Gene Wolfe's "Book Of The New Sun"
Brian Davies
time. Thoughts and notes...
Did anyone else read this line as a tribute to Jack Vance: "But in time
I tired of those puerile ideas, and began in their place to think of
societies and ways of thought wholly different from our own ... worlds
where there was no currency but honor, so that everyone worked in order
that he might be entitled to associate himself with some man or woman who
had saved the community ..." (Sword & Citadel, p. 71 Orb edition)
My favorite quote: "There is no limit to stupidity. Space itself is
said to be bounded by its own curvature, but stupidity continues beyond
infinity." (Sword & Citadel, p. 327 Orb edition)
And now for the reason this post is so damn long. :) Early on in the
book, I found myself writing down all the words I didn't know and looking
them up at the end of each chapter. I figured doing my note-taking on
computer would allow me to share the results. So here is a first pass at
a Wolfe lexicon. (I know of Wolfe's essay in Castle Of Days, which only
covers the vocabulary in the first book, and of Lexicon Urthus, which
costs $40 -- I figured there might be a niche for a free compendium
covering all four books, albeit shallowly.) Definitions are synopses and
paraphrases of entries from Webster's New Universal Unabridged
Dictionary. This will be up at my web page soon:
http://www.ils.nwu.edu/~davies/
For a number of words, I found something close in spelling, which may or
may not be right in terms of meaning -- I was just writing down spellings,
not contexts, so I can't go back and check. I'm also not 100% confident
in my spellings in my notes, so I'm worried that some of the things I
couldn't find definitions for aren't really in the book as I've
transcribed them. This is really a first draft. In order to get this
really polished, I'd need someone to give it a spin. If you decide to
reread The Book and want to be a Glossary Beta Tester, let me know. :)
Suggestions and comments would be appreciated. I'd love to fill in gaps,
identify cases where I've got the wrong word or the wrong definition of
the right word. And I'm already convinced that organizing this by book
stinks.
Later in the series, I started noticing the patterns of South American and
prehistoric animals, Greek government and military organization, etc. and
started writing down words that fit the pattern even if I knew them,
looking toward a potential bestiary or some such. I also wrote down words
that were too cool to not include, even if I knew them.
Despite Wolfe's claims, I'm almost convinced he made up the following --
can anybody give a source for these:
avern - the deadly plant used as a weapon
notule - the black clothlike creatures
alzabo - the red beast that ingests memory
And I've numbered all of his synonyms for prostitute -- there are enough
of them that it got amusing, not to mention hard to keep track... :)
THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN VOCABULARY
SHADOW
agouti - a rodent similar to the guinea pig found in the West Indies and
Central America
amschaspand -
anacreonic - "anacreonTic" is relating to a Greek poet known for delicate
and graceful odes
anacrisis - (anacrusis: A syllable at the beginning of a verse before the
just rhythm)
anchorite - a religous hermit or recluse
architrage -
archon - a ruler or magistrate
arctother -
argent - like silver
armiger - a person with a coat of arms, ranking just below a knight
atroxes - (also in Claw)
badelaire -
baldric - an ornamented belt or necklace
balmacaan - a loose overcoat
bartizan - a small overhanging turret on a wall or parapet
beryls - a class of mineral that includes emerald and aquamarine
bosquet - a grove or small thicket
braquemar -
burginot - "burgonet" is a light helmet (did I mistype?)
cabochon - a gem cut with a smooth surface instead of facets
cacogens - "cacogenic" is dysgenics (hereditary deterioration, opp. eugenics)
caique - a small skiff or rowboat
camisians - (???-can't read my notes--did I spell this right)
cangue - a wooden collar worn by prisoners
canuscate -
capote - a long coarse cloak
caracara - a tropical carrion bird similar to a vulture
carillon - a set of bells with a mallet mechanism
carnifex - an executioner
carrack - a galleon
casern - barracks for a garrison
cataphract - a piece of armor made from cloth or leather with metal scales
or rings
chalcedony - a class of quartz that includes onyx and agate
chatelaine - the lady of a castle
chiliarch - a commander of a thousand men in ancient Greece
chrism - consecrated oil
columbine - a flower in the crowfoot family
cordwain - soft leather made from sheepskin or horsehide
coryphee - the lead dancer in a ballet
cymar - a chemise (a woman's undergarment resembling a short slip)
cynocephalous - dog-headed
deeses - "dees" is obsolete for both dice and dais
delectation - great pleasure or delight
destriers - an archaic word for war horse
dhole - a wild mountain dog native to southeast Asia
dhow - a single-masted Middle Eastern ship with sharp prow and raised stern
dolman - a long Turkish robe
doxie - "doxy/doxies" is/are a slang term for a loose woman or prostitute (#1)
dray - a low cart with removable sides
eidolon - a phantom or apparition
embrasure - an opening in a wall or parapet for a cannon
ephor - a magistrate
epopt - initiate into Eleusinian mysteries (the secret rites to Demeter &
Persephone)
estrapade - the act of a horse rearing and kicking to dismount its rider
execration - a cursing
fiacre - a small carriage for hire
fibula - a buckle or clasp on a garment
figurante - the feminine form of figurant: a minor character in a ballet
flambeaux - plural of flambeau: a flaming torch
fricatrice - an obsolete word for a harlot
fulgurator - "to fulgurate" is to give off sparks or lightening
fuligin - the color of soot
gallipot - a small glazed earthenware pot used for medicine
garos - "garous" is of or resembling garum, a fish sauce (mistype?)
gnomon - the central pin on a sundial
gowdalie -
graisle -
herperorn -
hierophant - priest presiding over epopts, or generally a interpreter of
ancient myseries
hypostases - plural of hypostasis: settling of blood in lower part of body
or the underlying philosophical principle
ingenue - an innocent or unworldly woman
inutile - unprofitable or useless
jelab - (also in Sword)
kafila - same as caffila: a caravan of camels
khabits -
kheters or khetens - (can't read my notes -- neither is listed)
lambrequin - an ornamental scarf over a helmet or doorframe
lansquenet - a German mercenary footsoldier
lazaret - a public hospital for lepers or other contagious indigents
lechwes -
leman - an archaic word for mistress
limers -
linnet - a songbird whose plumage changes color with the seasons
lochage - an officer commanding a company in ancient Greece
martello - a circular stone fort or tower, usually on the coast
matelasse - having a quilted or raised design
matross - an assistant who helps load and clean an artillary piece
merychip - (maybe "merycism", which is rumination or chewing ones' cud)
misericorde - a relaxation or strict rules, or a slender dagger used for
giving the death stroke
monomachy - a duel
mountebank - a vendor of quack medicines
nenuphar - a large white European water lilly
nidorous - resembling the smell or taste of roasted meat
nigrescent - becoming blacker
oblesque -
omophage - an eater of raw flesh
optimate - an aristocrat
oreodont - relating to genus Oreodon: an extinct mammal with attributes of
camels & pigs
orichalk - usually "orichalc" or "orichalch": a mixed metal with a golden color
origlamme -
ostler - a hostler: a stableman
paduasoy - a corded silk cloth from the 18th century
palatinates - "palatine" is an office of an imperial palace
palfreniers - "palfrey" is an archaic term for a small riding horse
pampas - the treeless plains of South America
pandour - a brutal soldier, after a brand of 18th century Croats
pantocrator - (panto=every; pantisocracy=utopian community based on equal
status crat= participant in or supporter of)
paphian - a prostitute, after residents of Paphos, sacred city of Venus on
Cyprus (#2)
paracoita - maybe "paracotoin", a cystalline substance from a South
American tree used to treat diarrhea
pardine - spotted like a pard: an archaic term for panther
peccary - a South American mammal resembling a hog
pelagic - of the surface of the open ocean
peltast - a soldier with a light shield in ancient Greece
penurious - miserly
persuivant -
pinion - a wing feather, among a host of other definitions
portreeve - the chief magistrate of a borough or town
propinquity - nearness, in time, place, relationship or tempermant
proscenium - the stage in an ancient Greek theater
psychopomp - a guide for departed souls
punk - tinder, or an obsolete word for prostitute, hoodlum, male
homosexual or catamite (#3)
quadrille - a French square dance
rebec - a stringed instrument similar to a violin
refulgent - brilliant or radiant
renascent - being reborn
rood - a crucifix
sabretache - a square leather pouch worn on a saber belt
salubrious - promoting good health
simar - also cimar, cymar: a woman's light robe
simple - a medicine derived from an herb
soubrette - a character in a play who is a young female servant involved
in intrigue
specula - plural of speculum, a mirror made of polished metal
stridulation - making a chirping noise by rubbing body parts together like
an insect
sumpter - a pack horse or mule
surtout - a man's long overcoat
teratornis - (also in Citadel)
thalamegii - (every entry beginning with thalam- refers to the base of the
brain)
tholus - any round building that ends in a point
thurible - a censer: a container for burning incense
thyacine -
thylacodon - "Thylacinus" is a genus of carnivorous mammals including the
Tasmanian Devil
tow - a part of a flax or hemp plant
uakari, also ouakari: a bald South American monkey
ulhan - a Polish or German mounted soldier armed with a lance
vitiated - made defective, corrupted or invalidated
vulpine - like a fox
wain - an archaic word for a wagon or cart
wildgrave - the head forest keeper
xenagie -
CLAW
Abraxas - a word of power representing 365, atop the gnostic hierarchy
achico -
adjure - to command or entreat
aelurodons -
agamite - (agami is a wading bird; agamist is obsolete word for one who
advocates celibacy)
alcalde - a magistrate or judge in a Spanish speaking country
alfange -
algophilist - (presumably opposite algophobic, one with abnormal fear of pain)
alouatte - a South American howling monkey
amaranthine - like the amatanth flower, which poets thought would never fade
analeptic - a restorative medicine
arbalest - a crossbow with a crank and trigger
argosy - a large merchant ship or fleet
ashlar - a square hewn stone
athame -
autochthon - a native; aborigine
baluchither - (Baluchi is a native of Baluchistan; is there a baluchitherium?)
