Wolfe's "New Sun": Severian Unmasked!

Charles Dye · 25 Sep 1995, 00:35 · from sf-lovers.1995.mbox

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From: raster at terra.com (Charles Dye)
Subject: Re: Wolfe's "New Sun": Severian Unmasked!
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 95 00:35:23 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v20-370-5 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V20 #370
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-20b

raibeck at tiac.net wrote:
>I have been trying to get started with this series for quite some
>time. It's supposed to be one of the masterworks of the field. Yet, no
>matter how hard I've tried, I just can't get past the first 30 pages or so
>of the first volume (The Shadow of the Torturer). Obviously this is not
>light reading.

"New Sun" is one of those novels that you either love or despise; I guess
you've figured out which camp I'm in.  And there's no reason to force
yourself to read something you can't stand.  (Unless you're still in school
...)

Why do I love this book?  First, I'm a logophile.  And Gene Wolfe is a
stark, raving logomaniac.  I think it's great trying to figure out where he
got all his words.  (Latin _fuligo_, "soot" -> English _fuliginous_,
"sooty, dark"; if this word were in common use it probably would drop the
adjectival ending and become _fuligin_.)  A "lictor" carries a "fasces", a
Roman symbol from which we get "Fascist"; Severian is to uphold Abdiesus's
rather fascist government with punishment and death.  If you enjoy these
games, then "New Sun" is Disneyworld.  If not, well, no shame to you
but, Wolfe is going to be a long haul.

Second, the sheer enormous SCOPE of the thing.  Wolfe has a genius for
hugeness.  Did you get a kick out of the sense of Deep Time in, say, "The
City and the Stars?"  Wolfe can convey that ancientness a lot better than
Clarke ever could.  For instance, there's a scene in "Sword" in which
Severian descends a sheer cliff more than a mile high.  As he climbs, he
studies the fossils embedded in the rock.  The fossils at the top are from
far in our future.  And so are the fossils at the bottom.  Likewise,
Severian's "Commonwealth" better illustrates a large, varied culture than,
say, Asimov's "Galactic Empire."  Wolfe's partial continent is bigger than
Asimov's galaxy.

Third, it's great fun picking out Wolfe's literary allusions.  I said that
Graves's "I, Claudius" cycle was the major source.  There are dozens, if
not hundreds, of others.  The bedtime story Severian reads to little
Severian is an ingenious blend of "Romulus and Remus" and Kipling, among
others; Doctor Talos's play borrows from Shakespeare.  Mythology is also
heavily represented; we get myths prehistoric, classical, medieval, and
modern, as well as Bible references.  Again, the sort of puzzle you either
enjoy, or not.

Finally, the biggest enigma of all, the character of Severian himself.
Gentle, brutal, chivalrous, murderous.  "I know how to treat an edge, and I
sharpened it carefully."  Many of the other characters are also puzzles -
Dorcas, Jolenta, Jonas, Talos and Baldanders but, they serve primarily to
distract your attention from the central puzzle to the "Book."  Who and
what is Severian?

Someone gave the advice that "you have to read it twice".  Absolutely true.
Despite the apparent symmetries that Wolfe gives the novel, the pivotal
episode in Severian's story doesn't come until about 4/5ths of the way
through the fourth volume.

In my opinion, "The Book of the New Sun" is the greatest SF ever written.
It has revolutionized the field.  (And no other author seems willing to
pick up the gauntlet, with the happy exception of Dan Simmons.)  I feel
lucky to have discovered it.  Those awful titles - I would never have
bought anything titled "The Shadow of the Torturer", except that I found
it, used, for 50 cents.

Tastes vary, however, and "New Sun" is not everyone's cup of tea.  I hope
you do continue with it, and find it as rewarding as I have.  If not, well,
that's okay too.

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