Subject: (urth) The Wolfe Library

From: Fantasma <cglst7+ at pitt.edu>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 21:52:00 +0000

Not to rudely change subject, but since we're in the constructive mood, a
question.

I'm new to the list, and though I've reviewed the archives I don't think
that this question has been raised, which frankly stuns me. To wit: 

What is the Essential Gene Wolfe Library?

I realize that this is as much about authors (and readers, Wolfe is
quick to note) as books, but I'm interested in what people think about 
this and what level of authority is possible. From my limited experience
and perception, and straight from Wolfe's own mouth (or letter-writing
pen), I could think of five essentials, including other influential books
by the same author--

The Book of Imaginary Beings, Jorge Luis Borges (Ficciones, The Aleph and
Other Stories)
The Dying Earth, Jack Vance
The Everlasting Man, G. K. Chesterton (The Man Who Was Friday,
Autobiography, Father Brown et al)
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
Michaelmas, Algis Budrys (Rogue Moon, Who?)

This is all in addition to the reference section of our Library. The
Compact OED, principally, which has been repeatedly substituted for the
minds and careers of the people on this list (just playin', guys, just
playin'). A good encyclopedia (my favorite is the rare 11th edition of the
Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1910-1911). A good "Lives of the Saints" (the
Penguin dictionary is probably the most accurate). Mrs. Byrne's 
dictionary. *The New York Times' Guide to Misspelled, etc*. I'm sure that
people could supplement this with resources outside of language, which is
the only thing I am fairly familiar with. 

If people really think this is as interesting to establish as I do, then
there should be an illustrious, enigmatic approval committee, in which
case I hesitantly nominate myself as Chairman. No, really, you're too
kind.

				-A Slightly Apprehensive Fantasma

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: CRCulver <crculver at aol.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 03:53:02 +0000

Phantasma said:
<Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov>

A ha! I've been waiting for someone to mention PF, as I've always thought it
similar to Borges who is similar to Wolfe. (Note: it may have been discussed
before, but so far back that I had not yet read the book and ignored it all,
let me check the archives).

As for the library, I think what you have suffices, though _The Collected
Fictions of J.L.B._ could be added to the BoIB, because there are parts of
Peace and the Book of the New Sun which are influed by _Ficciones_ and _The
Aleph and Other Stories_, not just the BoIB.

For the more esoteric and nutty of us, myself included, you could throw in
Gershom Scholem's book "The Kaballah," to see from where the two+ universe
structure comes.

Cheers,

Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com>
President Pro-Tempore of USEJ
Prezidanto Dumtempa de USEJ
--------------------------------------------------
http://ttt.esperanto.org/usej/

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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 05:49:00 +0000

Lest we forget, PALE FIRE contains a haunting (near-death?) vision of
a white fountain . . . and when the artist at last meets another
person who has had this vision, he warms up with wonder that another
human being has seen it, the fountain is somehow a real thing, and
then she murmers that it is like Mont Blanc, which seems like a
non sequitur, until she says ah, the white mountain!  And within him
the ediface of a shared mystical experience comes crashing down.

IIRC.

If I'd read PALE FIRE before I'd written the Lexicon, I probably
wouldn't have written the Lexicon at all--the horrible humor of
seeing something beautiful (in that case it was poetry) butchered by
a highly-inventive-yet-obviously-wrong reading.  Well!  Ignorance is
Strength.

Re: the Essential Wolfe Library.  Hard to say--boiled down to five or
six titles sounds more like the "quintessential" Wolfe Library!  Have
to include the Bible, clearly.  Here's another application where what
would come in handy would be a list of every book he has ever
mentioned in interviews (so often they ask him about influencial
authors and books!) and in articles.  (I've got the start of such a
list somewhere around, which is why I keep bringing it up, I
suppose.  Half-started lists, like a splinter in a hand.)

That Vance entry looks to be dead-on: in talking to him and
corresponding with him I get the impression that Gene Wolfe has read a
lot of Vance, and what we know of his reading habits (re: Chesterton,
for example) we can assume he read everything at one point, but the
only title he has ever mentioned in public is that one: THE DYING
EARTH.

=mantis=

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From: Alex David Groce <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 11:09:48 +0000

On Jan 26,  5:49am, m.driussi at genie.com wrote:
> Subject: (urth) The Wolfe Library

	Also, although I doubt it influenced PEACE (since Wolfe has said he
came to read Nabokov only later), I think of PEACE and PALE FIRE as two sides
of one coin--Weer turns his story into a story that is about everyone else,
while Kinbote turns another man's story into his own.

> suppose.  Half-started lists, like a splinter in a hand.)

Other titles for the library:

Crowley's LITTLE, BIG (I've never seen Wolfe mention the AEGYPT or LOVE &
SLEEP, but he called LITTLE, BIG "an education in modern fantasy")
Le Guin's THE BEGINNING PLACE (and definitely not THE DISPOSSESED, which Wolfe
disliked--especially as I share his opinion...)
Kipling's THE JUNGLE BOOK (1&2), COLLECTED POETRY
Poe's short stories
Robert Grave's I, CLAUDIUS and CLAUDIUS THE GOD (highly important, given all
the obvious influences on BOTNS)

Perhaps also some representative Nero Wolfe mystery, as Wolfe has said those
are his favorite detective stories.

-- 
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce