pete@stc.co.uk (02/21/86)
There's been some good discussion in this group about the
merits or otherwise of _The Book of the New Sun_. Now I'm going to
stick my oar in.
C.S. Lewis, who knew a thing or two about writing fantasy
and SF said:
"To tell how odd things struck odd people is to tell one
oddity too many"
I think that it is a demonstration of Gene Wolfe's ability
that he breaks this rule and (just) gets away with it. There is a
sense of living dangerously in the style of the book that is very
exciting.
I have tried (on a subsequent reading) checking the 'funny
words' in a dictionary. This is a bad idea, because most of the time
the words are used as much for their sound and feeling as for their
literal meaning. Nevertheless, those words that I found (in Chambers'
20th Century) _were_ correctly used _and_ not flogged to death by
repetition like Donaldson.
BTW, Prince Caspian's horse was called 'Destrier'.
--
Peter Kendell <pete@stc.UUCP>
...!mcvax!ukc!stc!pete
"Honesty's all out of fashion,
These are the rigs of the times"