Wolfe's use of science/hard sf

David Duffy · 19 Aug 2013, 07:26 · from 2013-August.txt.gz

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From: David.Duffy at qimr.edu.au (David Duffy)
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 17:26:35 +1000
Subject: (urth) Wolfe's use of science/hard sf
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On Mon, 19 Aug 2013, Marc Aramini wrote:

> Perhaps my question was a bit obtuse - I know why he is tricky well 
> enough.? Yet when I have encountered reviews or analysis, especially 
> outside the wolfe wiki and the urth list, there are generally three 
> strains: banal observations like "this could be South America we are 
> talking about" that never go any further, the position that in fact 
> there are no truths or patterns to get to the bottom of in Wolfe, and by 
> far the worst, just assuming that published criticism (and here I point 
> the finger at Clute, Borski, and others - is "right" or even somehow 
> textually plausible?just because it was published - Cues as poo, the 
> golden hue of relationship, the autarch as Severian's mother, Kennedy as 
> navigator - that and more - disconcerting.)

The critical literature's not yet big enough - just need a few more people 
to do a PhD on him. He already has more book length academic studies than 
most other SF writers I guess.  I have just started reading

Caroline Finander (2010) Fantasy, imagination and history: a 
historiographical study of J.R.R. Tolkiens's The Lord of the Rings
and Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. University of Western Australia: 
thesis.

She comments:

"Unfortunately, approaches to The Book that focus on its symbolic and 
mythic dimensions tend towards the uncritical...In general, attempts to 
understand The Book as a mythical narrative may be undermined by the 
complexities of the text itself, as well as by the self conscious and 
critical approach to myth evident in Wolfe's work. Wolfe's use of the 
familiar forms of myth and archetype is complicated by other stylistic 
elements within The Book which suggest a far more reflexive approach to 
symbols, stories and myth."

Re hard science fiction, a short by Wolfe that you didn't cover:

Gene R. Wolfe, Norman G. Robisch (1960).  Parallel Wire Separator. USP 
3106524. "The use of parallel wire separators is old, especially when 
mounted on an inclined plane..."

Cheers, David Duffy.

P.S. From http://92.243.22.117/d17_eng.pdf (searching for Wolfeana)

The Flood started on the 17th. Noah?s Ark landed on the Mount Ararat (alt. 
17,000 feet) on the 17th.

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