G.Wolfe _Shadow of the Torturer_

Brian McElhinney · 29 Jul 1991, 22:24 · from rec.arts.sf-lovers.1991.mbox

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From: mce at tc.fluke.COM (Brian McElhinney)
Subject: Re: G.Wolfe _Shadow of the Torturer_
Date: 29 Jul 91 22:24:33 GMT
Message-ID: <1991Jul29.222433.8984 at tc.fluke.COM>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
References: <1991Jul23.164922.11000 at leland.Stanford.EDU> <1991Jul24.220142.8036 at tc.fluke.COM> <1991Jul25.183429.26778 at leland.Stanford.EDU>

In article <1991Jul25.183429.26778 at leland.Stanford.EDU> repnomar at leland.Stanford.EDU (Janet M. Lafler) writes:
>You misunderstood me, my dear fellow.  I have the greatest respect for Wolfe,
>and I love his work.  I just have a funny way of showing it.

I'd have to agree.  Saying he goes "on and on past reasonable expectations,"
referring to his writing style as "tricks," and terming an unread book
"awful" is a funny way of showing great respect.

I, however, over reacted.  I was stupid and melodramatic and insulting.
My apologies.

What, in retrospect, I should have stated, is that Wolfe's THE BOOK OF THE
NEW SUN is an amazing work, full of beautiful prose, strong imagery, unique
characters, and fantastic vision.  It can be read and greatly enjoyed as
fantasy, science fiction, a tale of adventure, or as a philosophical work on
the nature of authority and responsibility.  I feel it is one of the few
works that every science fiction fan should at least attempt to read.  It's
that good.  If you read it and enjoy it you will likely enjoy the one-book
sequel, THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN.  It is really more of a musical coda than a
sequel, and as such it is naturally less impressive than the original work.
Still, it is very worthwhile because it rounds out and concludes resonances
in the original story, while adding something of interest on its own.

>I don't think that Wolfe has so little respect for his own work as to keep
>writing books in the "series"

I still don't understand how you equate respect with a lack of sequels.
Wolfe thought the original story would be a novella; it grew into five very
respectable books.  He has stated he may write more short stories about
Urth.  Who's to say one of them won't turn into a novel?

>BTW, who is this Anthony fellow you speak of?  I've never heard of him.

Um, well, once again I was being rude.  I don't see a tongue-in-cheek
marker, so I'll explain that I was referring to Piers Anthony.  Which, I
suspect, most people in this group would call a low blow.  Sorry 'bout that.

Brian McElhinney	"You may be imperious, but the effect is always

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