balustrade - an architechtural enclosure made of a row of short posts
supporting a rail
belvedere - a top floor of a building open to the air with a view
berdiches -
berylline - colored like a beryl; light green or bluish green
biggin - a child's bonnet
bijoux - a jewel or trinket
bole - an opening in a wall to let in light or air, also a tree trunk
brachet - a small brach: an archaic word for a female hound
brigandine - a piece of armor made from jointed scales of plate fastened
to leather or cloth
calotte - a small brimless cap
caloyer - an Eastern Orthodox monk
canpanile -
cariole - a small carriage or cart
carnelian - a reddish variety of chalcedony, often used for seals
carronade - a short, wide-bored cannon carried on the upper decks of ships
cenobyte - (probably cenobite: the opposite of anchorite: a member of a
religious order in a convent or monastery)
cenotaph - an empty tomb used as a monument
cerbotana -
chaffer - an obsolete word for merchandise
chiliad - a group of one thousand, especially 1000 years
claret - resembling claret: a purplish-red wine
clarion - a type of trumpet
claviger - a person who keeps the keys to a place
clepsydra - a water clock
clerestory - a high church wall containing windows; clearstory
coping - a sloping cover of a wall
cultellarii - (also in Sword)
Cumaean - relating to Cumae, a famous sibyl: a prophetess or oracle
cyclopean - gigantic, on the scale of a cyclops
dandle - to bounce a child up and down; to treat like a child; to delay
decolletage - a neckline of a dress that leaves the neck and shoulders bare
eremite - a hermit or religous recluse
Erinys - one of the Greek furies
eschatology - a branch of theology dealing with death, judgment or immortality
espalier - a trellis used to keep plants growing flat
faille - a ribbed, plainly woven fabric
fastness - a stronghold or fortress
gnostic - wise or knowing
gosport -
gramary - an obsolete word for learning or wizardry
hanger - a hangman
hastarii -
heliotrope - (noun=sunflower; adj=reddish-purple)
helot - a serf or slave in ancient Sparta
heterae - (hetero- is different)
hierodule - a temple slave in ancient Greece
hillock - a small hill
howdah - a canopied seat on the back of an elephant or camel
hyla - a tree frog
hypethral -
importations - opposite of exportations; an obsolete word for a conveyance
indanthrene -
jacinth - a reddish-orange variety of zircon, or the specific color
jennet - a small Spanish horse, or a female donkey
lammergeir - the bearded vulture, the largest bird of prey in Europe
lassitude - weariness or languor
lazulite - a glassy blue mineral
lenitive - a medicine for soothing pain
lictor - a Roman official responsible for attending the magistrate and
apprehending and punishing criminals
llanero - an inhabitant of the llanos: the treeless plains in the north of
South America
maté - a type of South American holly plant used for tea
megathere - an extinct form of giant sloth
meretrices - (meretricious is like a prostitute; or attractive through
false charms #5)
meretrix - (presumably singular of above)
merychip -
mummer - an actor wearing a mask or disguise
naviscaput - (navicula is a small boat?)
newel - the pillar in the middle of a spiral staircase
noctilucent - shining by night
notules -
noyade - a drowing, specifically a political prisoner, after the French
tactic during the Reign of Terror
odalisque - a concubine in a Turkish harem (#6)
oread - a mountain nymph
organza - a thin cotton material
orpiment - a bright yellow arsenic compound used in paint
ossifrage - an osprey or a lammergeier
pauldron - a shoulder plate in a suit of armor
pawl - a ratchet
penetralia - the innermost parts of a palace or temple
perspicacity - transparency or translucency, also used to describe clear
language
petasos - a flat, broad-brimmet hat worn in ancient Greece
philomath - a lover of learning
phororhacos -
piletes -
piquenaires -
pomander - a good luck charm made of a ball of perfumes
praetorian - the bodyguard of a Roman commander or emperor
quay - a wharf
quercine -
raddled - (a raddle is a cudgel; to raddle is to interweave; raddle is a
red-ocher pigment)
rick - a stack of hay, straw or firewood
rowan - a European mountain ash tree
sagacious - shrewd or perceptive
salver - a tray used for presentation; a user of salves; a salvager
seneschal -
septentuions - (maybe "septentrion", an obsolete word for the northern regions)
sere - (noun=series of changes; adj=dried up or withered)
spadene -
spadroon - a broadsword
spahi - a Turkish cavalryman
spelaeae - (spelaean = of or pertaining to caves)
sward - pork rind; the top layer of soil containing roots
teratoid - monsterous
teratornis -
thew - an obsolete word for customs or habits
thiasus - an organization with a patron diety in ancient Greece
threnodic - like a threnody: a dirge
tribade - (tribadism = Lesbianism)
trumeau - a pillar supporting the arch of a door or opening
trumpery - anything designed to decieve by being showy but worthless
tyrian - relating to the city of Tyre, known for its purple dye made from
mollusks
undine - a female water spirit
upanga -
vasculum - a sea squirt; a metal case for botanical specimens
verdure - green growing plants
vingtner - (vintner is a wine merchant)
windlass - a winch
SWORD
abacination - a medieval method of blinding
ablegates - a high ranking papal envoy or diplomat
acosmist - one who believes that there is no universe distinct from God
altantes -
Amphisbaena - a serpent in Greek mythology with a head at each end
amphitryons - Amphitryon was a king of Thebes in Greek mythology
analept - an analeptic is a restorative medicine
anthroposophic - anthroposophy is the study of the nature of man
ashlars - a hewn stone used for building, or something made from such stone
assay - a test or analysis, especially in metallurgy
astara -
aubade - morning music, as opposed to serenade
barbican - a fortified gate house at the entrance to a city
barghest - a doglike goblin whose appearance is a bad omen
bothy - a small wooden hut used by farm servants
caldarium - the bath room in a Roman spa
cantilenta -
caravel - a fifteenth century sailing ship from Spain or Portugal
carcanets - an ornamental necklace or collar
catachonian -
catamite - a boy used in pederasty
cataract - a large waterfall
cavy - a short-tailed South American rodent in the guinea pig family
celure -
cerise - cherry red
chatoyant - having a color that shifts, or a stone like a cat's eye with
that property
cincture - an encircling
circulet - an obsolete spelling of circlet, a small circle or jewelry with
that shape
claves - (claive is archaic past tense of cleave?)
