The Grammar of Angels

A Search for the Magical Powers of Language

Edward Wilson-Lee

$55

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Harper Collins
04 June 2025

Biography: general; Biography: religious & spiritual; Philosophy of language; History; Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600; History of ideas

'In his ingenious new book The Grammar of Angels, Edward Wilson-Lee paints a glorious portrait of the great 15th-century prince of learning' Daily Telegraph

'A deeply fascinating, sui generis book by a brilliant scholar-writer, which uses the life story of a Renaissance prodigy to summon an angel-host of ideas, people and stories, all circling the question of language's ability to transcend the mortal realm' Robert Macfarlane

Does there exist a form of speech so powerful as to allow the speaker to control the listener, taking over their thoughts and even their will?

The Grammar of Angels tells the story of Renaissance prodigy and polymath Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, the uncontested marvel of an age of true wonders. Pico dedicated his life to a quest to find the sublime; to reconcile all existing thought into a philosophy that would settle the most important questions about human existence. This philosophy would also provide tools by which man could transcend his mortal limitations and join the ranks of the angels. At the heart of Pico’s ideas were questions that he traced through the depth and breadth of human thought, from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to the medieval Arabs and Jews. He made use of everything at his disposal from Europe’s broadening horizons and asked primal questions of himself and the world. Why is it that we can be astonished by beauty? That the hairs on the backs of our necks can be made to stand by intoxicating rhythms and harmonies? That we can be provoked to ecstatic experiences by the simple means of an incantation? In Catholic Italy, the implications of this line of thought were dangerous and provoked violent reactions, suggesting as they did that the notion of the individual might be just as much of an illusion as a flat earth or a geocentric universe. That there may well be notions of the divine other than the Christian God.

During a tempestuous life at the exquisite heart of the Italian Renaissance, Pico’s life is a testament to intellectual daring, to a human dignity founded in the willingness to think the unthinkable and to peer over the edge of the abyss in search of answers.

By: Edward Wilson-Lee
Imprint: Harper Collins
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 159mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 500g
ISBN: 9780008621797
ISBN 10: 0008621799
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 04 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Brought up in Kenya, the child of conservationist parents, Edward Wilson-Lee studied English at University College London and completed a doctorate at Oxford and Cambridge. He now lives in Cambridge with his wife and son, and teaches Shakespeare (among other things) at Sidney Sussex College. Over the past few years he has spent extended periods in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Reviews for The Grammar of Angels: A Search for the Magical Powers of Language

'Deception, demagogues, deep fakery, the dark web… We are at the mercy of the mysterious power of words to lull us or mobilise us or to convince us of lies – even, perhaps especially, when they are nonsensical. In Grammar of Angels Edward Wilson-Lee takes readers on a journey with the Renaissance polymath, Pico della Mirandola, among libraries and lies, in his search for the sublime or supernatural that makes utterance transcendent. He´s the most engaging and learned of guides whose own prose equals the eloquence of any angel' Felipe Fernández-Armesto PRAISE FOR A HISTORY OF WATER A Times History Book of the Year 2022 A TLS Book of the Year 2022 ‘[An] exhilarating book… passionate… employing prose as luscious as it is meticulous… delightful’ Guardian ‘Erudite and engrossing…the book combines literary flair with deep historical insight… One of its many strengths is its vivid characterisation of people and places, not least those of Lisbon life high and low’ The Times ‘This exhilarating and whip-smart book…presents two competing visions of global history through the lives of two Portuguese travellers…This book is itself something of a wonder: beautifully written and utterly mesmerising. I loved every page’ Sunday Times ‘A wonderful – and wonder-full – recreation of a crucial episode in European history…the book has a rare beauty: written with elegant restraint, its every page is rich in a numinous sense of vanishings and misunderstandings’ Daily Telegraph ‘Fascinating, elegantly written’ Spectator