G.Wolfe _Shadow of the Torturer_

Viktor Haag · 24 Jul 1991, 20:55 · from rec.arts.sf-lovers.1991.mbox

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From: vehaag at crocus.waterloo.edu (Viktor Haag)
Subject: Re: G.Wolfe _Shadow of the Torturer_
Date: 24 Jul 91 20:55:52 GMT
Message-ID: <1991Jul24.205552.13088 at watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
References: <9107221851.AA00898 at nowalls.UCSD.EDU> <1991Jul23.164922.11000 at leland.Stanford.EDU> <MATT.91Jul23100408 at physics16.berkeley.edu>

In article <MATT.91Jul23100408 at physics16.berkeley.edu> matt at physics.berkeley.edu writes:
>
>Awful?? Gene Wolfe?  Them there's fightin' words.  The Urth of the New
>Sun certainly isn't as good as The Book of the New Sun, but a book
>could be much worse than The Book of the New Sun and still be very
>good indeed.  Urth of the New Sun still has the calm voice and
>meticulous craftsmanship and sense of inevitability that I find
>characteristic of Wolfe's writing.
>
>Actually, I don't think I would call The Book of the New Sun a series,
>or a tetrology, so much as a four-volume novel.  (And I would call
>The Urth of the New Sun a sequel.)

While I agree with your sentiments, and (to a certain extent) your musing 
that the four books could work well bound into one volume, I would disagree
with your assertion that Urth of the New Sun is a "sequel".  I would say that 
it is more of a commentary, explanation, or companion.  For this reason, it
doesn't really stand to well on its own, without having read the Book of
the New Sun, and I could understand why people are not too keen on it.  It
is still, however, a good example of how a great writer can be good even when
being "not so good".

As to Wolfe's refusal to touch the world again, there are a few shorts that
are set in the same environs, one of which (the Map(?)) is in Endangered
Species.  If you want to see a master at his best, then you should read
endangered species -- I would say that it is definitely one of the most
important, and impressive collections of short fiction to come out of the
genre (whatever that means) in the last 30 years.  In my own heart, only
Dandelion Wine and a few other books rank up there with this collection of
one author's short work.

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