Redux (word)

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This article is about an adjective meaning "being brought back". For the drug branded as Redux, see Dexfenfluramine.

Redux (IPA: [ˈridʌks]) is an the adjective which is always used attributively and after the noun rather than before it to indicate that something is being brought back, revived, or restored. Its root is the Latin reducere, to bring back.

[edit] Recent Uses

The term can be used in several ways.

Appended to a title, it may indicate a new work based on an earlier one. For example, John Updike titled his 1971 novel Rabbit Redux to indicate that it was sequent to his 1960 novel, Rabbit, Run. Similarly, Anthony Trollope's sequel to Phineas Finn is titled Phineas Redux.

In contrast, the adjective may indicate a new version of an old work. For example, the 2001 film Apocalypse Now: Redux is an extended version of the original 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

The attributive may also indicate a reinterpretation of an older work. The East Village Opera Company has appended many of their titles with redux to indicate a revisting of a traditional opera theme or aria.

In addition, redux may indicate that a work is a reduction or compression of an original work. The "Reducio" spell from the Harry Potter series appears to refer to this usage of the word.

A more altrustic use is found in Astraea Redux by John Dryden, where the name refers to an era which piques itself on the return of the reign of justice to the earth.