"To Seek Out Strange New Words"

Novel of the Week is The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. "A novel nefariously written and ignominiously illustrated by the author." Rather than a regular review, these are random notes from my reading experience.

Lowry makes ample use of fancy words in The Willoughbys. She also supplies rather subjective and tangential definitions for these fancy words in a glossary at the end of the book. The subjectivity is a good spin. Although lexicographers usually write in such a way as to remove themselves from the scope of the writing, they are in truth individual persons interpreting the meaning of the words. Lowry retains her identity as the narrator in the glossary, acknowledging that she is an individual relating these words, rather than an invisible authority.

I have a suggestion which would help readers use the glossary all along in the reading experience rather than just finding it after "The End". I suggest placing a footnote at the first word in the text which has a glossary entry. The footnote would direct readers to the glossary, bringing it to their attention early in the reading, and allowing them to use it repeatedly as they encounter new words.

Speaking of authors who supply idiosyncratic definitions of fancy words, I am reminded of Lemony Snicket. Was he the first to do it?

Alpenhorn, a word which I had never seen before, was not in the glossary, so I had to look it up myself. I'm used to pausing in my reading to do that, ever since I read Jane Eyre. When I read Jane Eyre, I found myself consulting the dictionary so often, that I eventually went back through the book and made a log of all the words I had looked up. I specifically remember physiognomy, Resurgam, and cadeaux.

I encountered the word squalor, followed by a faulty(?) declension into squalorous (I believe the adjective wanted is squalid).

I did not know that fondue was of Swiss origin. Now I do!

I love the many allusions to themes and characters of classic children's literature. Lowry supplied a bibliography to refer readers to the works mentioned along the way. Very nice. As librarian Nancy Pearl has said, "I never know where a particular book will take me, toward what other books I will be led." The bibliography allows The Willoughbys to lead to other books outright.