Redux

Redux is an adjective meaning "brought back, restored" (from the Latin reducere - bring back). ["Oxford English Dictionary" entry for "redux".]

Works of literature using the word in the title are John Dryden's "Astraea Redux" (1662), "a poem on the happy restoration and return of His Sacred Majesty"; Anthony Trollope's "Phineas Redux" (1873), the sequel to "Phineas Finn" (1867); and John Updike's "Rabbit Redux" (1970), the second in his sequence of novels about the character Rabbit Angstrom.

"Rabbit Redux" led to a redux in the popularity of the word redux and, in "Rabbit at Rest" (1990), Rabbit Angstrom notices "a story...in the Sarasota paper a week or so ago, headlined Circus Redux. He hates that word, you see it everywhere, and he doesn't know how to pronounce it. Like arbitrageur and perestroika." ["Rabbit at Rest", p.50]

The term has been adopted by film-makers to denote a new interpretation. This trend began with "Apocalypse Now Redux", which Francis Ford Coppola released in 2001, re-editing and extending his original 1979 movie. The emphasis on re-interpretation is significant. Rather than simply denoting a sequel or prequel, the term relates to the retelling of an established storyline or re-introduction to existing characters, places or mythologies. Recent movie reduxes have included the 2006 version of Casino Royale and Batman Begins.

It has also been used by music producers to describe what is more often referred to as a remix.

Redux may also refer to:
*"Redux" (The X-Files) and "Redux II", two parts of an episode of "The X-Files"
*Redux (adhesive), an aircraft adhesive
*"Redux" (Adam Ant album)
*Redux (dexfenfluramine hydrochloride), a weight loss drug withdrawn in 1997

References