[109750] in Cypherpunks
Re: Stephenson's new book, _Cryptonomicon_
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Adam Back)
Sat Apr 3 08:16:47 1999
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 11:10:54 +0100
From: Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk>
To: ryan@venona.com
CC: cypherpunks@algebra.com
In-reply-to: <19990402171249.B27979@arianrhod.systemics.ai> (message from Ryan
Lackey on Fri, 2 Apr 1999 17:12:49 -0400)
Reply-To: Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk>
Ryan writes about Neal Stephenson's book, cryptonomicon:
> I wonder if he's aware of Tim May's pioneering "cyphernomicon".
A few days ago Neal posted to cypherpunks this URL with the comment:
> Some information about the book is available on the Web, but most of
> the people who read this list probably will find it inadequate. As a
> way of conserving bandwidth on this list I have posted a FAQ
> ("Frequently Anticipated Questions") intended specifically for
> cypherpunks.
http://www.well.com/user/neal/cypherFAQ.html
If you look there one of the FAQs is just this question, and the
answer is he wasn't when he chose the title, but he is now:
Adam
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3. What is up with the title?
According to the fictional storyline that I have been writing, the
original Cryptonomicon was written by an English scholar with a
Classical education (for those of you who are crypto history buffs, it
is modeled after John Wilkins's 1641 book entitled
Mercury). Accordingly, I wanted to give it a Latin-sounding title, and
"Cryptonomicon" is what I came up with. It is the sort of title that
would blend in pretty well with any 17th-Century English book list.
It has been pointed out that the word "Cryptonomicon" bears obvious
similarities to "Cyphernomicon," which is the title of a cypherpunk
FAQ document by Tim May, as well as to "Necronomicon," which is a
fictitious book that is mentioned in the works of
H. P. Lovecraft. This leads to the question of am I committing some
form of plagiarism, or rendering homage, or what? The answer,
strangely enough, is none of the above. I was unaware of the
existence of Tim May's Cyphernomicon until recently. And being
[shamefully] ignorant of Lovecraft's work, I was operating on the
belief that "Necronomicon" was some sort of ancient word.
Since becoming aware of the existence of Tim May's "Cyphernomicon" I
have been in touch with him about this near-collision in namespace. Of
course I am not authorized to speak on his behalf, but having had an
exchange of messages with him, I am now going forward with the
understanding that he has no problems or complaints.
Evidently, credit for all *nomicon titles can ultimately be traced
back to H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote about a fictitious book entitled the
Necronomicon. This was the inspiration for Tim May's coinage of
"Cyphernomicon."
In my case, I am embarassed to report the the path was not so
direct. I'm not familiar with the Lovecraft novels, and so the first I
recall hearing of a book called Necronomicon was in the movie Army of
Darkness. This movie is lots of fun, but a little on the cheesy side,
and a fancy word like "Necronomicon" stuck out like a sore thumb. So I
assumed it was a very ancient or generic sort of word. In retrospect,
it seems that the screenwriters who used it in Army of Darkness must
have been paying homage to Lovecraft.
This novel had several names while I was writing it, e.g. Speech that
Is Not Speech and A Constellation of Doorways, but on the publisher's
advice I changed it to CRYPTONOMICON rather late in the game.
Thanks to an ever-lengthening list of Cypherpunks (Doug Barnes, Tim
May, Bill Stewart) for not being too aghast at my ignorance (or at
least not letting on) and for patiently getting me straightened out on
this subject.
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