cockloft - the upper room in a house
conventual - like a convent or a member of a convent
corundum - aluminum oxide (Al2 O3) whose forms include dark grains, but
also ruby, sapphire, amethyst and topaz
Coryphodon - an extinct genus between elephants and tapirs
crotal - (crotalum is a castanet used by ancient Egyptians and Greeks)
cubicula - plural of cubiculum, a burial chamber
cuvee -
declivity - a downhill slope
decoction - boiling something to extract its flavor, or the liquid
resulting from that
decollation - decapitation
deodand - an object that caused a death that must be forfeit and used in a
religious rite
desiccate - to completely dry out
diadem - a crown or other headwear indicating royalty
dimarchi - (appendix: soldiers who fight two ways)
domino - a garment including a mask worn at masquerades
eisegesistic - (eisegesis is reading of a text that improperly includes
the speaker's own opinions; opposite of exegesis)
enchors - (enchorial is native to a particular country)
entheal - an obsolete word meaning inspired by God
estafette - a courier on a horse
estoc - a short sword worn by mounted soldiers
ethnarch - governor of a province or ethnic group
exarch - governor of an outlying province in the Byzantine empire
famula - famulus (plural famuli) is a medieval scholar/magician's assistant
fantassins -
felucca - a type of small narrow boat with both sails and oars
fourragere - a shoulder cord awarded to an entire military unit for
bravery in action
galleass - a galley with three masts and cannons on both sides
gegenschein - (gegen is against in German)
gonfalon - a banner that hangs down from a crossbar on its pole
guanaco - a wooly, reddish-brown humpless member of the camel family from
the Andes
gymnosophist - a nudist, after an ancient sect of nude Hindu ascetics
gyve - a shackle worn on the legs
harena -
hawser - a steel rope or cable used to tow and anchor ships
hellebore - (Helleborus is a genus of perennial herbs that bloom in winter)
hetman - a Polish military commander (plural hetmans)
hieromonach - a combination monk/priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church
hove - either past tense of heave, or obsolete word for to rise or swell
huanaco -
hydragyrum - mercury (atomic symbol Hg)
imposture - fraud or deception perpetrated by an imposter
incommensurable - having no common ground for comparison
inculcate - to teach through urgent repetition
isochronon - a clock that keeps perfect time
kaberu -
kine - archaic plural of cow
liana - any tropical climbing vine
lipsanotheca -
logos - the principle of reason (?)
lucis -
magus - singular of magi
masque - synonmyn of masquerade
merlons - the solid part of a parapet between embrasures
micromorph - (literaly small shape; bacteria?)
midinette -
moiraic - like a moire, silk with a water pattern
monial -
monstrance - a container for the consecrated host in a Catholic communion
montane - mountainous
nacre - mother of pearl
necropolis - a cemetary
odeum - an ancient Greek or Roman roofer theater
oneiric - (prefix oneiro- means regarding dreams)
ordure - feces
oubliette - a hidden dungeon with only a trap door
pachos - (again in Citadel)
palatinate - territory ruled autonomously by a medieval vassal
pardal - (pard is an archaic word for leopard)
pele - (book refers to pele towers, again in Citadel)
pelerine - a style of woman's fur cape
pentad - five, a group of five, or a five year period
peridot - a yellowish green gemstone
perischii - (periscii are the inhabitants of the polar circles -- did I
mistype?)
peryton -
phantasmagoria - optical illusion where objects change size or shape,
separate and merge
philonorists -
phoebad - (possibly relating to Pheobe, the Greek name for Diana, goddess
of the moon?)
planteration -
plastron - a metal breastplate worn under chain mail
plebian - a commoner, the opposite of patrician in ancient Rome
postulant - a candidate for admission into a religious order
promontory - a high point on land that looks out over a body of water
pseudothyrums - (nothing under thyrum, either)
puerile - immature or childish
pug - an obsolete word for goblin
pyx - synonym for monstrance
quillion - (used in reference to a pommel)
remonstrate - to protest or object
remontados -
revenant - one who returns after a long absense, or a ghost
revery - same as reverie: daydreaming or imagining
rhapsodist - a professional reciter of epic poems in ancient Greece
ridotto - a social occasion, often in masquerade
rosolio - a sweet cordial made from raisins
sabarcane - (possibly sabre + cane?)
sanbenito - the yellow smock of a confessed and penitent heretic
sangaree - diluted wine with sugar, spices and ice
sclera - a white membrane covering part of the eye
scud - to run, glide, or skim over
sepulcher - a grave or burial vault
serried - crowded, or in tight formation
shrive - ar archaic word for hearing confession and granting absolution
sikinnis -
skewbald - something white with irregular markings of another color
sobriquet - a nickname
sommeleir -
sophistry - false reasoning
soporific - of or regarding sleep, or something that causes sleep
spall - to break rocks
spathae - (spathe is a leaf that surrounds a flower)
spillway - a channel used to contain overflow
spoor - the footprints of an animal
starost - a Polish nobleman
stevedore - one who loads and unloads cargo from ships
tang - part of an object used to fasten it to a handle
tarns - a small mountain lake
theogeny - (theogony is the origin stories of the gods, also in Citadel)
theurgy - supernatural intervention
thodicy - (also in Citadel)
vacals -
verdescence - (greenery)
vinculum - a bond or tie
viscid - synonym for viscous
vivarium - an enclosed natural habitat for wildlife
vivimancer - (literally "life magician")
vizard - synonym for visor
weir - a dam across a stream, often used to power a mill
winnow - (used in weird context -- first def is removing chaff from grain)
xebec - a small boat with three masts, square sails, and an overhanging
bow and stern
ylespil - (also in Citadel)
yurts -
zoanthrop - sufferer of zoanthropy, a mental illness where a man believes
himself an animal
CITADEL
acaryas
acosmist - those who believe there is no universe distinct from God
alraunes -
anpiels -
antepilani -
apeiron -
aquastores or aquastors
arcione -
arquebus - a rifle supported on a hooked staff during firing
arras - a tapestry
arsinoither -
arum - a genus of flowers with hoodlike leaves
atelier - a studio or workshop
atlantes - sculpted figures used as pillars; the male version of caryatides
bacele -
baculus - (bacule is a mechanical device like a seesaw; baculine is
relating to rods)
barbican - a fortified gate leading into a city
barbute - (barbule?)
basilosaur -
bathos - a trite, overdone or anticlimactic sentiment
beetling - jutting out or prominent
binnacle -
bombard - a short, wide early cannon
bullock - a young bull
calambac - a soft, aromatic wood, often burnt as perfume
calottes - plural of calotte, a skullcap
caloyer - an Eastern Orthodox monk
caparison - an ornamental covering laid over a saddle
caponized - castrated, said of a bird
capot - winning all the tricks in cards; capote is a long coarse cloak
caracarn - "caracara" is a bird like a vulture
casement - a window that opens outward
castellan - the governor or constable of a castle
catamite - (found in Sword)
catenary - relating to a chain, an inverse parabola
cenobyte - a cenoby is a monastery
cerbotanas -
cerise - (in Sword)
chechia -
cherkajis -
cincture - an encircling, a belt
clava - the blunt end of an insect's antenna
coati - a south American mammal resembling a racoon
condottiere - the captain of a group of adventurers
coneys - a cony is a rabbit or similar animal
contarii -
conti/contus - a conte is a short story
cornet - the white headdress of a Sister, or a flag
corslets - corselet is medieval armor
corundum - (in Sword)
coruscant - flashing or glittering
coryphaeus - the leader of a Greek chorus
cothurni - a cothurnus is a high boot worn by Roman actors
coti -
coutel - coutil is a heavy cotton cloth
craquemarte -
crupper - the rear end of a horse
cucurbit - a gourd-shaped vessel used in distilling
culverins - a culverin is an ancient musket or long cannon
curtelaxes -
damassin - a fabric with raised designs and gold and silver in the weave
declivity - (in Sword)
decoctions - (in Sword)
delator - an accuser or informer
demilune - a crescent
diadem - a crown
dilatory - causing a delay to gain time
empyrean - made of pure fire or light
estafette - a courier on horseback
estoc - (in Sword)
evzones -
exigency - urgency
falchion - a short, broad, curved sword
fantassins -
fennec - a small, long-eared African fox
fusil - a light musket, or a diamond figure in heraldry
gallant - a paramour
garret - a chip of stone
graisle -
hastarus -
haubergeon - ring mail covering the neck and cheast
hauberk - a coat of ring mail
hawsers - (in Sword)
heliotrope - a sunflower
hellebore - (in Sword)
heptarch - one of seven governors
hipparch - a cavalry commander in ancient Greece
hobilers -
hoplite - a footsoldier in ancient Greece
huzzar - presumably the same as hussar, a light calvaryman
hydragyrum - (in Sword)
ile - obsolete spelling of aisle
inculcate - (in Sword)
interment - burial
isochronon - (in Sword)
jazerant -
jezails -
jupe - same as jupon, a sleeveless knee-length garment worn with armor
korseke - (from context, a weapon of some sort)
lancegay - an iron-tipped javelin
lanyard - nautical term for a short rope
lazaret - (in Shadow)
lipsanotheca - (in Sword)
mandragora - the genus of nightshade
maniple - a third of a cohort in a Roman legion
marge - archaic spelling of margin
mastiff - a type of large dog used for hunting or as a watchdog
merlon - the solid part of a battlement between embrasures
meschiane -
mimalone -
mora - inexcusable delay worthy of legal action
myrmidon - a loyal follower who acts without questions or hesitation
naiad - a water nymph
narthex - part of a church for the penitent
nightjar - the European goatsucker
nocturne - a painting or musical work evocative of night
ocelot - a large South American cat
odeum - (in Sword)
oneiric - (in Sword)
onyger -
orphicleide - (orphic is like Orpheys, entrancing, oracular)
orpiment - (in Claw)
palanquin - an Oriental covered carriage carried on poles
peri's - (a peri is a Persian fairy)
phenocod -
pilani -
platybelodon - (platy means flat; obviously some extinct creature)
poniard - a small dagger
pont -
preternatural - supernatural
pteriopes - (pteridology is the study of ferns)
ransieur -
sacars -
samru - (ship name)
sanguine - the color of blood, cheerful and warm
sannyasin -
schiavoni -
seraph - the highest form of angel
smilodon - the extinct sabretoothed tiger
stephane - an ancient Greek ornamenal headdress
stropped - sharpened on a strop, a strip of leather
sutler - a food or liquor merchant who follows an army
tarantella - a fast, spinning Italian dance for couples
thaumaturgy - magic
theologoumenon - (theologue is a theologian)
trilhoen -
trilophodons -
unitather -
variegated - having streaks or spots of different colors
voulges
Avram Grumer
dav...@ils.nwu.edu (Brian Davies) wrote:
> Despite Wolfe's claims, I'm almost convinced he made up the
> following -- can anybody give a source for these:
>
> avern - the deadly plant used as a weapon
> notule - the black clothlike creatures
> alzabo - the red beast that ingests memory
I've been told that "alzabo" is an Arabic word for the hyena, the animal
that laughs with a human voice.
