Subject: (urth) Re: Wolfe's little stories

From: James Wynn <crushtv at hotpop.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 00:46:18 +0000

> alga wrote:
>
> >And I don't think Wolfe is a very good short story >writer, by and large.
> Some of his fables are marvelous in >-Just-So- kind of way, and a few of
the
> longer stories, >novellas really, are very good. But if you're pinching
> >pennies, skipping a Wolfe collection is not unwise.
>

Crush sort-of disagrees:
Well, for the stuff I've read online, yeah, true. And I haven't read
"Strange Travellers" yet although it is on my shelf. But "Endangered
Spieces" (speaking as someone who isn't usually impressed by any "single
author" short story collection and doesn't typically like the short story
format) was the second book I read of Wolfe's (if one takes tBotNS as one
book), and I found it quite enjoyable. I've often wondered if Wolfe deserves
a cut of the profits of the movie 'The Last Action Hero" since it seems so
blatantly inspired by "The Last Thrilling Wonder Story" (no comments desired
about the merits of the movie -- I LIKED it). This story, aside from being
fun, it is an interesting analysis of how a character can hijack a story,
how a plot can develop beyond the genre intended by the author, and how
story plotting is often governed by unwritten rules. A very "inside" writing
story.

In that vein, a friend of mine was positive that "A Toy Story" was inspired
by "The War Beneath the Tree".

Let us not forget the "The Cat" and "The Map" which are two elaborations on
"The Book of the New Sun". Honestly, I can't remember the plot of "The Cat"
right now but I thoroughly enjoyed "The Map" and still think about it lo
these many years later from time to time, speculating on what happened in
key plot points. Tim already mentioned "The Detective of Dreams" which is in
this collection. But what about "The House of Gingerbread"? Good, good
stuff.

"The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories" also has some
real surprises (the title story is IMO not one of them): "IBEM," "Tracking
Song," "The Death of Dr. Island", "Werewolfe as Hero" (I'm operating
entirely from memory here).

There are some duds in both collections but frankly one has to expect that.
One will often put up with a chapter in a novel that falls flat, goes
nowhere, or is just not one's cup of tea -- and still give the work a hearty
thumbs up (I never really enjoyed the play in tBotNS). When reading short
story collections (especially those all by one author where some less than
premium examples inevitably make their way in) I tend to take the same
attitude -- expecting only that the collection on a whole be enjoyable. In
these two cases, I'd say they cut muster.

-- Crush

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 15:30:04 +0000

Wolfe's short story collections are a mixed bag.  Some stories I really
like, some I don't enjoy that much.  Island of Doctor Death has some
fantastic novellas: Seven American Nights, Tracking Song, Eyeflash
Miracles.

Here's the order I'd rank the collections, with my favorites:

Island of Doctor Death
 The Death of Doctor Island
 Tracking Song
 The Eyeflash Miracles
 Seven American Nights
 Alien Stones

Endangered Species
 When I Was Ming the Merciless
 The Last Thrilling Wonder Story
 A Cabin on the Coast
 Thag
 The Other Dead Man
 Peritonitis
 The HORARS of War

Castle of Days
 Forlesen
 How I Lost the Second World War
 The War Beneath the Tree

Storeys from the Old Hotel
 Westwind
 The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton
 A Solar Labyrinth

Strange Travellers
  My least favorite.  "And When they Appear" and "The Ziggurat" are good
stories, but kind of grim.  "To the Seventh" is fun and I like "Bed and
Breakfast," but they aren't great.

-- Rostrum

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