Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?

Daniel Petersen · 14 Dec 2011, 12:57 · from 2011-December.txt.gz

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From: danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com (Daniel Petersen)
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:57:28 +0000
Subject: (urth) Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?
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*2011/12/14 Ant?nio Pedro Marques:*
*Well, I don't really think there is a Correct Way to read GW, of course.
Everyone's experience will be different and rich in its own way.
But since you've mentioned it, I think tFHoC should come after the Sun
books - I read it before and somewhat regret that - as it is a difficult
work imo, having the GW complexity in almost its pure state. I have yet to
read a lot of GW, but my impression is that tFHoC is the one book in which
there is no 'simple' reading to find solace in while you're not yet able to
get the rest.
*
Ah, well, here we do get into interesting reader-specific territory.  I did
indeed read Fifth Head after the solar cycle, so I can't say for sure how I
would have perceived it if I'd read it before that.  Still, I suspect it
would have been a very good starting-point for me in the GW realm for these
reader-specific reasons:

1) I generally like traditional SF settings more than heroic fantasy
settings (i.e. the futuristic planetary romance of FHoC vs. the prima
facie sword and sorcery of BotNS).

2) I was hooked by FHoC first and foremost for the (to me) gorgeous writing
*style*, the exquisitely crafted syntax and prose itself.  It stands out
starkly in a sea of 'good-but-not-great-ness'.

3) All I need is wonderful storytelling and setting and complexity of
themes and I'm deeply happy without needing to 'solve' various material
'riddles' the text throws up - the more philosophical or thematic questions
of identity and alienness and cultural anthropology that the book explores
(sometimes even by its very *form* - i.e. the second novella written in a
totally different mythical or folktale sort of style) just blow my mind and
I really don't *ever* need to discover for sure who's who or what's what in
that tale.

For other readers I know that indeterminacy would be maddening.  I'm fairly
sure if I'd read Fifth Head first, I would have been in awe of what was
clearly a brilliant writer and would've started hunting down all his
stuff.
I suppose all this just shows our individual intuitions about what to
recommend as a first reading of Wolfe are always going to help some and
hinder others.

-DOJP
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