"The Inheritance of Loss" : Grammatically incorrect name : 'of loss' is an adj phrase of 'the inheritance.'

Question

This is apropos of the name of BOOKER Prize winning book titled 'The Inheritence of Loss.' I am of firm opinion that this name is grammatically incorrect.

Will somebody confirm whether the name of this prize-winning book is grammatically incorrect or not as 'of loss' is an adjecive phrase qualifying the words 'The Inheritance'? The word as it is now, 'The inheritance of Loss' means that 'the inheritence' belongs to 'the loss'.(loss's inheritance) It sound rather awkward. Pl advise and confirm.

Answer 1

"The inheritance of X" is perfectly grammatical. Your problem seems to be the use of the word "loss" in the title.

You would do better to rephrase your question as to why you are uncomfortable with the lexical choice of the author. At worst, this is simply ambiguous word choice.

Answer 2

This is not grammatically incorrect. English has two ways to mark possession: the -'s form in the determiner slot before the noun and the of X form in a prepositional phrase slot after the noun. As a determiner, the possessive cannot cooccur with other determiners, such as demonstrative pronouns and articles (which refer to the main noun), thus: Loss's inheritance, like John's inheritance, but NOT *The John's inheritance or *That John's inheritance (where "that" refers to "inheritance"). As a prepositional phrase, it occurs in the same slot with any other prepositional phrase that is functioning as an adjective, thus, The dog in the barn, The dog with the bone, The day after tomorrow, The west end of town, etc. There is nothing at all ungrammatical or unusual about the phrase "The inheritance of loss". Compare other very common phrases of this type: "The pain of death", "The agony of defeat", etc.