# The shadow of the Torturer

*The SF-Lovers list — 4 messages, 3 voices, 03 Jun 1983*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/12>

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### ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim
*undated*

Gene Wolfe is one of the brightest new talents in speculative
fiction.  His best work is the four-volume "Book of the New Sun",
consisting of "The Shadow of the Torturer", "The Claw of the
Conciliator", "The Sword of the Lictor", and "The Citadel of the
Autarch".  The second volume won the Nebula Award, and the third and
fourth are likely candidates for the same award.

     The protagonist of the series is Severian, a young and quietly
insane journeyman of the despised Torturer's Guild (the Guild of
Seekers of Truth and Penitence).  The setting is a time so far in the
future that today is less than a memory, with even our legends
forgotten.  Mankind has flourished and fallen over the millions of
years.  The setting is surrealistic medieval.  The influence of
Vance's excellent "The Dying Earth" is clear, but it would be a
mistake to label Wolfe as in any way derivative.

     This is probably not a work for people who only read science
fiction or fantasy.  The literary and mythological allusions are
thick, though never really annoyingly so, and the style is far from
the usual matter-of-fact description of sf, full of ambiguity and
unusual metaphor.  If the books seem to drag, you're probably not
paying enough attention -- there is more on many pages than in entire
chapters of most fantasies.

     I can't see how to give a useful plot synopsis without spoiling
it for you, so I can only recommend it highly.

Tim Maroney

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### hplabs!hpda!fortune!amd70!packet!cfv
*undated · follows ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim*

I wouldn't exactly call Wolfe a 'new' talent. I was reading him
in high school a long time ago... He has just never made (or wanted)
the spotlight before New Sun came out.

     Calling his work 'SF' or 'Fantasy' is invalid. He has written a
major work of literature that happens to use some of the settings of
the genres. It is in my mind the most important piece of literature I
have seen published since Tolkien, and I think that it is better than
Tolkien (heresy?)

chuck

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### ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim
*undated · follows hplabs!hpda!fortune!amd70!packet!cfv*

When I said that Wolfe was a new talent, I was not considering
the novella "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" or any of his fine earlier
work, but the new stuff really makes the old look sick.  Like you, I
read "Cerberus" in high school.

     Wolfe seems far better than Tolkien to me.  I think Tolkien is
vastly overrated.

Tim Maroney

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### Arturo Perez
*03 Jun 1983, 10:37 · follows ihnp4!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim*

I'm sorry folks but I have to agree with Mclure on the Gene Wolfe
novel.  I tend to read to the end anything I pick up but I could not
finish Torturer.  I think the writing style was very bad and the story
didn't seem to be headed anywhere.  It was a waste of my time..

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