Merry Xmas

William Ansley · 01 Jan 2001, 23:38 · from urth-v0030.mbox · original

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Merry Xmas
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 23:38:45
Message-ID: <urth-v0030-0220 at digest.urth.net>
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>Have to disagree with Wm. here. I don't think Steve should start
>with -Peace-. That is not the sort of book that gets people fascinated
>with Wolfe; it's the one they tackle when they are already hooked, and I
>think it's rather off-putting to a beginner (I confess that I've never
>been much of a fan).. I strongly suggest 5HC as your starter, that you
>should take your time with it, and then dip into the short stories in
>the other books at random as they catch your attention. But 5HC is a
>truly fascinating book that holds seeds of all the themes Wolfe would
>later explore more thoroughly. Happy hunting! And Happy New Year!
>
>-alga
>

While this doesn't serve as an argument against following the=20
estimable alga's advice, _Peace_ is the first book I read by Wolfe=20
and it did get me hooked. It did and does continue to fascinate me=20
and is still my favorite Wolfe novel. And, yes, I am a fan. 8->

I think _Peace_ also contains seeds of all of the themes Wolfe uses=20
in his later works, although they may be harder to spot. Then again=20
any novel length (or greater) work by Wolfe is probably going to=20
contain all of his "pet" themes.

By all means start with _The Fifth Head of Cerberus_ if you don't=20
start with _Peace_. It is, in many ways, a more typical Wolfe novel,=20
if such a phrase is not oxymoronic.

Obviously, both alga and I are expressing subjective opinions and=20
your experience is likely to differ,

Happy reading.

--=20
William Ansley

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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