{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/154", "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": 154, "subject": "Free Live Free by Wolfe", "messages": 8, "voices": 6, "first": "2000-03-22T20:30:00+00:00", "last": "2000-03-24T01:24:19+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ahab's soul", "address": "barnes.183 at osu.edu" }, "date": "2000-03-22T20:30:00+00:00", "subject": "Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Just read this interesting little book. Other Wolfe works I have read\ninclude: \nCastleview\nPandora by Holly Hollander\nIsland of doctor death and other stories and other stories\nBotNS (including epilogue)\nPeace\n\n_FLF_ is certainly an interesting book. It is written in a way that makes\nthe book more of a page turner than many books out there but it isn't as\nmuch of a page turner as _Castleview_. The humor aspect (especially\ninvolving the mental hospital nonsense) is quite new to me. I can't\nremember another Wolfe work with so much humor in it. He does a good job\nwith the humor but it never reaches the quality of the humor in\n_Confederacy of Dunces_, _Lolita_, _Don Quixote_, or _Master and the\nMargarita_. However, for a guy who may have been new to using humor in his\nwriting, one can't expect a classic of comic literature.\n\n_FLF_ reminds me of _Castleview_ in that it goes from on distinct section\nto a very distinct concluding section. _Castleview_ goes from a\nbreathtaking, Scooby Doo mystery, with cliff hangers at every turn and\nturns into something quite different in the last few pages. _FLF_ goes\nfrom the mystery phase (quite a different approach to mystery than in_PbHH_\nor _Castleview_. Maybe more like _PbHH_ than _C_) to the strange\nconclusion phase. I think the writing style shifts that occur at these\nboundaries alone guaranteed that the novels would not become bestsellers.\nOf course another thing that separates _C_ and _FLF_ from run-of-the-mill\nmysteries or horror stories is the amount of wrapping up Wolfe does at the\nend of each. I was left feeling somewhat confused about events upon\nfinishing both books and plan to reread each of them to see if all they\nneed is a second reading.\n\nA question I have is how much confusion he wants people to feel as they\ncomplete these 2 books. Does Wolfe just write for a more intelligent\nreader than me? Perhaps a person who can tie everything together in\nhis/her head would not find anything lacking upon reaching the final pages\nof each book? Or could it be his goal to leave readers with a feeling that\nthere is more to the story than they have picked up.\n\nAnother question I have is what other Wolfe works are worth taking up? I\nhave avoided the Long Sun books because they have been universally reviewed\nas worse than BotNS. A second reason is relates to the fact that\npublishers seem so into pushing writers to create multi-volume fantasy\nepics right now. I wonder if Wolfe is just cranking the 2 latest Sun sagas\nto get cash (not bad in itself) but hasn't any real interest in creating\nworks of quality like his other material.\n\nAny feedback on where to go in my reading of Wolfe would be appreciated." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ron Henry", "address": "ronhenry at clarityconnect.com" }, "date": "2000-03-22T21:13:37+00:00", "subject": "Re: Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Wolfe's multi-volume works might look, from the outside, like series\npotboilers, but they're anything but. I just finished reading On Blue's\nWaters, and I can testify that it's as smart, and in many ways as subtle,\nas anything he's ever written. He seems really to have mastered the art of\ndeceptive simplicity - making a story look quite straightforward while\nconcealing all sorts of tricks and hints and foreshadowings. Wonderful\nstuff to read.\n\nHis other books of short stories, Endangered Species and Storeys from the\nOld Hotel, are well worth reading (as is, I presume, the new one, Strange\nTravellers, which I have not yet gotten). I also enjoyed There Are Doors\nand The Fifth Head of Cerberus, though both of these might take several\nreadings to fully appreciate (lots of very subtle clues and general\nambiguity about what's really going on and who is who).\n\nRon Henry" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ahab's soul", "address": "barnes.183 at osu.edu" }, "date": "2000-03-22T22:08:02+00:00", "subject": "Re: Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "ronhenry at clarityconnect.com wrote:\nI also enjoyed [snip] The Fifth Head of Cerberus, " }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I almost picked this up at the book store the other day, but then it\noccurred to me that I may have read it already. Isn't there a short story\nor novella in _The Island of Dr. Death & other Stories & Other stories_ by\nthis name? If so, what is the relationship between what is in that\ncollection and the book that bears the same name?" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Andrea Leistra", "address": "aleistra at f1n7.u.arizona.edu" }, "date": "2000-03-22T23:13:16+00:00", "subject": "Re: Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The novella \"The Fifth Head of Cerebus\" is the first of three linked\nnovellas in the book _The Fifth Head of Cerebus_. The other two are \"'A\nStory,' by John V. Marsch\" and \"V.R.T\".\n\nAndrea Leistra" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Avram Grumer", "address": "avram at bigfoot.com" }, "date": "2000-03-23T18:08:57+00:00", "subject": "Re: Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "And don't forget the New Sun of Estarcion books, currently in print as\n_Church & Claw_, _Mothers & Shadows_, and _Guys of the New Sun_. I loved\nthe scene where Severian climbs to the top of the House Absolute and tells\nthe faithful that they have to conquer the Ascians or the New Sun will\nincinerate their nostril-hairs.\n\nAvram Grumer" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Michael Straight", "address": "straight at email.unc.edu" }, "date": "2000-03-23T18:28:20+00:00", "subject": "Re: Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I really enjoyed Wolfe's Soldier books (Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of\nArete). Fantasy set in ancient Greece, although Wolfe almost makes you\nbelieve that he sees it as an historical adventure novel and that he\nbelieves the Greek gods were real." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ahab's soul", "address": "barnes.183 at osu.edu" }, "date": "2000-03-23T19:21:59+00:00", "subject": "Re: Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Actually, I have read both Soldier novels and enjoyed them though I forgot\nto mention in my initial post that they are among my Wolfe reads. I hope\nhe gets around to finishing that series before he retires. How many more\n\"Sun\" books are on the drawing board?\n\nI guess I will have to get the BotLS and BotSS series if so many Wolfe fans\nare praising them. I just noticed a BIG difference between the number of\nawards his first series got and how well recieved the later ones were and\nassumed that this meant that the other Sun sagas were of inferior material." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "CPars56235", "address": "cpars56235 at aol.com" }, "date": "2000-03-24T01:24:19+00:00", "subject": "Re: Free Live Free by Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Odd that no one has mentioned _Peace_.\nWonderful storytelling. Find it, read it, then do the dance.\n\nCharles\n\nSPOILER\n\nIt's a ghost story. (What? You though I was giving away secrets?)" } ] } ] }