--
Avram Grumer | av...@bigfoot.com | http://www.bigfoot.com/~avram/
If music be the food of love, then some of it be the Twinkies of
dysfunctional relationships.
Thomas Bagwell
> So, I recently finished reading The Book Of The New Sun for the
first
>time. Thoughts and notes...
Interesting list. Saved it for the next time I read the books. I
will recommend this...read the series again. More than anything else
I've ever read, I catch new things every time I read it. This is one
of the things that keeps it at the top of my list of all-time
favorites.
Have you read 'Urth of the New Sun' yet? It's really the 5th book in
the series. Of course, then you have the Books of the Long Sun, set
it the same universe, but a very different setting. Great reading.
Tom B.
Lawrence Person
> So, I recently finished reading The Book Of The New Sun for the first
> time. Thoughts and notes...
>
> Despite Wolfe's claims, I'm almost convinced he made up the following --
> can anybody give a source for these:
>
> avern - the deadly plant used as a weapon
According to Michael Andre-Driussi's aformention Lexicon Urthus, it was
named after "Avernus ("the birdless lake" near Puteoli, said to be an
enterenace to the infernal regions [in mythology]"
> alzabo - the red beast that ingests memory
LU notes this as "an archaic transliteration of "al-dhi'b," meaning wolf,
jackal, or a star in Canis."
BTW, you should take a look at the Urth mailing list (details at
http://www.moonmilk.com/urth/), and probably post it to the list as well.
They'd enjoy it.
I would use this as an opportunity to plug the Gene Wolfe issue of Nova
Express (including the interview where he talks about his debt to Vance,
and how the Whorl and Urth books will interact in the forthingcoming Short
Sun books), but I only have about ten good copies left...
--
Lawrence Person
lawr...@bga.com
New issue of Nova Express Now Available!
Nova Express Website: http://www.delphi.com/sflit/novaexpress/
Kirk McElhearn
book, or tell my why you liked it?
Kirk
William Clifford
_The Book of the New Sun_ is actually four books in a series. It's the
autobiography of Severian, a grim fellow from Earth so far into the
future that the sun is dying and that there are absolutely no
references to our time. In the epilogues the meta-story comes clear.
Our man Wolfe 'finds' this document from the future called _The Book
of the New Sun_ which he then 'translates' into English substituting
obscure and archaic words for animals and objects where there may or
may not be an analogous meaning. Neat gimmick really.
Oh yeah and the books are really good if tough to read at times. Lots
of puzzles to figure out since to Severian the Narrator everything
makes sense. At times whole scenes went by me because of Severian's
assumetions or some other untold complexity of the future. I assume
there are clues Wolfe cleverly placed that I missed.
It's not your average piece either. The tempo *never* vary from from
it's calm, even listless pace established at the beginning. Scenes of
great power and beauty are told in sort of a lackadaisical manner.
Very frustrating at times. I loved them. I hated them. By the time I
got through the fourth book I was glad I read them. I good workout for
the imagination. Tremendous ideas full of implication. They reward
patience (and in my case persistence) well. But they are not the
easiest things to read. I only got through them out of sheer
bloody-mindedness.
I have the fifth book _The Urth of the New Sun_ but I haven't read it.
I have _Endangered Species_, his collection of shorts which I have not
read all off but the five or six stories I have read have been very
good. I also have _The Fifth Head Of Cereberus_ which is a three lobed
novel I've only read the first, eponymous, part. That was very
similiar in mood. You may want to give that one a go first and if you
can deal with that style go on with the _Shadow of the Torturer_--the
first of the New Sun books.
In short, very stimulating but not 'fun.'
In my opinion, of course.
I posted reviews here of each of the books as I read them a while
back. They should turn up on Dejanews fairly easily. They're loaded
with spoilers though.
-William Clifford
Know your fields before replying by mail
Brian Davies
Thanks! If you do reread them, I'd love to know about any glitches, words
where I gave a definition other than the intended one, etc.
>I
>will recommend this...read the series again. More than anything else
>I've ever read, I catch new things every time I read it. This is one
>of the things that keeps it at the top of my list of all-time
>favorites.
>
>Have you read 'Urth of the New Sun' yet? It's really the 5th book in
>the series. Of course, then you have the Books of the Long Sun, set
>it the same universe, but a very different setting. Great reading.
I haven't read any of his other novels, just several of his shorts (Fifth
Head of Cerberus, Island Of Doctor Death, Counting Cats In Zanzibar, a
couple others). After the tetrology, I was too mentally exhausted to be
up for the 5th book. How is it? It seemed that at the end of the first
four, most of the threads had been concluded to my satisfaction. Does
Wolfe find enough to really keep the momentum up for another book?
- Brian
Douglas Muir
> time.
Congrats. It's well worth rereading; I've gone back to it three or four
times in 15 years.
> Did anyone else read this line as a tribute to Jack Vance:
[snip]
IIRC there are two or three plausible hommages to Vance, though I don't
remember which and where (hmmm... maybe time for another read-through).
Oh, and: Neil Gaiman does a (rather nice) hommage to _Shadow_ in "The
Sexton's Tale" in the _World's End_ volume of his Sandman books.
"Clients. We call them our clients..."
BTW, someone on this thread said that there were no references to our
time. Not quite true. The figure in strange armor on a rocky field is
Neil Armstrong, for instance.
> My favorite quote: "There is no limit to stupidity. Space itself is
> said to be bounded by its own curvature, but stupidity continues beyond
> infinity." (Sword & Citadel, p. 327 Orb edition)
Another literary reference, perhaps; "Against stupidity, the gods
themselves contend in vain" (Schiller).
> Suggestions and comments would be appreciated.
A few below.
> arctother -
Probably an archaic (19th cen.?) name for an extinct animal. From the
Greek _arctos_ (bear) and _theria_ (mammal, animal).
> argent - like silver
Silver or silvery colored.
> armiger - a person with a coat of arms, ranking just below a knight
> atroxes - (also in Claw)
Atrocious animals. There was a species of Pleistocene lion known as
_Felis atrox_
> carnifex - an executioner
lit. "one who makes meat". "-fex" and "-fice" are the Latin suffixes
indicating a profession or habitual action.
> cataphract - a piece of armor made from cloth or leather with metal scales
Also used to describe heavy cavalry who wore such armor
> herperorn -
I think you mean "hesperorn"? _Hesperornis_ was an extinct bird.
