Urth Digest, Vol 63, Issue 5

David Stockhoff · 10 Nov 2009, 18:41 · from 2009-November.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:41:03 -0500
Subject: (urth) Urth Digest, Vol 63, Issue 5
In-Reply-To: <mailman.11343.1257876184.27276.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.11343.1257876184.27276.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <4AF9B3BF.1030300 at verizon.net>

I was fortunate enough to read TFHoC first, as far as novels. I started noticing Wolfe as a writer of short stories.

I sympathize with the complaint that the narrative of TWK is harder to follow. The universe in which it occurs is at least as complex as TBotNS's, having several levels as well as time "travel." Not many smart and literate humans would be up to the task of coherently telling such a story. And on top of all that, Abel seems to be from the "real" world, which is of uncertain relation to the several otherworlds.

I think the illusion of "reality" is much better sustained in the Sun and Whorl. That is to say, (1) it's more science fiction than fantasy and (2) it seems to take place in "our" universe, so at least my expectations were higher in terms of coherence. I approached those texts thinking, "Make me believe!" With TWK, I simply thought, "Wizards! Knights! Giants! Oh my!"

Reading TWK, I spent the first book wondering whether elves, dwarves, and orcs were going to show up---how far was Wolfe going to take this Mabinogion or Morte d'Arthur? Another way to put it is that basic relationships (such as geographical or temporal) seem less important, more flexible than in Sun and Whorl. And Abel doesn't try very hard to help us.

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Message: 3
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 20:18:59 -0600
From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at gmail.com>
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Wizard-Knight sucks, or,	is there any scholarly
	research on it?
Message-ID: <0BBF4DDCD1B34379934AD0C15DE19953 at eMachinePC>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=response

> > Maybe Abel really is dumb and illiterate, but it was  sometimes difficult 
> > to follow the narrative because Abel is a bad  storyteller.
>   

Well, honestly, the part about being a bad story-teller is true of Severian, 
as well (to the extent that it IS true). The Book of the New Sun was the 
first Wolfe story I'd read. I told the guy who recommended it that I thought 
Wolfe was a great creator of worlds but only a so-so writer. Then I read The 
Fifth Head of Cerberus and decided that --based on the two novels-- he was 
the best science fiction writer I'd ever read. But the "weaknesses" in the 
story-telling in TWK (if they are weaknesses) are the same as those in 
TBotNS.

J. 

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