford studies in anthropological linguistics, 21). Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. xix, 300. Hb $65.00.

Abstract

This is a very personal book, a poignant book, a compelling book, from beginning to end. The Preface sets the tone: self-reflexive and confessional. Wilce once wanted to be a medical doctor; he became instead a missionary in Bangladesh, but felt “guilt and pervasive disquiet” in that role; and while in Bengal – actually, in neighboring Calcutta – he suffered a “nightmarish” family tragedy involving medical practitioners. He later resigned from the mission and went to graduate school; then he returned to Bangladesh to study complaint and lament as expressed in one locality within the Bangla-speaking area. (“Bangla” and “Bengali” are two names for the same language. Wilce refers to the language as Bangla; so shall I.)