The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe

G Klinedinst · 03 Mar 2004, 00:08 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2004.mbox

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From: g_klinedinst at hotmail.com (G Klinedinst)
Subject: Re: The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe
Date: 2 Mar 2004 16:08:25 -0800
Message-ID: <168f035a.0403021608.7dc7d1c2 at posting.google.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
References: <Xns949D9FE6F929Difyouwanttoemailvisi at 199.45.49.11>

Josh <if.you.want.to.email at visit.joshbrain.tripod.org> wrote in message news:

<snip>

Josh,
I am not a regular here I just happened across this and wanted to see
if I could clarify why some people, including myself, love Gene
Wolfe(not in a Severian-Jolenta way). :-) First off with regards to
hubris, I think you are judging a very large community on the basis of
a few individuals. Gene Wolfe is far bigger than RASFW, just as we are
all much larger than this NG too.

> 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). 

This was probably said half-jokingly. Many artists like to play with
interviewers, especially with regards to the "cookie-cutter" questions
they ask. I would take that with a grain of salt.

> 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.

I disagree 100%. Everything you could ever want to know about Severian
is shown in his actions. I think this is the core problem why you are
having these conflicting feelings about his writing. When I first read
the _New Sun_ series I was boggled by Severian. Why doesn't he say, "I
was really sad when X happened", or "So and so really scared me", etc.
I thought he had no emotions or else very little emotion, almost like
a robot, or a poorly fleshed out character, as you suggest. Upon
further readings and also quite a bit of reflection I realized that
his actions speak louder than words ever could. He simply isn't
introspective. You have to put yourself in Severians place, imagine
what you would feel, what you would think, etc. Gene Wolfe is the
ultimate "show, don't tell" author. He hints at the motives and
feelings of the characters but doesn't explicitly say them too often.
Part of the fun and excitement about reading Gene Wolfe is trying to
figure out all of the characters motivations. I don't think when he
writes like this he is trying to be difficult or obtuse because he is
snotty, but more because he enjoys it and he knows that there are many
fans out there that enjoy it.

That being said, Wolfe probably isn't for everyone. To continue an
analogy someone made earlier, I know that Bach was a genius but I
don't personally enjoy his music and I'm not going to try to force
myself to. You are perfectly reasonable to not like Wolfe. All I'm
saying is that there is something very wonderful there enjoyed by many
people.

-Greg

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