by Michael Andre-Driussi

isbn: 0964279592
subject: SF, Fiction and Literature
finished: 3/27/2001

Only a few books are great enough to warrant a book being written about them. Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is one of them. Rather than making up words for the many things described in that book for which words do not yet exist, Wolfe reused obscure English words. This was a good idea not only because the real words sound better than any words he could have made up, but also because each word alludes to its historical meaning, giving The Book a feeling of depth matched by few other works of fiction. Since we all have an intuitive knowledge of Greek and Latin roots, these words often suggest their meanings even when we do not actually know their definitions.

The Lexicon Urthus, then, is a compendium of the unusual words used in The Book along with their definitions and often some historical context. It is completely optional in the sense that one does not need to know the precise definitions of these words since they are usually implied by their roots and by context. However, for those of us who find ourselves re-reading The Book every few years, the Lexicon is helpful and can increase enjoyment by providing extra background (not unlike the way that The Silmarillion is not necessarily worth reading on its own, but can increase our enjoyment of The Lord of the Rings). The Lexicon also contains commentary about the roles of different characters as well as several useful tables about such things as the units of time, distance, and money used in the Commonwealth.