The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe

Josh · 28 Feb 2004, 23:43 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2004.mbox

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From: Josh <if.you.want.to.email at visit.joshbrain.tripod.org>
Subject: The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 23:43:02 GMT
Message-ID: <Xns949D9FE6F929Difyouwanttoemailvisi at 199.45.49.11>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written

I've read a lot of Gene Wolf (the complete Sun and Urth sequences plus a 
short story collection who's title currently escapes me), generally with 
great interest, the two Latros novels being a notable exception (I only 
skimmed the second). Therefore I feel somewhat qualified to make this 
observation: Mr. Wolfe is a snooty elitist author.

I feel that his approach has been misconstrued by the SF community at 
large as being profound and insightful, rather than the empty display of 
erudition that it is. The appeal of his work is to the readers own sense 
of hubris - at least it was in my case. The comments I've read here don't 
contradict that.

Of course, I really should offer support for this assertion. (Well, 
sudden realization anyway). Consider that the entire justification for 
Severian was that Wolfe wanted to write a character who would make a good 
halloween costume (this was revealed in an interview). The plot, etc was 
layed on as thin veneer with elements sprinkled from Wolfe's 
extraordinarily broad knowledge of literature and myth, and mined with 
subtle puzzles that amused Wolfe. Taken on it's face, this series is 
muddied, conflicted, and unbelievable. Severian himself is never fleshed 
out.

The elitism is not justified. All three first person narratives I've read 
from Wolfe have used the same voice - precise, subtly flawed, infinitely 
patient, and maddeningly loquacious. Severian, Silk, Latros are the same 
person to me. Urth, the Ship + Green + Blue, the mediterannean of 
antiquity are all the same places (well, Green was a bit different). So 
at least when it comes to "range" Wolfe does not have anything to brag 
about.

The implicit question in any post is, why am I posting? In this case its 
mainly to share my thoughts, perhaps finding resonance with others, and 
also to give anyone who's willing a chance to tell me I'm wrong. I kind 
of want to be wrong, as I've invested a lot of time (and money) on Wolfe 
and I would prefer not to think that it was all essentially misspent 
vanity.

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