Authors: Nicholas Royle
Quilt (15 page)
But next thing he is framing snatches of Clarence, speaking of ten thousand men that fishes gnawed upon, wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, his internal marination, lengthening after life, in search of the empty, vast, and wand’ring air.
Gently I ask him what he’s talking about, but he’s hopped into blurred song, and I am inclined to think this is his way of acting off the slightly ‘possessed’ sense that he claims his theory has given him:
It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring, I see the doctor, I see the doctor and couldn’t get up in the morning, it’s roaring, marauding, we went to bed and deformed the head, of hearing and hoarding, who’s moaning, who’s speaking, it’s raining, it’s pouring, it’s howling, it’s calling, the moon rings, the moon sings, it’s paining, it’s spawning, wedged your head and went to bed, it’s feigning, it’s shoring, you hear the words are calling, cawing, they’re gnawing, and can’t get up in the can’t get up in the staining, it’s boring, she’s reigning, he’s fawning, I hear your voice, I know you’re dead, and can’t get up in the morning the morning the morning.
Such is the range of his more lyrical and impassioned traits. There’s nothing out of the ordinary here, I think. No, the horrifying conviction comes when he tells me about some writing project he’s begun elaborating and proceeds to read it aloud to me over the phone. It is a work
of lexicography devoted to the buried life of anagrams and homophones, each word with its own idiosyncratic definition, a dictionaray, yes, as he is pleased to declare: the world’s first English dictionaray. It would be a verbal laboratory, a dictionary testamentary to the way the ray leaves its mark in everyday language, a vocabulary that might constitute a new species of bestiary, and generate an altogether other estuary English. He remarks that it is practically impossible to complete, particularly on account of the peculiarity of the adverb form in English, interminably stirring up as it does new terrain. And then he begins. With each new letter of the alphabet he pauses momentarily, then proceeds to the next series of words, giving each entry equal measure, enunciating throughout with customary care and scrupulosity (no doubt, it occurs to me, also his father’s). He reads it, in short, precisely in the manner of a poem. It takes me a while to get a grasp of what is going on:
A
Airy
Awry
Anniversary
Anteriority
Arraign
Arrange
Actuary
Afraid
Allegory
Amatory
Arty
Abrasion
Aurally
Absurdity
Already
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Arbitrary
Acrylic
Antiquary
Archetype
Archetypal
Apparatus
Alteration
Alterity
Abruptly
Army
Attractively
Admirably
Articulately
Apparently
Angry
Aleatory
Archaeology
Archery
Astray
Adversary
Ashtray
Aviary
Adoration
Anticipatory
Apothecary
Approvingly
Alary
Adultery
Adulterate
Asseveration
Accordingly
Accurately
Accelerate
Anywhere
B
Brae
Beray
Brain
Bleary
Binary
Betray
Berate
Brassy
Brazen
Braised
Barbarity
Break
Breakdown
Brake
Boundary
Braid
Bray
Brave
Balustrade
Battery
Brutality
Barely
Brace
Barley
Broadly
Beret
Bibliography
Biography
Bastardy
Brandy
Barmy
Bakery
Braille
Bestiary
Bizarrely
Brainy
Birthday
Bystander
C
Crafty
Centenary
Charade
Crystal
Chrysalis
Coronary
Carry
Combinatory
Category
Circularity
Culinary
Chivalry
Courageous
Concentration
Craven
Crayon
Cranny
Crazy
Contrary
Carvery
Centrality
Crane
Cranky
Crape
Crate
Crater
Consecrate
Creatively
Celebrate
Corroborate
Collaborate
Courtyard
Cradle
Crassly
Customary
Carpentry
Cartography
Carefully
Contradictory
Churchyard
Chrysanthemum
Commentary
Cinematography
Crayfish
Chlamydospore
Canary
Charmingly
Comfortably
Creamy
Cannery
Calibrate
Clairvoyant
Clearly
Carbohydrate
Cartilaginously
Certifiably
Constrain
Constraint
Certainty
Conspiracy
D
Derange
Diary
Dairy
Dictionary
Deprave
Dreary
Draughty
Deliberate
Deliberation
Drained
Disgraceful
Driveway
Desecrate
Dray
Drape
Derail
Disparity
Democracy
Dreamy
Dromedary
Debauchery
Dilatory
Decorate
Defloration
Dearly
Disarray
Dysphoria
E
Enrage
Exploration
Exploratory
Exhortatory
Extraordinary
Essayer
Earnestly
Entreaty
Errancy
Extravagancy
Erratically
Exaggerate
Eternally
Embrace
Experimentally
Estrange
Estuary
Early
Erase
Eraser
Entrails
Electrically
