Gene Wolfe and the Severian series

Mike Thome · 11 Feb 1991, 23:04 · from sf-lovers.1991.mbox

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From: mthome at bbn.com (Mike Thome)
Subject: Re: Gene Wolfe and the Severian series
Date: 11 Feb 91 23:04:04 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v16-53-6 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V16 #53
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-16a

DMARKFIE at INDYMED.BITNET writes:
>>On the subject of Gene Wolfe, are there any people out there who have
>>read _The Shadow of the Torturer_ and the other books in the series?
>I've got most of the whole story of Severian and IMHO I found it a very
>hard read.

Not at all an uncommon experience with GW's works.  My personal feelings
about his novels run the gamut from interested frustration through near-awe
(for, say, There Are Doors and The Book of the New Sun respectively).  The
four parts of TBotNS stand out as one of my over-all favorite pieces of
fiction.

Gene Wolfe is not only one of the most literate authors out there
(especially when compared to the hacks that make up the bulk of the field),
but (in my experience) also is one of the very few writers in any genre who
is willing to experiment with truly different writing styles and devices.
Some are certainly less successful (or at least less accessible) than
others and sometimes readability suffers for the experimentation.  But
then, Pynchon, Joyce and Rushdie aren't exactly light reading, either.

Bottom line: IMHO, Gene Wolfe novels are usually *very* much worth the time
and effort.

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