Severian (the torturer) on writing

htn963 · 16 Jan 2009, 20:06 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2009.mbox

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From: htn963 <htn963 at live.com>
Subject: Re: Severian (the torturer) on writing
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:06:50 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <03ecab97-da97-4c28-a34b-df99bc9450d6 at y1g2000pra.googlegroups.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
References: <Xns9B957510DD032damouthsanrrcom at 69.16.186.8>

On Jan 16, 11:30=A0am, Daniel Damouth <damo... at san.rr.com> wrote:
> I'm reading _The Book of the New Sun_ for the first time, and laughed
> at this:
>
> "I know little of literary style; but I have learned as I have
> progressed, and find this art not so much different from my old one as
> might be thought."
>
> -from _Shadow of the Torturer_

Reading Severian is torture.  It was the occasional vivid scenes and
well-realized inventions which made Wolfe's BOTNS series worth reading
for me, not the author's mannerly prose or his protagonist.  (Vance
does it much better.)  In this instance, substance triumphed over
style.

--
Ht

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