Entrain
Elementary
Exasperate
Extraneous
Eccentrically
Everyday
F
Frail
Frailty
Fragrant
Fragrancy
Freight
Fraternity
Freaky
Feathery
Fakery
Foray
Frugally
Fairytale
Fray
Frenetically
Faraway
Fainter-eyed
Fearsomely
Friday
Forsythia
Figuration
Foolhardy
Factory
Ferryboat
Frabjously
Frame
Framework
Filtration
G
Granary
Grange
Gyrate
Generate
Generically
Gray
Gravy
Grassy
Great
Grate
Granny
Grail
Grave
Graveyard
Graveside
Grain
Grammatology
Grammatically
Gravity
Gutturality
Grade
Grace
H
Hairy
Hoary
Hydra
Hydrate
Hilarity
Hysteria
Hysterical
Husbandry
Hairspray
Hearsay
Hardy
Holy-water
Hardly
Hierarchy
Hearty
Harmony
Heraldry
Hydrocephalic
I
Infirmary
Innovatory
Iconography
Irate
Irritably
Irascibly
Iracundity
Idiosyncratic
Infiltrate
Incorporate
Interchangeably
Irenically
Irrecoverably
Irreconcilably
Irreproachably
Ironically
Irradiate
Imagery
Incommensurably
Improbably
Irreciprocally
Irrecognisably
Irrealisably
Irrefutably
Irremediably
Irreparably
Invariably
Irrevocably
Irrecoverably
Irresolvably
Irrationally
Intolerably
Insuperably
Inextricably
Integrally
Involuntary
Illustrate
Inspirationally
Imaginary
J
Jay-walker
Jaybird
Jubilatory
Judiciary
Juratory
Jeopardy
Jellygraph
Jar-fly
Jaspery
Janglery
Jaculatory
Jaw-breaker
K
Kleptocracy
Klydonograph
Karmadharaya
Kirn-baby
Kirkyard
Knavery
Karstology
Kir royale
Kindheartedly
Knick-knackery
Kraken
L
Lairy
Lexicography
Laboratory
Law-breaker
Lavatory
Laundry
Layer
Lay-priest
Lawyer
Larynx
Lycra
Leathery
Largely
Lapidary
Literary
Library
Labyrinth
M
Marry
Metaphoricity
Maternity
Moderately
Meanderingly
Military
Maturity
Mortuary
Mortality
Morality
Migraine
Miraculously
Minatory
Momentary
Membrane
Mammary
Materiality
Myriad
Monarchy
Metaphorically
Marshy
Marvellously
Matrimony
Matronym
Matriarchy
Masturbatory
Moustache-twirly
Migrate
Mastery
Martyr
Martyrdom
N
Narrate
Narrator
Nearly
Narcolepsy
Nocturnally
Nocturnality
Narrowly
Naturally
Nary
Narky
Normality
Necessary
No-brainer
Nearby
O
Obituary
Osprey
Outrageous
Orally
Olfactory
Observatory
Ossuary
Orthography
Ordinary
Ordinarily
Oligarchy
Oragious
Oration
Originary
Originally
Overarchingly
Obliterate
P
Penetrate
Probability
Pray
Praise
Prate
Portray
Portrait
Probably
Purgatory
Psaltery
Phrase
Palaeography
Paternity
Parry
Prostrate
Prey
Pastry
Pregnancy
Preparation
Parade
Perpetually
Particularly
Proprietorially
Presumably
Parley
Patronym
Perpetrate
Photography
Parody
Parity
Pornography
Puncturation
Paralyse
Paralysis
Pterodactyl
Privacy
Pearly
Pleasantry
Primary
Pyramid
Phantasmagory
Pignorate
Prodromally
Paratactically
Perseveration
Q
Quarry
Quandary
R
Ranarian
Rabies
Restrain
Race
Racy
Rabbity
Radiate
Radiator
Radiant
Raise
Raven
Rayon
Radically
Ratio
Rationally
Rationality
Relay
Replay
Rarity
Rarely
Rain
Rainy
Raincoat
Raspy
Raspberry
Refrain
Reign
Res
Raid
Raider
Ratty
Royal
Rake
Rape
Raze
Rave
Raving
Rally
Ready
Respiration
Range
Rate
Rail
Railing
Ravenously
Rabidly
Rage
Really
Retrait
Remonstration
Registration
Reify
Radar
Raisin
Rapier
Raison d’être
Rein
Refractively
Relatively
Rivalry
Revealingly
Regrettably
Randy
Raunchy
Rascally
Realty
Rotary
Reliquary
Regenerate
Refrigerator
Rampantly
Ramifying
Rainbow
Rhapsody
Reality
S
Secretary
Strange
Stranger
Strangeways
Sharky
Starry
Stray
Spray
Soothsayer
Synastry
Starkly
Strawberry
Spectrality
Straight
Separate
Separately
Spectacularly
Spirogyra
Scrape
Sunray
Saturday
Scarcity
Singularly
Singularity
Strategy
Strategically
Saturate
Serrate
Scary
Swarthy
Syrah
Stationary
Stationery
Staggeringly
Swaggeringly
Scarry
Scarificatory
Similarly
Satisfactory
Sharply
Sedentary
Substrate
Scrawny
Savagery
Stratify
Sanctuary
Skyward
T
Terrain
Trace
Temporary
Tardy
Tarry
Tertiary
Testamentary
Testificatory
Terrestrially
Temporality
Tolerate
Transparency
Trait
Traitor
Train
Training
Trainers
Tirade
Teary
Trade
Tawdry
Tranquillity
Tranquilly
Thermostatically
Taciturnity
Tray
Trail
Tragically
Trimethylamine
Thursday
Tyranny
Tyrant
Translatably
Tyrannosaurus
Timeframe
Topography
Typography
Treaty
Traipse
Teratology
U
Unitary
Upbraid
Unpleasurably
Uranus
Unforeseeably
Unphotographably
Untranslatably
Urbanity
V
Vary
Venerate
Voluntary
Verticality
Variety
Veterinary
Vampyre
Vagary
Veracious
Vestiary
Veracity
Vibration
W
Weary
Wary
Watery
Wayward
Wraith
X
X-ray
Y
Yesterday
Yarn
Yard
Yare
Year
Yearn
Z
Zoography