> limers -
Not sure of the context, but _limes_ in Latin were limits, boundaries.
Alternately, might be someone who set out sticky lime to catch birds.
> merychip - (maybe "merycism", which is rumination or chewing ones' cud)
No, it's short for _merychippus_, an extinct horse that was (IIRC) about
the size of a donkey. The "mery" root likely meant chewing or
rumination, as you describe.
> origlamme -
Are you sure this isn't "oriflamme", a type of flag?
> paracoita - maybe "paracotoin", a cystalline substance from a South
Sex doll. From _para_, false or similar, and _coita_, that with which
one copulates.
> persuivant -
Mm, that's a heraldic term. Check "pursuivant".
> simple - a medicine derived from an herb
Or, herbs tied together in bundles.
> aelurodons -
Some sort of animal. Greek _ailuros_, a cat, and _dontos_, teeth.
> baluchither - (Baluchi is a native of Baluchistan; is there a baluchitherium?)
Yes; it's a vary large (>>elephant) Oligocene herbivore; the first
fossil remnants were found in Baluchistan.
> canpanile -
Campanile is a bell tower.
> decolletage - a neckline of a dress that leaves the neck and shoulders bare
Or, the shoulders and upper bosom (collarbones and a bit further) of a
woman.
> hierodule - a temple slave in ancient Greece
lit. "holy slave".
> phororhacos -
Another extinct animal; large carnivorous bird, native to S. America
until the Pliocene.
> raddled - (a raddle is a cudgel; to raddle is to interweave; raddle is a
> red-ocher pigment)
Spotted, as with the pustules or chancres of a disease.
> seneschal -
One who administers a castle in the absence of the feudal lord. Sir Kay
was Arthur's seneschal.
> teratoid - monsterous
> teratornis -
The name says it all; monster bird. Another extinct animal.
> thew - an obsolete word for customs or habits
Or tendons and muscles. "Mighty thews rippling, the barbarian
leaped..."
> tribade - (tribadism = Lesbianism)
Right; nice archaic term for a gay female.
> gegenschein - (gegen is against in German)
German; lit. against-shining. May be an archaic term for gegenlicht,
which is light pouring around the back of something (as when someone
stands outlined against a rising or setting sun). I believe this may
also be an astronomical term.
> necropolis - a cemetary
A big one. Lit. "city of the dead"
> peryton -
Mythical heraldic animal, resembling a bird with the head of a stag
IIRC.
> sommeleir -
One who serves the wine, or who deals solely in wine.
> thodicy - (also in Citadel)
Are you sure this isn't "theodicy", the appearance of a God?
> yurts -
Mongol; circular tents made of animal hides.
> baculus - (bacule is a mechanical device like a seesaw; baculine is
> relating to rods)
A rod or stick.
> barbute - (barbule?)
Bearded. From the Latin _barbus_, a beard.
> basilosaur -
Archaic term for an extinct (Eocene) whale. The first basilosaur
fossils were mistakenly classified as dinosaur bones, hence the name.
It should have been a basilothere, of course.
"Basilos" is Greek for "king".
> catamite - (found in Sword)
Homosexual; specifically, the homosexual lover of someone who is more
powerful, or who is paying for the catamite. Roughly the gay equivalent
of "mistress".
> cornet - the white headdress of a Sister, or a flag
A junior officer.
> corundum - (in Sword)
A semi-precious gemstone (distinct from carborundum).
> declivity -
Slope.
> decoctions - (in Sword)
Potions made by distillation or purification. Compare "concoctions",
potions made by mixing.
> jezails -
Turkish; light cavalry IIRC.
> oneiric - (in Sword)
Of or relating to dreams.
> onyger -
Possibly _onager_, a type of wild ass, also a medieval siege engine.
> pont -
Bridge? Latin _pontus_, French _ponte_.
> schiavoni -
I _think_ those are mercenary soldiers.
> voulges
Medieval weapons, a type of polearm IIRC.
Cheers,
Doug M.
Thomas Bagwell
<1999032716...@pm3-35.creaweb.fr>...
>I have never read Gene Wolfe. Can you give me a brief review of the
>book, or tell my why you liked it?
I like the depth and complexity of the books. Wolfe could never be
accused of writing down to anybody. It's up to the reader to keep up.
I tried to read 'Shadow of the Torturer' two or three times, but was
unable to follow it well enough to get interested. Finally, one day,
I was looking for something to read and decided to try it again. I
stopped trying to consciously follow the plot and settled down to
enjoy Wolfe's writing style and marvelous descriptions. By reading
for the enjoyment of the prose, I found the plot falling into place.
I went on to read the remaining books, and couldn't understand why I
didn't 'get it' the first time. Since then, I've read the series
probably another 7 or 8 times, each time uncovering new
foreshadowings, references, implications, etc.
I recommend giving 'Shadow' a try. Enjoy the style and the ideas
presented. A particular passage comes to mind from the first
chapter...:
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us;
we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When
soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with
the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their
acceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life -- they
are soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the
management of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound
mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced
by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased
and superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has
faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that
things act of themselves or not at all."
Tom B.
Thomas Bagwell
(Fifth
>Head of Cerberus, Island Of Doctor Death, Counting Cats In Zanzibar,
a
>couple others). After the tetrology, I was too mentally exhausted to
be
>up for the 5th book. How is it? It seemed that at the end of the
first
>four, most of the threads had been concluded to my satisfaction.
Does
>Wolfe find enough to really keep the momentum up for another book?
Surprisingly enough, yes. It doesn't make the mistake of providing a
clearcut ending, either. The story is taken further, and further
issues resolved, but not in a way that removes the mystery.
The Books of the Long Sun are very similar in feel, although you
couldn't get a protaganist much different than Severian. The books
are more straightforward in plot and action, as well.
Actually...unless my memory is tricking me, the entire set of books
takes place over only a few days.
The upcoming Books of the Short Sun are supposed to continue the Long
Sun plotline, and provide certain tie-ins with the New Sun books.
Tom B.
Gryffyd
dav...@ils.nwu.edu (Brian Davies) wrote:
>>Have you read 'Urth of the New Sun' yet? It's really the 5th book in
>>the series.
<snip>
>I haven't read any of his other novels, just several of his shorts (Fifth
>Head of Cerberus, Island Of Doctor Death, Counting Cats In Zanzibar, a
>couple others). After the tetrology, I was too mentally exhausted to be
>up for the 5th book. How is it? It seemed that at the end of the first
>four, most of the threads had been concluded to my satisfaction. Does
>Wolfe find enough to really keep the momentum up for another book?
I read _Urth of the New Sun_ several months after I finished the
tetrology, so despite the fact that a lot of the prior detail was
present for me only on a lizard-brain level, it still struck me as a
very necessary addition. Perhaps I was similarly mentally fatigued,
because I before reading _Urth_, I didn't think there was anything to
add. I changed my mind after the opening chapters; there's a
different feel to it, in addition to the fact that it is definitely a
coda; it was much more claustrophobic and personal, being that it
generally did not retain have the peripatetic feel of the first four
books and concentrated on fewer characters. It very succesfully
avoids being a forced add-on. Plus it provided a context to the
*purpose* of the story, and I thought it really brought Severian's
relationshop with Urth into perspective, which I'd thought was lacking
previously.
Great Bog, now I want to go re-read the whole damned thing. And I've
only got two shelves of unread books to go through yet before I can
feel justified in rereading or acquiring new books. *And* I'm in the
middle of _Ulysses_.
Steve Davies
> So, I recently finished reading The Book Of The New Sun for the
first
> time. Thoughts and notes...
