The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe

William December Starr · 01 Mar 2004, 20:52 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2004.mbox

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From: wdstarr at panix.com (William December Starr)
Subject: Re: The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe
Date: 1 Mar 2004 15:52:59 -0500
Message-ID: <c207rb$nl8$1 at panix2.panix.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
References: <Xns949D9FE6F929Difyouwanttoemailvisi at 199.45.49.11> <j7y-80EFC8.02595529022004 at visonmassif.rs.itd.umich.edu>

In article <j7y-80EFC8.02595529022004 at visonmassif.rs.itd.umich.edu>,
"jere7my tho?rpe" <j7y at liws.org> said:

> [Gene Wolfe] certainly doesn't see his work as elitist; he writes
> that way because that's the way he writes.  My personal theory is
> that he cut his teeth on mysteries, in which readers are meant to
> piece together scattered and well-hidden clues to determine the
> identity of the murderer, and simply applies the same technique to
> SFnal worldbuilding.  Rather than telling you flat-out that
> Severian's companion is a robot, he offers clues which you are
> meant to piece together.  He expects that this will be fun and
> rewarding for you, as it is for fans of mysteries.

Of course, often in those mysteries there's a point near the end in
which the detective gathers all the suspects together in the drawing
room and Explains It All for the benefit of us mere mortals who
haven't figured it out...

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