The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig

Author: John Koenig

Title: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 2021

Pages: 272

Gener: language / poetry 

 

     A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don't have the words to express, until now-from the creator of the popular online project of the same name. Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: 'sonder.' Or maybe you've watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That's called 'lachesism.' Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you've never actually experienced. That's 'anemoia.'

     I love words, they give us such an amazingly wide range of tools to play with in expressing ourselves to others.  As humans, we chop and change them about from the most technical of explanations to capturing those first moments of new love. And yes maybe we take them for granted a little too often. We should really give them the credit they deserve after all whether we like it or not words have power. Once spoken they can never be taken back for better or worse they become a part of our universe sometimes changing things and places forever. But this does not mean they don't come with their gaps. Especially in English, we seem too often to lack words or phrases for very specific emotional states.  So much like the proverbial magpie, we tend to go hunting around in other languages for places to fill these gaps. But should we not in fact start on a better line of thought, can we not fill these blanks ourselves? After all one of the most beautiful things about language is that it's fluid. Ever-changing and moving, already the English I speak now is not entirely that of my forebearers from a few hundred years ago.

     So in walk John Koenig, a man not afraid to stand up to those who believe we must stay the same. That the English language is a static thing and must be upheld at all coast. And in spite of all, to those that argue we can simply not go around making up words willy-nilly, is that not what our ancestors did. Don't know what that is then string some sounds together and then convince everyone around you that's what it's called. And honestly, if it's good enough for Shakespeare who is probably single-handly responsible for the creation of more words than any human to have lived why cant other have a go. So that is just what this author has done, he has searched out for the spaces that really need words to fill them up. These voids where you stand talking to someone and say I really wish there was a word for that. But it is also the due care and attention he has paid to each of these newly created wounders. This is not a man who has slapdashed his newly minted words. Oh no there has clearly been time given not only to choosing the correct selection of letters but also to our emotional response to them. Notwithstanding, if you're going to try and find a word to capture that sense of nostalgia for a time or place you have never been it has to feel just right as it rolls off the tongue. 

     When I first started this book I was not really sure what I was getting myself into. Never has such a work come across my field of view and if I'm honest I had no real idea that such things existed. But the way in which Koenig has devoted such care to his words makes me so happy that I did. He found a way to create these little wonders around the words. Instead of simply giving us words and a brief meaning we are treated to a cornucopia of delights. Each section being broken down into a group of emotional states so it's easy enough to flick back and forwards plucking at what you might need at any given moment. But in its whole, it becomes more than that. It allows us to have a little more emotional depth where the English language is often left wanting. I was able to gather up so many of these new words to add to my own lexicon. Maybe this is in the way he presents this work to us. You are ever driven forward in child-like wonder and curiosity as to what you are going to find around the next page. It was a feeling for words that I think I had long since forgotten about which in and of itself is a shame. 

     As someone who both loves words and struggles with them due to my dyslexia, this was a book that more often than not brought a smile to my face. It's like finding a whole new set of coloring pencils with colors you had always hoped for. And whilst it may not change your doodle into a masterpiece it's sure to bring some more color to your life and hopefully next time someone says to I wish there was a word for that. You can bravely stride forward and say ahh but I have just the thing you are looking for.