Robert Guliver's 'Crates Mallotes ou Critica Dialogistica dos Grammaticos Defuntos contra...' is one of the strangest and most clever books I've picked up this year. Forget dry textbooks—this is language debate as supernatural spectacle.

The Story

The book opens with a living scholar, a bit too proud of his own rigid rules, who accidentally summons a council of history's greatest grammarians from the afterlife. These aren't friendly ghosts. They're annoyed, pedantic, and they've had centuries to think about where language went wrong. What follows is a series of dialogues—a ghostly tribunal where the modern 'experts' are put on the stand. The dead argue about everything from Latin sentence structure to whether new slang has any value. It's less about finding correct answers and more about watching the eternal, often ridiculous, battle between preserving the past and embracing the messy present.

Why You Should Read It

What surprised me was how funny and human it felt. Guliver doesn't take sides. He lets the ghost of a Roman grammarian rage about apostrophes while a more relaxed medieval scribe shrugs and says language always changes. It made me think about why we get so heated about 'proper' English. Is it about clarity, or just about power and who gets to decide? The characters, for all being famous dead guys, have distinct personalities that clash in really entertaining ways.

Final Verdict

This isn't just for English majors or editors. If you've ever been corrected (or been the corrector), argued about texting 'ruining' language, or love a smart, quirky premise, you'll find something here. It's perfect for readers who enjoy historical fiction with a twist, or philosophy dressed up as a witty ghost story. Just be warned: you might never look at a grammar rule the same way again.