Gene Wolfe

Dieter Britz · 14 Apr 1992, 06:51 · from sf-lovers.1992.mbox

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From: BRITZ at kemi.aau.dk (Dieter Britz)
Subject: Re: Gene Wolfe
Date: 14 Apr 92 06:51:53 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v17-170-4 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V17 #170
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-17a

To me, Gene Wolfe is one of those writers (among them Ursula Le Guin and
Anthony Burgess), whom I read in large part because of their marvelous
language. With other writers, contents are the thing; content is certainly
not lacking with Wolfe, but his dignified and thought-provoking phrasing
is, for me, unbeaten by other sf writers. I am baffled at the diversity of
opinions about Gene Wolfe, on this net.
 Another thing he is good at, and obviously has his heart in, is his
portrayal of children. This comes across strongly in the collection "Island
of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories", especially in the one
about the blind boy (I forget the title). There is a short episode in one
of the Torturer books, again with a smallish boy, lovingly written. Wolfe
then does kill him, but instantly and presumably painlessly.
 One of the qualities that "make" some sf is a sense of mystery; I read all
those computer-comes-alive stories of Van Vogt as a boy, and although I
never quite understood what was going on, I had this fascinating sense of
mystery, and was sure there was a lot more to know, if only I could find
out. Wolfe has this in just about every sentence. He is one of the great
writers of the present, and I wait for his next book.

Dieter Britz
britz at kemi.aau.dk

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