{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4049", "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": "urth", "thread": { "id": 4049, "subject": "How would you rate Wolfe as a short story writer?", "messages": 5, "voices": 5, "first": "2003-06-25T17:06:46+00:00", "last": "2003-06-27T16:03:58+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Anthony Ferrara", "address": "ajferrara72 at yahoo.com" }, "date": "2003-06-25T17:06:46+00:00", "subject": "(urth) How would you rate Wolfe as a short story writer?", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I believe Gene Wolfe is one of the greatest novelists of any time period. I also believe Wolfe have written some great short stories. However, I don't think his short stories consistently attain to th \nAnthony " } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "cilluff1 at optonline.net", "address": "cilluff1 at optonline.net" }, "date": "2003-06-25T17:37:36+00:00", "subject": "RE: (urth) How would you rate Wolfe as a short story writer?", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Anthony, we've had this debate before on the list and I agree with you (as\ndid a few other listers, Alga I think began the discussion). I think Wolfe\nis a superb novelist, particularly when he is writing a multi-volume work. \nBut his short stories IMHO have been good certainly but not up to the high\nstandard set by his longer fiction. Perhaps he is a victim of his own\nsuccess: his novels set the bar so high that anything less seems rather\nordinary. Very few of Wolfe's short stories grab me the way, say, Ted\nChiang's do. \n\nBut in fairness to Mr. Wolfe I must admit I have not read The Island of\nDoctor Death and Other Stories (and Other Stories), which is generally\nconsidered to be his best work in the genre. I'm smack dab in the middle of\nAlastair Reynold's \"Chasm City\" and Norman Spinrad's \"The Void Captain's\nTale\" right now, each of which is excellent in its own way. TVCT strikes\nme, actually, as rather Woflean in style, perhaps because it is baroque and\nlyrical and filled with metaphors (although slightly more obvious than\nWolfe) a la TBOTNS. Chasm City, on the other hand, although it certainly\ncan be read on multiple levels is really just more of an excellent and very\nwell written page turner.\n\n- Joe" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Sam Keyes", "address": "skeyes at richmond.edu" }, "date": "2003-06-25T17:53:35+00:00", "subject": "RE: (urth) How would you rate Wolfe as a short story writer?", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I, too, am really still unfamiliar with most of Wolfe's short fiction\n(though I did just buy Island of Doctor Death). I wonder if this seeming\ndiscrepancy is inevitable (and given what Wolfe has said about doing \"big\"\nprojects, he knows this too). I mean, in the world of fiction, quantity\ndoes, perhaps more often than we would like to admit, tend to accompany\nhigh quality. So maybe it's not that Wolfe is weaker in short stories,\nbut rather that short stories, formally, are usually weaker--or, I ought\nto add, weaker at asking the questions and playing the games that Wolfe\nlikes to do, which are usually on a grand scale.\n\nsnk" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Anthony, we've had this debate before on the list and I agree with you\n(as did a few other listers, Alga I think began the discussion). I\nthink Wolfe is a superb novelist, particularly when he is writing a\nmulti-volume work. But his short stories IMHO have been good certainly\nbut not up to the high standard set by his longer fiction. Perhaps he\nis a victim of his own success: his novels set the bar so high that\nanything less seems rather ordinary. Very few of Wolfe's short stories\ngrab me the way, say, Ted Chiang's do.\n\nBut in fairness to Mr. Wolfe I must admit I have not read The Island of\nDoctor Death and Other Stories (and Other Stories), which is generally\nconsidered to be his best work in the genre. I'm smack dab in the middle\nof Alastair Reynold's \"Chasm City\" and Norman Spinrad's \"The Void\nCaptain's Tale\" right now, each of which is excellent in its own way.\nTVCT strikes me, actually, as rather Woflean in style, perhaps because\nit is baroque and lyrical and filled with metaphors (although slightly\nmore obvious than Wolfe) a la TBOTNS. Chasm City, on the other hand,\nalthough it certainly can be read on multiple levels is really just more\nof an excellent and very well written page turner.\n\n- Joe\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------\nmail2web - Check your email from the web at\nhttp://mail2web.com/ .\n\n\n\n--\nunsubscribe: send \"unsubscribe\" to urth-request at urth.net" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Tony Ellis", "address": "tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk" }, "date": "2003-06-26T09:08:37+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) How would you rate Wolfe as a short story writer?", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Sam Keyes wrote:\nSo maybe it's not that Wolfe is weaker in short stories,\nbut rather that short stories, formally, are usually weaker--or, I ought\nto add, weaker at asking the questions and playing the games that Wolfe\nlikes to do, which are usually on a grand scale." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I¹m always surprised when I see people post that they don¹t rate Wolfe so\nmuch as a short story writer. If they¹re expecting the big, multi-layered\nmysteries of his novels, as you suggest, that might explain why.\n\nPersonally I enjoy Wolfe every bit as much for his short stories as for his\nnovels, and I've read about 95% of them. I love a good stylist and a I love\na writer who knows how to be concise, and Wolfe excels in both these areas.\n\nI agree that some stories are a lot better than others, but I still find the\naverage Wolfe short more rewarding than the average short by most other SF\nwriters. I also find it very hard to imagine an entire canon of 300-odd\nshort stories all as good as Kevin Malone, The War Beneath the Tree, Against\nthe Lafayette Escadrille etc ­ gems which I have read over and over again\nsimply for the pleasure of the writing\n\n\nThis email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please reply to this email and then delete it. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Future. \n\nThe recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. Future accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. \n\nFuture may regularly and randomly monitor outgoing and incoming emails and other telecommunications on its email and telecommunications systems. By replying to this email you give your consent to such monitoring." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Jordan", "address": "jbjordan4 at cox.net" }, "date": "2003-06-27T16:03:58+00:00", "subject": "RE: (urth) How would you rate Wolfe as a short story writer?", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Having read all of Wolfe's short stories, except for recent ones published \nin odd and hard to find (expensive) books, I would say this: There are two \nkinds. Wolfe has written some fluffy, often funny pieces, like \"The \nHeadless Man.\" These are fun to read, but hardly \"great.\" On the other \nhand, there are some excellent stories of full literary quality, and I \nthink they are fully on a part with his longer work.\n\nNutria" } ] } ] }