Gene Wolfe (1931 - 2019)

Ahasuerus · 17 Apr 2019, 12:34 · from rec.arts.sf.written.2019.mbox

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From: Ahasuerus <ahasuerus at email.com>
Subject: Re: Gene Wolfe (1931 - 2019)
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2019 05:34:58 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <81c2aaca-0ecd-470d-8a3a-2a863f71b43a at googlegroups.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
References: <q92gj7$e8n$1 at reader2.panix.com> <43ad0685-05c7-41ab-902a-4928bc87cc9f at googlegroups.com> <acd4eb35-b105-4dfa-b912-c49bcead50d8 at googlegroups.com> <ln3dbela3a9uu0mcq6tbuvge0f3he5n7v3 at 4ax.com>

On Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 10:31:45 PM UTC-4, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Apr 2019 12:47:26 -0700 (PDT), Ahasuerus
> <ahasuerus at email.com> wrote:
> 
> >On Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 2:28:05 PM UTC-4, leno... at yahoo.com wrote:
> >[snip]
> >> From Wikipedia:
> >> 
> >> When asked the "Most overrated" and "Most underrated" authors,
> >> Thomas Disch identified Isaac Asimov and Gene Wolfe, respectively
> >> [snip]
> >
> >Disch calling Asimov overrated is a bit like a fillet knife calling an
> >axe overrated. Where is the finesse?
> 
>      Since starting to read Asimov, I have always liked Asimov's work.
> I really liked his very readable science writing.
> 
>      I never cared much for Wolfe's work.  What I tried was opaque to
> me, and thereafter, I avoided it. [snip]

If you want "clear and transparent prose", you read Asimov. If you want
"opaque and oblique", you read Wolfe. Hence the "axe/fillet knife"
comparison -- they have different functions. If you want to fell a tree,
a fillet knife is useless. If you want to make a fillet, an axe is
useless.

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