(long list of Gene Wolfe vocabulary snipped)
I was surprised at how many of the words you included were ones that I
consider to be current standard English. However, I think some could be
deliberately obscure spellings and so on. There's also a number of Latin
and other language words (I'm somewhat hampered by not having an Ancient
Greek dictionary to hand).
arctother - presumably from arctos, a bear and therion, a beast
aelurodons - ailurodon? (cat-toothed?)
antepilani - soldiers who fight in front of the pilani (spearmen), e.g.
the hastati and principes
binnacle - place where the compass is kept on a ship
baculus - a staff
braquemar - possibly braquemart, a cutlass?
canpanile - campanile, a bell-tower?
catachonian - ?catachthonian? subterranean
celure - canopy or hanging over a bed
craquemarte -craquement is to tell tall stories, so possibly a liar?
cultellarii - culter is a knife, so soldiers who use knives
curtelaxes - cutlass? (curtelace is a variant spelling)
cuvee - cask, often used as a synonym for vintage e.g. cuvee 1989
evzones - Greek soldiers (the ones who wear those white kilts)
fantassins - foot soldiers
gosport - only one I know is a place in England, near Portsmouth. Since
a gos is a hawk, it could mean hawk's port?
graisle - grail?
harena - sand (also desert or sea-shore)
hastarii - since hasta is a spear or javelin, a hastarius is presumably
one who throws a spear
heterae - hetaera (another synonym for prostitute!)
hobilers - a soldier who rides a hobby (a small horse)
huanaco - aka guanaco, a wild llama
jazerant - light armour with splints or plates rivetted to the lining
jezail - Afghan musket
limers - hounds (or people who limewash buildings, presumably not in
this case)
midinette - a shop-girl, especially a milliner's assistant
monial - a mullion (vertical bar in a window)
notules - things from the South?
onyger - ?onager? (a wild ass or a siege engine)
origlamme - possibly oriflamme, a standard?
pachos - pacos? An alpaca in Peru
persuivant - pursuivant? (an officer of the College of Arms, ranking
below a herald)
pilani - ones who are armed with a pilum (javelin)
piletes - pilleates? ones who wear felt caps (especially of freed
slaves)?
pont - bridge
pseudothyrum - a secret door
quercine - of, or pertaining to, oak trees
sannyasin - hindu ascetic, a wandering fakir
seneschal - senior servant, city govenor
sommeleir - sommelier? a wine waiter
spathae - more likely to be the broad two-edged swords
teratornis - (monstrous or marvellous bird?)
thodicy - theodicy? justifying the ways of god to men
yurts - mongolian hide tents
Steve Davies
Nancy Lebovitz
Thomas Bagwell <tnba...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>I tried to read 'Shadow of the Torturer' two or three times, but was
>unable to follow it well enough to get interested. Finally, one day,
>I was looking for something to read and decided to try it again. I
>stopped trying to consciously follow the plot and settled down to
>enjoy Wolfe's writing style and marvelous descriptions. By reading
>for the enjoyment of the prose, I found the plot falling into place.
Thanks for saying that--trying to read as though to pass a reading
comprehension test is probably the wrong approach.
Andrea Leistra
Douglas Muir <dougla...@yale.edu> wrote:
[Book of the New Sun]
>BTW, someone on this thread said that there were no references to our
>time. Not quite true. The figure in strange armor on a rocky field is
>Neil Armstrong, for instance.
Actually, IIRC, Armstrong was the one taking the pictures, which makes
the astronaut in the picture Buzz Aldrin.
>> gegenschein - (gegen is against in German)
>German; lit. against-shining. May be an archaic term for gegenlicht,
>which is light pouring around the back of something (as when someone
>stands outlined against a rising or setting sun). I believe this may
>also be an astronomical term.
Yup. The gegenschein is light scattered off of dust in the solar system,
seen at the anti-sun point. It's very faint; I've seen it once.
--
Andrea Leistra
Endymion9
>>>the series.
I've read it twice, read the first four books three times, but I don't
understand a lot of what actually happened in Urth. I rate it second most
confusing book, as to what is really going on, to Wolfe's Castleview. Both are
excellent, enjoyable reads but very mysterious. I even tried buying an
Encyclopedia of Arthurian Legends book but still am lost about much of what
happens in Castleview.
Urth..well I will read *any* story that Severian is in. He's my all time
favorite hero.
Dennis/Endy
Happiness is reading a good scifi book :)
Remove the nospam in my email address to email me
Samuel Paik
> >The figure in strange armor on a rocky field is
> >Neil Armstrong, for instance.
>
According to Henry Spencer, while Armstrong had the camera most
of the time, Aldrin did have the camera for part of the time and
took two or three pictures of Armstrong.
Sam Paik
Mark-Jason Dominus
Thomas Bagwell <tnba...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>I tried to read 'Shadow of the Torturer' two or three times, but was
>unable to follow it well enough to get interested. Finally, one day,
>I was looking for something to read and decided to try it again. I
>stopped trying to consciously follow the plot and settled down to
>enjoy Wolfe's writing style and marvelous descriptions. By reading
>for the enjoyment of the prose, I found the plot falling into place.
Something very similar happened to me. I tried to read it twice and
couldn't. Some time later I complained about it to my friend,
probably somebthing about not being able to follow the plot, and my
friend suggested that I view it not as a novel but as a catalog of
marvels. I did, and it was wonderful.
Matthew Malthouse
} >
} > So, I recently finished reading The Book Of The New Sun for the
} first
} > time. Thoughts and notes...
}
There are a couple or really good mailing lists, one for Urth and
another for Whorl at lists.best.com archive and info at:
http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/
http://www.moonmilk.com/urth/
and full of links and stuff:
http://world.std.com/~pduggan/wolf.html
And especially for words :) there's Michael Andre-Driussi's
"Lexicon Urthus" for which see:
http://world.std.com/~pduggan/lexicon.html
Matthew
--
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining
and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
-- Mark Twain
http://www.calmeilles.demon.co.uk
Brian Davies
figured I'd have to wait years for some of those answers. I've been
saving this entire thread, and will eventually add all the contributions
I've received, along with a long list of thank yous. ;)
- Brian
S Z Hanley
Campania whose poisonous effluvium could kill birds flying over it. Wolfe
seems to have rearranged the elements of this to make his Lake of Birds,
full of (semi-?)dead folk, with his alien flowers growing nearby.
(Didn't see this defined in the thread; apologies if redundant)
Anybody want to barrack the astronomical community into renaming black
holes 'fuliginous cavities'?
After gentle prompting from aliestra and ken macleod I looked up most of
the weird words from the first four books of the tetralogy. I never found
a definition for notule either, nor for planteration (which Severian
defines to the archon of Thrax but I wondered if it was a real method of
torture).
Obscure theory I have about Severian, for anybody to disagree with:
Borges short story 'Tlon Uqbar Orbis Tertius' mentions parenthetically a
proposed book in which the narrator-protagonist lies, cheats, deceives,
misleads and generally misrepresents everything to the reader, constructed
in such a way as to "permit the reader, very few readers, to perceive an
atrocious or banal reality" through the mistruths. Did Wolfe then write
this book, and call it The Book of the New Sun? It's just a half-theory I
have. The only supporting evidence is circumstantial, shaky and, like all
Wolfe's writing, prone to subjective interpretation and reinterpretation.
In _Shadow_ (I think) Severian at one point seriously considers whether he
is insane. I believe he could be. On multiple occasions (even more in
_Urth_) he reminds us of his eidetic recall, yet several times makes
excuses or fudges over misremembered events, unrecognized faces etc. I
know that he justifies this by talking about the difficulty of remembering
single events with such a full memory but it is also consistent with my
idea. Severian could in fact be a totally bonkers ideological or
religious saviour of a closer past or future to our present, whose
delusion turns the morally dark world into a literal one, who has
convinced himself that his visionary experiences drawn from multiple
mythologies are real, and who aims to bring enlightenment (a New Sun, in
his hallucinatory world) to us all. He is a Christ figure, drowning in
the sort of hallucination which Philip K.Dick once claimed to live in (the
one where he thought that it was 50 AD and the last 1900 or so years were
an illusion wrought on our minds by the devil).
This is just one interpretation of the events in Wolfe's books, and of
course a highly solipsistic and therefore probably unfalsifiable for all
the wrong reasons, one. Any thoughts or damning refutations?
--
Zac, currently reading Urth of the New Sun and enjoying it immensely
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"God's teeth, sirrah, beshrew me, but I'll put it to thee plain,
thy man's but a mewling, doddering old puppet of the military-industrial
complex" -- Peter Beagle, _The Folk Of The Air_
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Robert Sneddon
<S.Z.H...@durham.ac.uk> writes
>
>Anybody want to barrack the astronomical community into renaming black
>holes 'fuliginous cavities'?
In one of Terry Pratchett's earlier SF stories, he had a powerful alien
race try to destroy a supposedly-indestructible atrifact by dropping a
nigrocavernal matrix on it.
--
To reply by email, send to nojay (at) public (period) antipope (dot) org
Robert Sneddon
Matthew Malthouse
}
} Anybody want to barrack the astronomical community into renaming black
} holes 'fuliginous cavities'?
}
} the weird words from the first four books of the tetralogy. I never found
} a definition for notule either, nor for planteration (which Severian
} defines to the archon of Thrax but I wondered if it was a real method of
} torture).
