The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions

Citation

(2004), "The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions", Library Review, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 127-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530410522613

This edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Allusions is a paperback version of the hardback published in 2001. Such was the freshness, innovativeness, and likely usefulness of the book that it was given the Emerald Award for the Best General Reference Work. It is nice to see it reissued in a paperback edition.

The value of the book lies in the fact that allusions are such a basic part of the English language, so basic that we barely realize we use them. When I call myself the Dirty Harry of the bookstacks; refer to them as Devil's Island; call them a labyrinth; that I need the wisdom of Solomon; that the procedures for withdrawing stock are byzantine, and admit I have met my Waterloo – someone unversed in idiomatic English will wonder what “the Devil” I am talking about! This book is designed to ease such puzzlement. It gives information about the original sources of allusions and what they mean, frequently with examples from published prose.

The book is arranged alphabetically by theme, and then alphabetically by allusion. Some 200 themes are selected, ranging from abundance and plenty, actors, adultery, and adventure, to wholesomeness, wisdom, writers, and youth. This arrangement enables one to see the variety of allusions used for the same concept, and perhaps to choose a better one! An alphabetical index of all the 1,200 or so allusions refers the user to the main, themed, section. I would have preferred the A‐Z index to have been the main sequence, but the work is easy enough to use notwithstanding. Twenty‐two special entries are given which cater for those allusions that are particularly rich in associations, mostly classical ones.

Allusions are picked up, in passing, by many reference sources, but this is, I think, the first to focus exclusively on the allusion in its own right. The work is easy to use and will be useful for tracking down “doing a Sam Spade”, a Hecuba, a Sisyphus, and others. I would recommend the hardback for libraries though, this paperback, although suitable for the office or home, will struggle on the library shelves.