Gene Wolfe: Another New Sun question

Chun-Wai Chan · 27 Jun 1994, 15:22 · from sf-lovers.1994.mbox

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From: chan at alfrothul.uchicago.edu (Chun-Wai Chan)
Subject: Re: Gene Wolfe: Another New Sun question
Date: 27 Jun 94 15:22:29 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v19-516-6 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V19 #516
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Mark Andersen <manderse at nmsu.edu> wrote:
>Slightly off the main subject, but still relevant to discussions of Gene
>Wolfe: Has anybody out there read enough Proust to feel qualified to
>comment on Proust's influences on Wolfe's work? Want to contribute to the
>planned _New Sun_ FAQ? I can handle the Borges influences myself; and
>tracking down the Lewis influence will finally give me an excuse to read
>the _Perelandra_ trilogy (a.k.a _Space Trilogy_), but Proust has just
>never been within my literary mean free path. Comments and contributions
>_re_ other influences, particularly Nabokov, Faulkner, and Chesterton, are
>also welcome.

Well, the most obvious parallel between Wolfe and Proust is that most of
their female characters are courtesans of one sort or another. ;-)

My opinion is that Wolfe and Proust may share a concern with memory and
detailed recollection, but it is a commonality of device rather than
content. Proust's recollections are concerned with social minutiae,
detailed observations of human beings and their struggle to both conform
and to free themselves from society. Wolfe's concerns are more
metaphysical; I think Ursula LeGuin's comment that "Wolfe is our Melville"
is on the mark.

C. Chan
Laboratory of Astrophysics and Space Research
Enrico Fermi Institute 
The University of Chicago

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