Subject: Gene Wolfe and the Severian series

From: DMARKFIE <dmarkfie at indymed.bitnet>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 1991 16:13:27 +0000

>On the subject of Gene Wolfe, are there any people out there who have read
>_The Shadow of the Torturer_ and the other books in the series?  I have
>not found many people who have read GW at all, let alone this series.
>
>Any comments?  Thoughts?

I've got most of the whole story of Severian and IMHO I found it a very
hard read.  Very slow, very plodding at times.  I realize that Gene Wolfe
has won awards, etc. but personally I did have trouble.  I enjoyed Shadow
it was just one of those books it seemed to take forever and Claw of the
Concilliator and Sword of Lichter hit me the same way but, I suppose on
the flip side Wolfe must have been doing something right for me to keep
buying and reading.  (or is it just that masochistic streak rising to the
top?)

Dave Markfield
dmarkfie at indymed.bitnet

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From: Mark Brown <mbrown at testsys.austin.ibm.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 1991 19:54:05 +0000

DMARKFIE at INDYMED.BITNET writes:
>>On the subject of Gene Wolfe, are there any people out there who have
>>read _The Shadow of the Torturer_ and the other books in the series?  I
>>have not found many people who have read GW at all, let alone this
>>series.  Any comments?  Thoughts?
>

Or, it may just be a love of great writing. Wolfe is easily one of my five
favorite writers.

The NEW SUN series (SHADOW, CLAW, SWORD, CASTLE and URTH) is *not* an
actioner. His point is as much to play with the language, and show you his
world, as it is to tell the story (which is not necessarily about
Severian).  He has a way of describing the commonplace such that it appears
new, fresh, and downright different at times. *All* of his characters are
fully-fleshed, including several minor ones; you cannot tell which of these
people will be important later (just like in real life)(and some of them
are!) and which are there just for color.

His plots, well, let's just say that you have to be on your toes, look at
everything carefully; everything is used.

Wolfe's written some lesser stuff - FREE LIVE FREE comes to mind
immediately.  His quality is so high in general, though, that I will easily
buy everything he writes.

Mark Brown
IBM PSP
Austin, TX.

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From: Mike Thome <mthome at bbn.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 1991 23:04:04 +0000

DMARKFIE at INDYMED.BITNET writes:
>>read _The Shadow of the Torturer_ and the other books in the series?
>hard read.

Not at all an uncommon experience with GW's works.  My personal feelings
about his novels run the gamut from interested frustration through near-awe
(for, say, There Are Doors and The Book of the New Sun respectively).  The
four parts of TBotNS stand out as one of my over-all favorite pieces of
fiction.

Gene Wolfe is not only one of the most literate authors out there
(especially when compared to the hacks that make up the bulk of the field),
but (in my experience) also is one of the very few writers in any genre who
is willing to experiment with truly different writing styles and devices.
Some are certainly less successful (or at least less accessible) than
others and sometimes readability suffers for the experimentation.  But
then, Pynchon, Joyce and Rushdie aren't exactly light reading, either.

Bottom line: IMHO, Gene Wolfe novels are usually *very* much worth the time
and effort.

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From: Andrew Merritt <apm at hpopd.pwd.hp.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 1991 12:42:29 +0000

>I've got most of the whole story of Severian and IMHO I found it a very

When I first started reading the series, I was expecting a Fantasy type
story and also found it hard going, and stopped reading.  I came back
later, realising that it is Science Fiction, and everything was much
easier.  Curious.  I am not sure what all this means!  It may be to do with
how easy it is to fit what is going on into a mental model of the world in
the book; things fit better if you realise it is set in a future Earth, not
a fantastical planet.

Andrew

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From: Dick Smith <smith!dick at ast.dsd.northrop.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 1991 05:32:23 +0000

I made a half-joking comment to Gene Wolfe sometime between the publication
of the 3rd and 4th books of this 4-logy, about being impatient with
Sevarian's progress. His reply:

   "Sevarian is a very slow walker."

Just in case you are wondering, I greatly enjoyed the _Book of the New
Sun_.  I'm less sure about some of Wolfe's later works, but that's for a
different posting.

Dick Smith