The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe

Ron Henry · 04 Mar 2004, 13:55 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2004.mbox

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From: "Ron Henry" <ronhenry at blahblahblah.clarityconnectcom>
Subject: Re: The Snootiness of Gene Wolfe
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 08:55:55 -0500
Message-ID: <c27chc$6ac$1 at news01.cit.cornell.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
References: <Xns949D9FE6F929Difyouwanttoemailvisi at 199.45.49.11> <168f035a.0403021608.7dc7d1c2 at posting.google.com>

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

> > 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.

Well, I think Wolfe was sincere that he flashed on an image while
thinking about costume balls at cons, and that this gave him ideas that
led to the look of the torturers' guild -- but the real problem here is
misrepresentation and overstatement by the original poster. To say that
"the entire justification for Severian" was an idea for a "Halloween
costume" is to grossly misrepresent Wolfe's comments. I read the
interview he's referring to, and it's just a case of when Wolfe got a
germ of an idea that, over time, evolved into a character. Long
consideration of that character, in turn, lead to Wolfe beginning the
New Sun books.

To call this the "entire justification" blithlely ignores Wolfe's
obvious interest in classic sf motifs that he reworks within the series,
his serious conisderation of morality and good/evil dichotomies, and not
least the curious twisting and re-fashioning of imagery and symbology
from historical Christian sources that all help propel the narrative.

Ron Henry

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