Can't find a plausible notule either. There's notule in Italian which
is to annotate. Or Notus in the Latin dict - the south (or south west)
wind. Neither reall inspire...
Robert Borski
>Can't find a plausible notule either. There's notule in Italian which
>is to annotate. Or Notus in the Latin dict - the south (or south west)
>wind. Neither reall inspire...
Notule is based on noctule, a large red bat (Nyctalus noctula) common
to Eurasia (nottola=Italian for bat, owl; noctua=Latin for night owl).
Anyone intrigued by these various attempts at rendering sense of Gene
Wolfe's New Sun and the words therein is still recommended to purchase
Michael Andre-Driussi's fine LEXICON URTHUS, where most of these words
are defined--plus you also get breakdowns on the various characters,
placenames, a timetable or two and a bunch of short essays.
Robert Borski
CPars56235
>Anyone intrigued by these various attempts at rendering sense of Gene Wolfe's
New Sun and the words therein is still recommended to purchase Michael
Andre-Driussi's fine LEXICON URTHUS, where most of these words are
defined--plus you also get breakdowns on the various characters, placenames, a
timetable or two and a bunch of short essays.
>
>Robert Borski
On top of which there are numerous booklets (which Mr. Borski modestly omits
mentioning) -- Lexicon Urthus:
Additions, Errata, &cetera, vols I, II, and III (dang I'm
missing vol II), and "Synopsis of the Narrative of Severian
the Great, Last True Autarch of Urth," and 3 booklets
on the Long Sun Whorl (The Quick & Dirty Guide to The
Long Sun Whorl -- oop and you can't have mine).
Many convolutions, puzzles, delights, etc.
Charles
Robert Borski
>Can't find a plausible notule either. There's notule in Italian which
>is to annotate. Or Notus in the Latin dict - the south (or south west)
>wind. Neither reall inspire...
Notule is based on noctule, a large red bat (Nyctalus noctula) common
to Eurasia (nottola=Italian for bat, owl; noctua=Latin for night owl).
Anyone intrigued by these various attempts at rendering sense of Gene
Wolfe's New Sun and the words therein is still recommended to purchase
Michael Andre-Driussi's fine LEXICON URTHUS, where most of these words
are defined--plus you also get breakdowns on the various characters,
placenames, a timetable or two and a bunch of short essays. In other
words it's an embarassment of riches and well worth the $40.00.
Robert Borski
rbo...@coredcs.com
William Clifford
wrote:
>Obscure theory I have about Severian, for anybody to disagree with:
>Borges short story 'Tlon Uqbar Orbis Tertius' mentions parenthetically a
>proposed book in which the narrator-protagonist lies, cheats, deceives,
>misleads and generally misrepresents everything to the reader, constructed
>in such a way as to "permit the reader, very few readers, to perceive an
>atrocious or banal reality" through the mistruths. Did Wolfe then write
>this book, and call it The Book of the New Sun? It's just a half-theory I
>have. The only supporting evidence is circumstantial, shaky and, like all
>Wolfe's writing, prone to subjective interpretation and reinterpretation.
>In _Shadow_ (I think) Severian at one point seriously considers whether he
>is insane. I believe he could be.
What a daring interpretation! How fun. I may even have to reread the
series now. I think this might be a viable theory up until _Citadel of
the Autarch_ which seems to play much straighter than the first three.
But in Shadow you have the apparent story of his upbringing in the
tower which is a hallucination intruded upon by Agia and Vodalus and a
few others. Then you Severian in exile (imprisoned?!) and we meet a
new cast of persons who intrude Doctor Talos, Baldlanders, Dorcas,
Jonas, Jolenta, the peripheral and urgent appearences of the Undines
seem significant. I don't know exactly how I would proceed in this
interpretation. Supposing the novel is the raving hallucination of a
madman seems to make the books too insubstantial. Unlike, say, _Naked
Lunch_ which is the raving hallucinations of a madman.
Candy Christian
Clifford) wrote:
The idea presented in Borges' "T,U,OT" is not to write a book from the
standpoint of a raving lunatic (at least that is my take on it). I
assumed Borges was speaking of a book written from the standpoint of a
human being that sees things in a specific and biased manner (peculiar to
that person's goals as well as his/her beliefs about the reader). The
lies would be systematic and would make sense given a particular goal and
personality of the narrarator. As long as the lies & the hallucinations
are somewhat systematic, the reader could learn about the world the
narrarator inhabits (as long as the reader understands the personality of
the narrorator) as well as the the personality of the narrarator as well
as the the fictitious world the narrorator has sought to build. In this
way, such a novel would be more substantial than a more traditional
novel.
Is Wolfe's _BOTNS_ such a novel? To a certain extent, I would say "yes."
Real people don't remember the truth, they remember some biased and unique
story that makes sense to them [e.g., look at Loftus' and Zaragoza's
research on courtroom eye-witness testimony]. Any author who is sensitive
to how humans really remember and recall information might apply that
knowledge to a book written from the standpoint of a
narrarator/character. Not only might _BOTNS_ reflect some of the ideas
from the Borges' quote, but there are problably dozens (hundreds,
thousands?) other books out there that are written from the standpoint of
a narrarator/character who sees things as other than would they
objectively are.
I never assumed that Severian was telling the objective truth. OTOH I did
assume that he was not prone to exceptionally complex auditory and visual
hallucinations and that he did not have a desire to lie on a grand scale.
Maybe I assumed to much.
As far as _Naked Lunch_ goes, I thought it was the ravings of an
incredibly sane man in an insane world, not the raving hallucinations of a
madman. :)
ralphus
---------------------------------------
my anti-spam e-mail -> barne...@osu.edu
David Eppstein
> Supposing the novel is the raving hallucination of a
> madman seems to make the books too insubstantial. Unlike, say, _Naked
> Lunch_ which is the raving hallucinations of a madman.
Besides, _There Are Doors_ is much more explicitly the raving
hallucination of a madman (meaning, it's ambiguous whether it's that
way, rather than not supported at all).
--
David Eppstein UC Irvine Dept. of Information & Computer Science
epps...@ics.uci.edu http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/
Zvi Gilbert
>Besides, _There Are Doors_ is much more explicitly the raving
>hallucination of a madman (meaning, it's ambiguous whether it's that
>way, rather than not supported at all).
I don't find much support for that reading within the novel. Of course,
other people in Green's world (and the world There that he enters) think
HE is crazy, but that's a common trope within sf. What happens to him
isn't represented as the ravings of a lunatic, but of an obsessive (and
not very reflective) man, caught up in a series of extraordinary
universe-switching events.
--Zvi
z...@interlog.com
i remember leaves / green as spearmint / crisp as paper
Avram Grumer
wrote:
> David Eppstein <epps...@euclid.ics.uci.edu> wrote:
> >Besides, _There Are Doors_ is much more explicitly the raving
> >hallucination of a madman (meaning, it's ambiguous whether it's that
> >way, rather than not supported at all).
>
> I don't find much support for that reading within the novel. Of course,
> other people in Green's world (and the world There that he enters) think
> HE is crazy, but that's a common trope within sf. What happens to him
> isn't represented as the ravings of a lunatic, but of an obsessive (and
> not very reflective) man, caught up in a series of extraordinary
> universe-switching events.
I'd say that the beginning and end of the novel present the things
happeneing to Green as real things, but there's a stretch in the middle
where I thought it really could have been Green being insane in a mundane
world, and I think that's a deliberate ambiguity on Wolfe's part.
And then there's the possibility that Green is just a little nuts _and_
he's having extraordinary world-hopping experiences.
--
Avram Grumer | av...@bigfoot.com | http://www.bigfoot.com/~avram/
If music be the food of love, then some of it be the Twinkies of
dysfunctional relationships.
David Eppstein
> David Eppstein <epps...@euclid.ics.uci.edu> wrote:
> > Besides, _There Are Doors_ is much more explicitly the raving
> > hallucination of a madman (meaning, it's ambiguous whether it's that
> > way, rather than not supported at all).
> I don't find much support for that reading within the novel. Of course,
> other people in Green's world (and the world There that he enters) think
> HE is crazy, but that's a common trope within sf.
It's more than just casual passersby thinking he's odd.
When Green visits the Downtown Mental Health Center and discovers that a
former doctor there is the person he is obsessed with, I call that
support for the view that he is unhinged and that the rest is hallucination.
From the same point of view, her sudden disappearance from the center could
easily be a normal reaction to the reappearance of a known crazed stalker.
