tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874245123145576944.post8839492012526090724..comments2023-03-15T11:52:47.546-04:00Comments on asheville·ink·slinger: the lexical treasures of m. john harrisonDavid Michael Mayeuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15878894421781085604noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874245123145576944.post-90224140662936520122012-09-05T20:51:13.653-04:002012-09-05T20:51:13.653-04:00Anon,
clever. see my reply to radii below to addr...Anon,<br /><br />clever. see my reply to radii below to address that.David Michael Mayeuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878894421781085604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874245123145576944.post-29288785732312295642012-09-05T20:50:13.687-04:002012-09-05T20:50:13.687-04:00radii,
I have no doubt that many of the words wer...radii,<br /><br />I have no doubt that many of the words were, or as I suspect, pulled from an already culled list of words he wanted to use, but with the Viriconium stories, I feel like they are used effectively and intentionally, even when their density is a little overwhelming.<br /><br />Viriconium is a city in a world beset by entropy and ennui, decaying from ancient civilizations that reached a suggested pinnacle of human achievement and subsequently the apex of madness. The richness of the <i>fiction's</i> vocabulary—giving you that likely these are not words ever on the tip of Harrison's tongue—reflects the richness of the faded Autumn age of the world, and I believe the level of their obscurity reflects the decay that the world now experiences. The words have a familiarity to them, they are after all actual words, but the unfamiliarity makes them feel as though they likewise come from another age, a Fallen age.David Michael Mayeuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15878894421781085604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874245123145576944.post-37733191915053031022012-09-05T18:03:55.884-04:002012-09-05T18:03:55.884-04:00They're not pleonastic unless they're redu...They're not pleonastic unless they're redundant in context. Like "whorish hetæræ" might be a pleonasm, but simply writing "hetæræ" isn't. I think you just meant esoteric. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874245123145576944.post-28724718326885526862012-09-05T16:56:46.187-04:002012-09-05T16:56:46.187-04:00unless Harrison is a savant who retains the word a...unless Harrison is a savant who retains the word and its meaning (and instinctively knows how to place it) after one exposure, he is researching these words and deploying them ... the key is the amount ... too many too close together and you ruin the flow of reading even for a person with an excellent vocabulary ... spaced far enough apart and you are leaving treasure for your readers to exploreradiihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06271430506982033059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874245123145576944.post-64675262557520297432012-09-05T16:24:17.348-04:002012-09-05T16:24:17.348-04:00 sonorities too pleonastic to be expeditiously ass... sonorities too pleonastic to be expeditiously assimilatedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com