Urth Net
Stupid Wolfe fan
↰ answers Tony Ellis
· by quotation
6 quoted lines
"Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk> wrote:
I myself first read TBOTNS when I was a spotty, callow teenager who'd read one Vance book, no Borges and an awful lot of the sort of SF that Wolfe's writing -isn't- based on. I was hooked for life.
The message is, you don't need to be well-read in SF, or any genre before you can appreciate Wolfe. You just need an open mind, and to know good writing when you see it. That's why I believe that if we could only force mainstream critics to actually read a little Wolfe, at gunpoint, they might come around to our viewpoint. The only people who will never come over to our side are the ones who are already reading SF.
I still treasure a quote from Wendy Bradley's review of Castleview in, sadly, Interzone. The gist of it was: "this book made me feel stupid, and I don't like feeling stupid."
I had an empathic reaction when I read this post. I bought THE
SHADOW OF THE TORTURER beacuse the guy on the cover looked cool with his mask and executioner's sword. Reading it was a self-extracting Wolfe appreciation course.
For years I refrained from recommending Wolfe to others thinking
him so unique that my SF friends wouldn't get it. Twelve Wolfe books later they are spoiled, and chide me for holding out on them. Wolfe is the standard against whom all others must be compared. I hear phrases like "Wolfe would never do that". One new fan is trying to read LONG SUN in one month just so he can better appreciate ON BLUE'S WATERS and be able to discuss it with other fans. Good writing brings out the best in readers.
=Talon=