Re: What exactly IS a dictionary anyway?

* Benct Philip Jonsson said on 2006-11-01 18:42:06 +0100
> taliesin the storyteller skrev:
> > - dictionary stories, which can be read in any order and
> >   where the definitions+headwords make up the tale
> > - etc. etc.
>
> Cool. Can you recommend any?
Ozarque (Suzette Haden Elgin) discussed the techniques of dictionary
stories on her livejournal, complete with an example (which I can't
google up and Livejournal has lousy internal search facilities), but my
favorite such story have not been translated into English, it is a
surrealistic story about life in a dystopia.

I think it was in Tor Åge Bringsværd's "SF" (samlede fortellinger) from
1999. The story is titled something like: "-> Åh -> Nå har dem -> senka ->
takhøyden -> igjen" where each of the words/phrases separated by "->"
was an entry in the dictionary. The second entry started on A or B and
went something like "this is a dictionary-story and you're reading it
all wrong, go -> look up -> takhøyde instead" :)

I've moved house and haven't unpacked all the books yet but I'll get
back to you with an ISBN when I have. Should be possible to get it by
interlibrary loan or similar.

TÅB is one of Norway's handful of science fiction-writers btw, together
with Jon Bing and a few others. The golden age of SF in Norway was the
seventies.

Bibliography:
http://www.gyldendal.no/toraage/innhold/bibliografi/index.html

Bibliography of translated works:
http://www.gyldendal.no/toraage/innhold/bibliografi/andrespraak.html

Short biography:
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_%C3%85ge_Bringsv%C3%A6rd


t.

Reply