{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/12", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "sflovers", "thread": { "id": 12, "subject": "The shadow of the Torturer", "messages": 4, "voices": 3, "first": "1983-06-03T10:37:00+00:00", "last": "1983-06-03T10:37:00+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim", "address": "ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim@ucb-vax" }, "date": null, "subject": "Re: Re:The shadow of the Torturer", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Gene Wolfe is one of the brightest new talents in speculative\nfiction. His best work is the four-volume \"Book of the New Sun\",\nconsisting of \"The Shadow of the Torturer\", \"The Claw of the\nConciliator\", \"The Sword of the Lictor\", and \"The Citadel of the\nAutarch\". The second volume won the Nebula Award, and the third and\nfourth are likely candidates for the same award.\n\n The protagonist of the series is Severian, a young and quietly\ninsane journeyman of the despised Torturer's Guild (the Guild of\nSeekers of Truth and Penitence). The setting is a time so far in the\nfuture that today is less than a memory, with even our legends\nforgotten. Mankind has flourished and fallen over the millions of\nyears. The setting is surrealistic medieval. The influence of\nVance's excellent \"The Dying Earth\" is clear, but it would be a\nmistake to label Wolfe as in any way derivative.\n\n This is probably not a work for people who only read science\nfiction or fantasy. The literary and mythological allusions are\nthick, though never really annoyingly so, and the style is far from\nthe usual matter-of-fact description of sf, full of ambiguity and\nunusual metaphor. If the books seem to drag, you're probably not\npaying enough attention -- there is more on many pages than in entire\nchapters of most fantasies.\n\n I can't see how to give a useful plot synopsis without spoiling\nit for you, so I can only recommend it highly.\n\nTim Maroney" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "hplabs!hpda!fortune!amd70!packet!cfv", "address": "hplabs!hpda!fortune!amd70!packet!cfv@ucb-vax" }, "date": null, "subject": "Re: Re:The shadow of the Torturer", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I wouldn't exactly call Wolfe a 'new' talent. I was reading him\nin high school a long time ago... He has just never made (or wanted)\nthe spotlight before New Sun came out.\n\n Calling his work 'SF' or 'Fantasy' is invalid. He has written a\nmajor work of literature that happens to use some of the settings of\nthe genres. It is in my mind the most important piece of literature I\nhave seen published since Tolkien, and I think that it is better than\nTolkien (heresy?)\n\nchuck" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim", "address": "ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim@ucb-vax" }, "date": null, "subject": "Re: Re:The shadow of the Torturer", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "When I said that Wolfe was a new talent, I was not considering\nthe novella \"The Fifth Head of Cerberus\" or any of his fine earlier\nwork, but the new stuff really makes the old look sick. Like you, I\nread \"Cerberus\" in high school.\n\n Wolfe seems far better than Tolkien to me. I think Tolkien is\nvastly overrated.\n\nTim Maroney" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Arturo Perez", "address": "art@mit-mc" }, "date": "1983-06-03T10:37:00+00:00", "subject": "Re:The shadow of the Torturer", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I'm sorry folks but I have to agree with Mclure on the Gene Wolfe\nnovel. I tend to read to the end anything I pick up but I could not\nfinish Torturer. I think the writing style was very bad and the story\ndidn't seem to be headed anywhere. It was a waste of my time.." } ] } ] }