The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe

Richard Horton · 01 Mar 2004, 02:39 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2004.mbox

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From: Richard Horton <rrhorton at prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 02:39:22 GMT
Message-ID: <unx0c.30233$473.16335 at newssvr16.news.prodigy.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
References: <Xns949D9FE6F929Difyouwanttoemailvisi at 199.45.49.11> <c21d3ba0.0402290659.37671483 at posting.google.com> <+tv*P4jeq at news.chiark.greenend.org.uk> <394d822b.0402291845.58775386 at posting.google.com>

On 29 Feb 2004 18:45:20 -0800, mhughes at mars.ark.com (Matt Hughes)
wrote:

>Thomas Womack <twomack at chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote in message news:<+tv*P4jeq at news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>...
>> The book that's really impressed me recently is Dorothy Dunnett's
>> "Niccolo Rising"; absolutely superb pacing, and a really compelling
>> environment, quite substantially thanks to everything being told in
>> a well-calibrated omniscient third-person.
>
>To me it's odd that you would find Wolfe's unreliable narrator
>infuriating but you're not bothered by Dunnett's practice of having
>vitally important matters take place offstage then having the
>characters refer to them as if the reader ought to know what they're
>talking about.  Gradually, of course, the reader clues in.  I enjoy
>the teasing, but I've known readers who find the plot lacunae so
>annoying they refuse to read Dunnett.
>
>The Niccolo books just get better and better, by the way.  Dunnett was
>as good a historical novelist as Cecilia Holland, and that's saying
>something.

Indeed.  

For what it's worth, I prefer Dunnett's earlier series, which is
linked to the Niccolo books: The Chronicles of Lymond.  Beginning with
The Game of Kings.  (Which is not to say that the Niccolo books aren't
quite good themselves.)

Fabulously colourful, adventurous, complex, twisty, emotionally
wracking -- HF doesn't get any better.


-- 
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard.horton at sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Also visit SF Site (http://www.sfsite.com) and Tangent Online (http://www.tangentonline.com)

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