...

As it did with so many other obscure words, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun introduced me to the term "analeptic" in this iconic chapter (The Claw of the Conciliator, chapter 10). Thea's anecdote about Urth's name is also a great example of the many-layered linguistic trickery constantly at work in this series, the text of which is presented as a translation of a manuscript from the future prepared by Wolfe himself. This series, now that I've finally discovered it and come to somewhat understand it over the course of two consecutive readings, is as essential as Tolkien or Lovecraft for me. Nothing I write for the rest of my life will go without its influence. I'm already liberally stealing from it in my current D&D campaign. I suggest anyone interested in genre fiction in any capacity read it and steal from it too. Maybe read The Dying Earth first though because this is a lot to get into with no context.