Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun

Chris Henrich · 14 Nov 1984, 19:09 · from sf-lovers.1984.mbox

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From: cjh at petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich)
Subject: Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 84 12:09:01 MST
Message-ID: <sflovers-v9-209-8 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V9 #209
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-09

Ian Kaplan writes:

                 In these books Wolfe has woven an incredibly
complex plot whose central point I hoped would be revealed in the
last book.  For me at least, this did not happen and the books
remain enigmatic.  In the last few pages of the last New Sun book,
"The Citadel of the Autarch", the new Autarch, whose previous career
we have followed, states that he is leaving the Book of the New Sun
behind on earth and going to meet the extra-terrestrials.  While on
this flight he will rewrite the book a second time.  Since he has
perfect memory, he can reproduce the book exactly.  He says that if
you don't understand the book, read it a second time, just as he is
writing it a second time.

     I found that repeated readings of these books were needed, not
only to refresh my memory of them (they came out at intervals of 8
to 12 months) but also to understand them at all. Wolfe apparently
wants the reader to work hard (as witness his use of obscure words,
not explained), and in many places a "throw-away line" clarifies
something that appeared hundreds of pages back, or even in a
previous volume.

     What does it all mean?
     I don't know that it *has* to mean anything. If a book engages
the reader's attention and gives enjoyment, then it is satisfactory.
If it survives several attentive rereadings, and still gives
enjoyment, it is excellent. I think _The_New_Sun_ qualifies.
     One reservation: Severian's promotion to the position of
Autarch seems unmotivated; i.e. it does not make sense in the
context of the book. (Even the characters in the book seem to feel
their world is pretty weird.) This is a defect, and is not repaired
by having the previous Autarch suggest that indeed it was
unmotivated.  But maybe, the next time around, I'll see why Severian
was the obvious choice, and this was the obvious thing to happen to
him.

Regards,
Chris

Full-Name:  Christopher J. Henrich

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