4 ms·

The Book of the New Sun is amazing simply for the language. I actually thought he was simply making up words until I got out a dictionary and discovered that hi

by laurex 6y ago

The Book of the New Sun is amazing simply for the language. I actually thought he was simply making up words until I got out a dictionary and discovered that his vocabulary simply far surpassed mine, and mine isn't terrible.

stdgy 6y ago
That is the thing that has always stuck out to me. The books are a master class on language. And, interestingly, the intricate language added a certain texture to the story that I haven't often encountered elsewhere. It made the story almost... slippery? As though I could see the shape and outline of the story, but the real specifics were left for my mind to fill in. A bit hard to explain, but not something I've experienced to the same degree outside of Wolfe.
b0rsuk 6y ago
I love the atmosphere and the originality, but you shouldn't go into the cycle expecting action - it's like expecting action from Blade Runner. The first book takes 100 or 200 pages to describe the events of a single day. Some character introductions are breathtaking though, I was particularly impressed by the hothouse. Some episodes and creatures are amazingly creepy.
EdwardDiego 6y ago
Fuligin was the word that stuck with me.
saberdancer 6y ago
I'm not a native English speaker so I find this extremely interesting. I usually read in English so I often notice how much vocabulary certain writer uses. Most of them use the same vocabulary I am familiar with and I read the whole book without looking up a word, but there are some writers where I get a new word every few pages and it is not a word that was forced in there. It made sense to use it. I never read Gene Wolfe after I started reading in English, I've read him in my native language. I'll need to bump him up in my reading list to see how it reads in English.
- krzyk 6y ago
  Same for me, I read it in my native language and find it hard to find his prose top quality and I found his story a mediocre quality (and for me story is the La raison d'être of a book).
aardvark179 6y ago
He has always been incredibly clever in his use of language. The names of people in BotNS had me checking in a dictionary of saints (and books on mythological monsters for the non people) to try and gleam more meaning from them, and I remember a moment of wonder when I realised the aliens’ speech was weird because they always have an even number of syllables in each sentence. His books are incredible and really pay off careful rereading.
- jinpa_zangpo 6y ago
  Gene Wolfe explained in a commentary to his series that the aliens (called hierodules) are speaking in blank verse.
- InitialLastName 6y ago
  To help your vocabulary, the word you're looking for is "glean" [0] [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glean https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glean
sdepablos 6y ago
Same happens with Cervantes. A funny thing is that the more languages I learn, the more vocabulary I recognize in a given language. In most cases obscure words from one language are pretty common in another.
hmahncke 6y ago
If you haven't seen it, there's a great companion book "Lexicon Urthus" [1] that provides a definition for all of the unusual English words used, as well as character references and in-book lore. I re-read BOTNS with the Lexicon, and really expanded my appreciation of the use of language in the books. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Urthus-Dictionary-Urth-Cycle/dp/0964279517 https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Urthus-Dictionary-Urth-Cycle/...
felipeerias 6y ago
The vocabulary was the most mind blowing feature of the book for me. He is talking about people and creatures and things that are far removed from our everyday experience in one direction (the remote future), and he is doing so through archaic words that are just as far removed in the opposite direction (the remote past).

by laurex 6y ago

stdgy 6y ago

That is the thing that has always stuck out to me. The books are a master class on language. And, interestingly, the intricate language added a certain texture to the story that I haven't often encountered elsewhere. It made the story almost... slippery? As though I could see the shape and outline of the story, but the real specifics were left for my mind to fill in. A bit hard to explain, but not something I've experienced to the same degree outside of Wolfe.

b0rsuk 6y ago

I love the atmosphere and the originality, but you shouldn't go into the cycle expecting action - it's like expecting action from Blade Runner. The first book takes 100 or 200 pages to describe the events of a single day. Some character introductions are breathtaking though, I was particularly impressed by the hothouse. Some episodes and creatures are amazingly creepy.

EdwardDiego 6y ago

Fuligin was the word that stuck with me.

saberdancer 6y ago

I'm not a native English speaker so I find this extremely interesting. I usually read in English so I often notice how much vocabulary certain writer uses. Most of them use the same vocabulary I am familiar with and I read the whole book without looking up a word, but there are some writers where I get a new word every few pages and it is not a word that was forced in there. It made sense to use it. I never read Gene Wolfe after I started reading in English, I've read him in my native language. I'll need to bump him up in my reading list to see how it reads in English.

krzyk 6y ago
Same for me, I read it in my native language and find it hard to find his prose top quality and I found his story a mediocre quality (and for me story is the La raison d'être of a book).

aardvark179 6y ago

He has always been incredibly clever in his use of language. The names of people in BotNS had me checking in a dictionary of saints (and books on mythological monsters for the non people) to try and gleam more meaning from them, and I remember a moment of wonder when I realised the aliens’ speech was weird because they always have an even number of syllables in each sentence. His books are incredible and really pay off careful rereading.

jinpa_zangpo 6y ago
Gene Wolfe explained in a commentary to his series that the aliens (called hierodules) are speaking in blank verse.
InitialLastName 6y ago
To help your vocabulary, the word you're looking for is "glean" [0] [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glean https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glean

sdepablos 6y ago

Same happens with Cervantes. A funny thing is that the more languages I learn, the more vocabulary I recognize in a given language. In most cases obscure words from one language are pretty common in another.

hmahncke 6y ago

If you haven't seen it, there's a great companion book "Lexicon Urthus" [1] that provides a definition for all of the unusual English words used, as well as character references and in-book lore. I re-read BOTNS with the Lexicon, and really expanded my appreciation of the use of language in the books. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Urthus-Dictionary-Urth-Cycle/dp/0964279517 https://www.amazon.com/Lexicon-Urthus-Dictionary-Urth-Cycle/...

felipeerias 6y ago

The vocabulary was the most mind blowing feature of the book for me. He is talking about people and creatures and things that are far removed from our everyday experience in one direction (the remote future), and he is doing so through archaic words that are just as far removed in the opposite direction (the remote past).