George R. R. Martin on Gene Wolfe

Norwood, Frederick Hudson · 29 Apr 2015, 11:57 · from 2015-April.txt.gz

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From: NORWOODR at mail.etsu.edu (Norwood, Frederick Hudson)
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:57:24 +0000
Subject: (urth) George R. R. Martin on Gene Wolfe
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References: <CAMwAopRKzmGf5Z4uTzjND29zwyBXET9gwpL-KWgFQTOsRLrOWQ at mail.gmail.com>
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The article in the link is reasonable and fair, does not try to push an agenda.  It seems much more likely that Wolfe hasn?t won a Hugo because some people see him as ?difficult?.

Rick
From: Urth [mailto:urth-bounces at lists.urth.net] On Behalf Of Nick Lee
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 11:31 AM
To: urth
Subject: (urth) George R. R. Martin on Gene Wolfe

http://grrm.livejournal.com/424135.html

Martin had a few kind words to say about Wolfe and the New Yorker piece. He also brought up the Hugos and the Puppies again. There's some irony in that, isn't there? The Puppies, both breeds, argue that conservative, religious authors don't have a chance with the Hugos because they've been "taken over" by a left-leaning, atheist conspiracy.

They never bring up Wolfe, from what I've seen, and you would think he's the perfect example. He's obviously Catholic and conservative, to a degree. See arguments about this in the past of the List and recently on Reddit. He's never won a Hugo despite numerous other accolades. You would think he'd be their most damning evidence. So what gives?

I could make a snide comment here about how the Puppies probably couldn't understand Wolfe anyway, but despite the snark I think there's some truth in the idea. A corollary to the Puppy argument is that more traditional SF, adventure stories essentially, are not winning awards anymore. On one hand, Wolfe does write stories with adventure: knights, wizards, secret agents, etc. He's also been writing for a long time. He doesn't write simple stories, though, and while he pays frequent homage to the classics of the genre does not write in their style.

And what about those accolades? Wolfe has won numerous other awards; he's a Grand Master; other writers laud him frequently. In an interview from some time back, China Mi?ville noted Wolfe's talent while acknowledging a difference in political opinion.

The reason Wolfe has never won a Hugo has nothing to do with his ideology and everything to do with the fact that he's a difficult writer. The fans vote for the Hugos, and they vote for what they're reading, most of which is more traditional and less literary than Wolfe's output.

Wolfe is an embarrassing example for the Puppies because he doesn't fit into their narrative. I don't think he would play ball with them either because as Martin notes, he's "a class act."
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