He was the first author I read where I couldn't get away with my typical habit at-the-time of skimming the boring bits, rather than paying close attention to the text, and which was interesting enough to warrant reading more carefully. A great writer. I'll have to pick up what I missed of his work.
Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
21–30 of 59 posts
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#22Wolfe wrote some incredible masterpieces. The Fifth Head of Cerberus , Peace , and some of his 1970s short stories deserve a place in 20th-century serious literature in general. The Book of the New Sun stunned me as a teenage reader, and I fondly reread the book every few years (that said, Severian’s habit of shagging everyone he meets doesn’t hold up well in this day and age, and I have seen female readers call The…
I recently reread Book of the New Sun for the first time in more than twenty years, and yeah, it makes a different impression at 54 than it did at 17, not least because it was familiar now and new then. The characters, especially Severian, quite often act in ways that are not admirable, and I can be pretty sure that Gene intended that we see some of the not admirable traits as actual flaws. He is not, for instance, suggesting that sleeping with your grandmother is a good idea. He wasn't going to make it that easy for us.
But Peace and Fifth Head of Ceberus, and much of his short fiction remain classic.
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#23Wolfe wrote some incredible masterpieces. The Fifth Head of Cerberus , Peace , and some of his 1970s short stories deserve a place in 20th-century serious literature in general. The Book of the New Sun stunned me as a teenage reader, and I fondly reread the book every few years (that said, Severian’s habit of shagging everyone he meets doesn’t hold up well in this day and age, and I have seen female readers call The…
I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking another look?
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#24Wolfe wrote some incredible masterpieces. The Fifth Head of Cerberus , Peace , and some of his 1970s short stories deserve a place in 20th-century serious literature in general. The Book of the New Sun stunned me as a teenage reader, and I fondly reread the book every few years (that said, Severian’s habit of shagging everyone he meets doesn’t hold up well in this day and age, and I have seen female readers call The…
I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking another look?
If the premise is enough to ruin your enjoyment of the book then you shouldn't read it.
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Also, I remember reading somewhere that he was a working engineer while he wrote some of his first novels; You are correct - he was an industrial engineer. I'm not sure if he was working on a team, or just by himself, but he helped to design the machinery that creates Pringles (potato chip). He was also the editor for a trade magazine on industrial engineering.
Do you happen to have any references for that? I in no way doubt you, but I hope to use this fact to dazzle a child when I get home; and maybe persuade her to read some top class sci-fi.
He also discusses it in an interview I scanned the other week: https://www.gwern.net/docs/fiction/2002-wolfe-locusinterview...
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#26Wolfe wrote some incredible masterpieces. The Fifth Head of Cerberus , Peace , and some of his 1970s short stories deserve a place in 20th-century serious literature in general. The Book of the New Sun stunned me as a teenage reader, and I fondly reread the book every few years (that said, Severian’s habit of shagging everyone he meets doesn’t hold up well in this day and age, and I have seen female readers call The…
I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking another look?
I don't think that summary is accurate. The Book of the New Sun is deep, heady, high literature, not an indulgent fantasy adventure. It reads like a bit like a mythological holy book, authored by the supposed prophet - and you kind of have to read it like one, to get anything out of it - as if you're doing a deep textual exegesis. Its not A Game of Thrones.
It was definitely an interesting story, though it could be a chore to get through at some points, and I'm still kind of trying to figure out if I actually like it or not, or how much I actually really understood. It definitely won't appeal to many or even most people, I'd say. Its a heavy, somber experience, very little humor.
I will say, upon starting a re-read, it felt like nearly every word/sentence/paragraph in its initial chapters were impressively thick with double meanings, foreshadowings, and themes that only really become clear after finishing the story.
PS - the audiobooks are really well done - the narrator is just perfect.
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#27Wolfe wrote some incredible masterpieces. The Fifth Head of Cerberus , Peace , and some of his 1970s short stories deserve a place in 20th-century serious literature in general. The Book of the New Sun stunned me as a teenage reader, and I fondly reread the book every few years (that said, Severian’s habit of shagging everyone he meets doesn’t hold up well in this day and age, and I have seen female readers call The…
I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking another look?
It might or might not be worth it, but whatever it is, merely having a story about "an executioner becoming a tyrant" won't be the reason...
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking another look?
I don't think that summary is accurate. The Book of the New Sun is deep, heady, high literature, not an indulgent fantasy adventure. It reads like a bit like a mythological holy book, authored by the supposed prophet - and you kind of have to read it like one, to get anything out of it - as if you're doing a deep textual exegesis. Its not A Game of Thrones. It was definitely an interesting story, though it could be a…
That's fair. Like I said, it was a long time ago, and I didn't finish the series. I just remember it often being a chore to read, with a loathsome main character. Maybe it made a larger point that I missed at the time, but I was a kid reading David Eddings.
PS - I'll check out the audiobooks. I hope they're as good as Rob Inglis' reading of The Lord of the Rings. It may not count as "deep, heady, high literature," but he does an incredible job.
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#29It gets lost in his other excellent books, but I really liked Pirate Freedom. A guy from the near future finds himself sent back in time to the golden age of piracy, and Wolfe does a masterful job of tying the plot threads together at the end.
Re: Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87
#30Sad to see another of my favorite authors pass away. Those who aren't into fantasy may enjoy his last novel, A Borrowed Man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Borrowed_Man
RIP