Wolfe, "Book of the New Sun"

Steve Simmons · 11 Aug 1992, 15:36 · from sf-lovers.1992.mbox

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From: scs at lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
Subject: Re: Wolfe, "Book of the New Sun"
Date: 11 Aug 92 15:36:50 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v17-416-3 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V17 #416
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-17b

>>The language: all words *are used correctly* if your idea of "correct"
>>allows obsolete words and obsolete usages. There are no made-up words.
>>Period.
>
>Really?  I have been unable to find any reference to the (marvelous) word
>``logophage'', which appears somewhere in _Shadow_.  The meaning should be
>obvious to anyone who understands Greek roots, of course, but charming as
>this coinage is, I find it difficult (though not impossible) to believe
>that it is not original with Wolfe.

A small distinction - Wolfe in an interview said that he did not make up
any of the words.  This is quite different from claiming they're all `real'
words.  I believe that a number of nouns and names are taken from
reasonably well-known works by other authors.  *Those* authors may well
have made them up.  "Logophage" does not appear in the slightly-
out-of-date copy of the OED I have access to, but I seem to remember it
from Fritz Leiber's "The Pale Brown Thing."

A trip through the OED looking up Wolfe words and names is always
interesting and often rewarding.  For, example, take the 3-legged dog
"Triskele."  No surprise that its primary meaning is a 3-legged brazier.
But about fourth down in the list (thank you, OED) is "symbol of the Sun."
Fascinating foreshadowing when you consider Severian may have raised him
from the dead.

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