Gene Wolfe and Patrick O'Brian

I notice Bruce Trinque, noted Patrick O'Brian scholar and afficianado, has joined the Urth list. Welcome, Bruce! It'd be interesting to hear how you compare POB and GW... --Nick Gevers.

I notice Bruce Trinque, noted Patrick O'Brian scholar and afficianado, has joined the Urth list. Welcome, Bruce! It'd be interesting to hear how you compare POB and GW... --Nick Gevers.

Nicholas Gevers writes:

I suspect there is quite an overlap between the two fandoms. :-)

There certainly is after Bruce mentioned Gene Wolfe on a POB mailing list recently.

So would this be a good time to mention on the Urth mailing list that a careful reading of "21", the final, uncompleted novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series mentions a strange figure with a glove with spikes? ;) Fred Kiesche (who has been on both lists for a while, but is not far enough on either to comment much)

In a message dated 4/8/2007 3:46:25 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, vermoulian at yahoo.com writes: I notice Bruce Trinque, noted Patrick O'Brian scholar and afficianado, has joined the Urth list. An aficionado, yes. A scholar, no. Welcome, Thank'ee, thank'ee. Now, over on the Patrick O'Brian list we keep around some grog to welcome new members. I don't suppose ... Bruce! It'd be interesting to hear how you compare POB and GW... I find the reading of them to be vastly different experiences. POB's prose sweeps me along, while that of GW demands my close, close attention, frequently stopping and going back to se what I had missed -- and ninety percent of the time I find that Wolfe is simply employing a narrative technique of plopping in new names and references to old incidents without laying in preparatory groundwork. I think that O'Brian adheres fairly closely to traditional narrative techniques, while of course Wolfe delights in experimenting with new ways to challenge his readers (not that O'Brian does not occasionally lay a trap for the unwary). I frequently listen to O'Brian novels as audiobooks while commuting; I cannot conceive of doing that with Wolfe (finding it necessary to go back and re-read). I have recently re-read the Short Sun trilogy, then took a break with a few history volumes, the read (for the first time) "The Knight", then another break, then "The Wizard", and now another break before I tackled "Soldier of Sidon" (I have read the first two Latro books some time ago and plan on browsing through them -- but not re-reading -- before I embark on the new one). I find these breaks between Wolfe novels to be necessary to avoid overload, while I can read one POB novel after another. Bruce Trinque Amston, CT

Recursive Loop writes:

Um, what page????