Comments on: You know, because you just don't want the book to be over so soon.

Question: You know, because you just don't want the book to be over so soon.

honeydew — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 18:30:41 -0800

Does any language have a word or phrase for the feeling of sorrow one experiences upon finishing a really good book?

By: bim

bim — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 18:59:10 -0800

Bittersweet, perhaps?

By: zouhair

zouhair — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:05:11 -0800

Back to reality

By: scody

scody — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:23:46 -0800

post-libris melancholia?

By: RustyBrooks

RustyBrooks — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:35:31 -0800

Maybe it's time to form a new word. German is always handy for this since you can jam stuff together.

Buchendetraurigkeit

That's probably not exactly right though.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:35:33 -0800

I'm going to try to work post-libris melancholia into common usage.

By: librarina

librarina — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:48:56 -0800

Wouldn't libris be library? Ex libris = approx. "from the library of," right?

I don't know the case ending, but I'd expect it to be "post-bibli[whatever case ending]" rather than "post-libris."

Maybe?

In any case I am very glad this question was asked.

By: TrashyRambo

TrashyRambo — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 19:59:20 -0800

To derail slightly: is there an equivalent word for the feeling you get when you finish a book that you read because you thought it was good for you, felt obliged to finish but didn't get it for the entire length?

Post-libris euphoria?

By: chudmonkey

chudmonkey — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:15:38 -0800

I get this feeling about good books, but also when a movie I've really been enjoying ends, so maybe there should be something other than a book-centric term for this.

And would the similar sensation of seeing how many pages you have left in a book and despairing because you wish there were more be the same thing we're talking about or do we need to classify that as well?

By: tkolar

tkolar — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:50:27 -0800

And how about a word for having finished Finnegan's Wake?

By: adamwolf

adamwolf — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:56:46 -0800

I believe you "lap" Finnegan's Wake, not finish it.

By: bim

bim — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 21:26:01 -0800

Maybe it's time to form a new word. German is always handy for this since you can jam stuff together.

I think we need a variation on schadenfreude. Something freude without the schaden.

But then I took french rather than german.... :)

By: rob511

rob511 — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:14:04 -0800

bim, there is a German word Endschmerz (literally: end pain), but it may not be exactly right. Other suggestions:
triste-end-result
fade accompli

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 22:58:07 -0800

I know this feeling well...and have never associated a word with it, but if I had to, perhaps "melancholy" might apply.

By: jtron

jtron — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 00:01:03 -0800

"Reader's Remorse." I know it all too well.

By: bim

bim — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 05:38:06 -0800

Endschmerz (literally: end pain)

I like that! Thanks. :)

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 07:10:09 -0800

What about the related intangible: the feeling of envy that you get when someone hasn't yet read a book you love or seen a movie you adore and you know they still have that first time to look forward to, something you can never again have.

By: ubersturm

ubersturm — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 08:24:19 -0800

bim, "Freude" means joy, more or less. I've never run into "Endschmerz," but that sounds much more appropriate.

By: divabat

divabat — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 09:58:05 -0800

I have that with experiences! Maybe we can find a word that covers the gamut (books, movies, trips, etc) and just add a prefix if we want to get specialized.

By: Tubes

Tubes — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 11:28:09 -0800

Trips - yeah - I've often searched for something catchier and more precise than "post-vacation depression." And I see now that there are many parallels. I think if I had to code this it would look something like:
painOf(endOf(pleasureOf([activity])
Maybe someone can put that in German? Or French... Maybe French would sound more wistful.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 16:13:22 -0800

"Reader's Remorse."

I think that's an excellent solution. Why are people always so interested in finding or creating German compound words for things?

By: Rash

Rash — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 21:45:24 -0800

Not German then, French.

apres-roman - something.

By: ab3

ab3 — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 08:26:35 -0800

librarina - ex libris actually translates to "from the books of". libris is the ablative plural of liber, meaning book.

and languagehat - i don't know, i think "reader's remorse" sounds too much like "buyer's remorse" and thus smacks of regretting the experience of reading a bad book - not of being sad for the end of a good book, and knowing you'll never be able to experience it the same way again.

By: feloniousmonk

feloniousmonk — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 10:16:28 -0800

I think that this very question was in the back of a fairly recent Atlantic Monthly. In fact, I recognize a couple of the answers here from it...