Not to mention that between the time he calls the center and when he
checks in, he has been explicitly acting unsane (crying very
publically). I don't say that crying is bad, just that it is
outside current societal standards and so a possible sign of insanity.
As I said, it's ambiguous, but certainly more present in possibility
than in the New Sun (which doesn't have any such scene).
William Clifford
(Candy Christian) wrote:
>As far as _Naked Lunch_ goes, I thought it was the ravings of an
>incredibly sane man in an insane world, not the raving hallucinations of a
>madman. :)
Oddly enough that's not all that different from how I look at that
book too. It's a descent into hell. It's the _Inferno_ of the
twentieth century. How sane the narrator is or even the author was at
the time of its writing is still up for debate in my opinion.
Rachel Brown
<avram-04049...@ts3port26.port.net>...
> I'd say that the beginning and end of the novel present the things
> happeneing to Green as real things, but there's a stretch in the middle
> where I thought it really could have been Green being insane in a mundane
> world, and I think that's a deliberate ambiguity on Wolfe's part.
>
> And then there's the possibility that Green is just a little nuts _and_
> he's having extraordinary world-hopping experiences.
William Browning Spencer's delightful Lovecraft-meets-Dilbert pastiche
"Resume With Monsters" treads that line beautifully.
Rachel
Joe Mason
>
>William Browning Spencer's delightful Lovecraft-meets-Dilbert pastiche
>"Resume With Monsters" treads that line beautifully.
Ooh! Where can I find this?
Joe
--
"Think hard and long about what your favorite book is. Once identified, read
it a paragraph at a time. Then after having read the paragraph, read each
sentence. See the way the sentences interrelate. Then, read the words..."
-- Mike Berlyn, on learning to write
Bjjp2
>Borges short story 'Tlon Uqbar Orbis Tertius' mentions parenthetically a
>proposed book in which the narrator-protagonist lies, cheats, deceives,
>misleads and generally misrepresents everything to the reader, constructed
>in such a way as to "permit the reader, very few readers, to perceive an
>atrocious or banal reality" through the mistruths. Did Wolfe then write
>this book, and call it The Book of the New Sun?
Actually, Wolfe did write this book. It's called "There Are Doors."
Rachel Brown
<92337530...@news.remarQ.com>...
> Rachel Brown <r.ph...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> >
> >William Browning Spencer's delightful Lovecraft-meets-Dilbert pastiche
> >"Resume With Monsters" treads that line beautifully.
>
> Ooh! Where can I find this?
White Wolf published it, and it should be available via Amazon.com. I also
highly recommend the same author's somewhat darker "Zod Wallop," which is
about a children's book author whose life becomes... strange.
Rachel
S Z Hanley
: >Obscure theory I have about Severian, for anybody to disagree with:
Are we going to end up suggesting that ALL Wolfe books take this form? I
am currently 1/3 through The Fifth Head Of Cerberus and, while Number Five
seems to give a fairly honest though sometimes unhelpful account of the
events, I have a sneaking suspicion that a Borgian 'atrocious reality' may
well spring out at the end of the book, when all the evidence is in and if
I have paid enough attention. Robert Borski has a site dedicated to Fifth
Head (http://www.coredcs.com/~rborski/intro.html) with about a dozen
essays and a concordance which I daren't read until I've finished the
book because it would be like looking in the back of the textbook for the
answers to the homework exercise. And who does that...?
Related to all this, has anybody ever asked Wolfe what he thinks of
Andre-Druissi (apologies if misspelt), Clute, Borski and all his other
interpreters? Does GW have a shelf of boxfiles at home with The
Definitive Answers to The Book Of The New Sun and the rest? Does anybody
live near him and can break in, photocopy the lot, return it, scan the
photocopies, post it on the Web...?
--
Zac, who will now try and get hold of There Are Doors to read immediately
after t5HoC
And who wouldn't mind if any American found a copy of The Island Of Doctor
Death And Other Stories And Other Stories in a second-hand bookshop and
sent it on receipt of the appropriate dollars....
| [Omit omnivourous mammal to reply] |
| <URL:http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dbl1szh/index.html> |
"God's teeth, sirrah, beshrew me, but I'll put it to thee plain,
thy man's but a mewling, doddering old puppet of the military-industrial
complex" -- Peter Beagle, _The Folk Of The Air_
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Lawrence Person
> Related to all this, has anybody ever asked Wolfe what he thinks of
> Andre-Druissi (apologies if misspelt), Clute, Borski and all his other
> interpreters?
Yes, I did, at least of the first, in the Nova Express interview. "I'm
flattered Michael Andre-Druissi thinks I'm important," was his reply.
--
Lawrence Person
lawr...@bga.com
New issue of Nova Express Now Available!
Nova Express Website: http://www.delphi.com/sflit/novaexpress/
Rich Horton
wrote:
>Zac, who will now try and get hold of There Are Doors to read immediately
>after t5HoC
_There are Doors_ is an odd sort of book. It's definitely worth
reading. All Wolfe is, except maybe _Operation Ares_, which I haven't
read, but understand to be not a favorite of the author's. OTOH, if
you have only read _Fifth Head_, and _TBotNS_, I might not read _There
are Doors_ next. I'd read _Peace_, and the Soldier books, and _The
Book of the Long Sun_. And I'd definitely read the short stories:
they are as extended and impressive and varied a corpus of short
fiction as any in SF. Then I'd start to explore the odder books, the
"problem" books, you might say, _Free Live Free_ and _Pandora by Holly
Hollander_ and _Castleview_ and _There are Doors_ and all.
But what am I saying? You can't really go wrong. Read what grabs you
next.
--
Rich Horton
Homepage: www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Visit Tangent Online (www.sfsite.com/tangent) for timely reviews of SF short fiction
S Z Hanley
his sister?
Spoiler warning.
g
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w
o
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f
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s
o
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a
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s
He definitely has one if you agree with the Chekov's Gun description of
Wolfe's writing (ie he never introduces anything irrelevant and if you
don't understand why he's included something then it's your failing not
his). Because in (I think) Book 3 there is the scene in the mountains
where he fights the alzabo and meets Agia again (!), and picks up young
Severian (who is later killed by the giant ring on Mount Typhon). There
is mention at one point that Severian is 'one of those brother and sister
names' (I think this is how Severian figures out the girl's name is
Severa). So Dorcas had two grandchildren: Severian the torturer and a
Severa. What happened to her? Sent to the witches? Planned for some
weird book 6? Walk-on part that I've missed somewhere?
--
Zac
| [Omit omnivourous mammal to reply] |
| <URL:http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dbl1szh/index.html> |
"God's teeth, sirrah, beshrew me, but I'll put it to thee plain,
thy man's but a mewling, doddering old puppet of the military-industrial
complex" -- Peter Beagle, _The Folk Of The Air_
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Ron Henry
>Now I want to know something else about the Book of the New Sun. Who is
>his sister?
You might want to take a look at the Urth mailing list archives at
http://www.moonmilk.com/urth/ . Lots of speculation there about
fascinating and mysterious matters such as this. (And, with
Wolfe, mysteries that are intentional and which can be solved
with a fair amount of brainpower.) Unfortunately there isn't a search engine
at moonmilk, and it's a lot of material...
Anyhow, I don't remember the details of the argument any more, it seemed like
there was convincing evidence that the woman/girl called Merryn was his sister
(she was with the "seeress"-- yeah, sent to the witches), with them on the
roof of the ruined building... I believe somewhere around the end of CLAW.
Ron Henry
ronh...@clarityconnect.com
aka rg...@cornell.edu
Aught, a journal of avant poetry
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/8789/aught.htm
Benjamin Decker
> Later in the series, I started noticing the patterns of South American and
> prehistoric animals, Greek government and military organization, etc. and
> started writing down words that fit the pattern even if I knew them,
> looking toward a potential bestiary or some such. I also wrote down words
> that were too cool to not include, even if I knew them.
Wow now, 24 years later, it took me only 50 pages to realize the Greek/Byzantine military/government structure and south american prehistoric fauna. That is because I read it on an iPad and could look up all the words while reading with the build in lexicon. Man, post modern reference is kinda boring when you can look up almost everything. The books loose a lot of mystique through this.
Gurps had role playing books for Book of the new Sun in the 80's. Bet there is some bestiary in there:)
Jack Bohn
Does each book still come with an author's afterward? In one he mentioned touring buildings that will survive futurity.
--
-Jack