THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH and THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER

harpo!npoiv!hou5f!ariel!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn · undated · from sf-lovers.1983.mbox

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From: harpo!npoiv!hou5f!ariel!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn@Berkeley
Subject: THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH and THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER
Date: 6 Feb 83 22:11:54-PST (Sun)
Message-ID: <sflovers-v7-17-4 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V7 #17
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-07

Gene Wolfe's tetralogy "THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN" is now complete
with the publication of "THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH".  CITADEL follows
the ex-torturer Severian, shocked by his loss at the end of the
previous volume ("THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR"), as he wanders northward
and becomes embroiled in the war with the Ascians.  It rapidly becomes
apparent that the war is more than just a struggle for territory, but
its full complexity does not become apparent until a series of
not-quite-coincidences leads to Severian's accession to the position
of Autarch of the realm.  The book concludes with Severian's regal
return to the Citadel in which he was born and raised as a torturer,
where he resolves to attempt to bring forth the New Sun, just as the
former Autarch tried to do, but failed.  The book also explains more
of the background to the peculiar Christian/Hindu mythology, and even
provides a science-fictional rationale for some of it.  All in all an
excellent book and worth buying in hardcover (as I did).  Most of the
important threads of plot from the previous volumes are wrapped up,
but alas we do not find out whether Severian succeeds in his final
task; if this matters to you, then you will want to read the
(projected) sequel "THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN" when it comes out.

     If like me you would like to know even more about the world of
"THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN", there is yet another book, "THE CASTLE OF
THE OTTER" (Ziesing Bros.: Willimantic, Connecticut, 1982, 117pp.).
The title of this book derives from a mistaken announcement of CITADEL
in Locus magazine; Wolfe couldn't resist using the name because he
knew the perfect epigram for it (from "THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS").
Wolfe explains why he wrote the book: "When a writer has the gall to
do an entire book, even a very small one, about the writing of a
previous book, it's more or less customary for him to announce that
he's acting in response to innumerable and insistent demands.
Unfortunately, I'm not...  Why do it, then? Out of a sort of blind
optimism.  Every writer worth his two-cents-a-word hopes, in some
little corner of his mind at least, that somewhere out there, there
are a few people who will do more than read his book, pitch it away,
and reach for the next one -- people who will read and reread, study
the cover, perhaps, in search of some clue, shelve the book and later
take it out again, just to hold.  There was a time when I could put
the palm of my hand flat on the front of a tattered paperback called
"THE DYING EARTH" and feel the magic seeping through the cardboard:
Turjan of Miir, Liane the Wayfarer, T'sais, Chun the Unavoidable.
Nobody I knew had so much as heard of that book, but I knew it was the
finest book in the world."  Needless to say, THE DYING EARTH by Jack
Vance and its sequel "THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD" are among my absolute
favorite books and there are more than a few similarities between "NEW
SUN" and "DYING EARTH"...  an interesting bit of trivia.

     More trivia in "THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER":

     * "NEW SUN" originated as an unpublished novella called" THE
        FEAST OF SAINT CATHERINE".

     * The story grew from a novella to a novel to a trilogy to
       finally a tetralogy...

     * "NEW SUN" as a whole went through two drafts before the
        first volume came out, in a situation not unlike "THE
        LORD OF THE RINGS" -- Wolfe wanted to be able to
        change the first book on the basis of plot events in
        the last book...

     * There is a chapter "Words Weird and Wonderful" that
       glosses all the strange words in "THE SHADOW OF THE
       TORTURER" on a chapter by chapter basis.

     * There are also chapters on writing, on publishing, on
       warfare in Severian's time and also a chapter
       containing a set of jokes as told by various
       characters from "NEW SUN".

                           Yours trivially,

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