Gene Wolfe's _Peace_

MegaLiz · 23 Jul 1996, 12:47 · from sf-lovers.1996.mbox

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From: 1Ol01O at radix.net (MegaLiz)
Subject: Re: Gene Wolfe's _Peace_
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:47:43 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v21-308-24 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V21 #308
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-21b

Kieran Mullen <kieran at phyast.nhn.ou.edu> wrote:
>When I understand (in part) what he's doing, I am amazed by his work.
>However, I often have the feeling that I really don't quite grasp what
>he's trying to say.  I found _Pandora_ and _Castleview_ to be very
>frustrating, because I *know* that he's trying to do something, but I
>don't understand what.

Personally, I think _Pandora_ was mostly for fun and exercise, and it can
be enjoyed readily in just that way. I had to admire how believeably he
spoke from a young girl's point of view. I don't think any secret decoder
ring is necessary.

_Castleview_ continues to be a favorite of mine. Now that I've read it
several times, I still have the feeling that I'd have to read a lot more
about King Arthur to "catch" all the references; but it has such a lovely,
dreamy quality to it that I can savor the setting and the confusing
characters and LOVE it while still being lazy.

>I felt better about _Free, Live Free.  But I am currently perplexed by his
>novel _Peace_.

I was amazed to find a hate review of _Free, Live Free_ on the web.  What's
to hate? It was one of the first of his books I read, and I thought it was
very satisfying.

>_Peace_ is about 10 years old, and recently reprinted.  I thought I'd try
>to get some discussion started amongst those of us who have read it.  Here
>are a few questions to kick it off:

>(1) What is the significance of the title?  The only "obvious" mentioning
>of peace is in the silly quote from _The Lusty Lawyer_.  On the other
>hand, there is little mention of war in the book.

I haven't read it yet, but perhaps it refers to "peace of mind."

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