Wolfe Walks

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention: Gene Wolfe has left the building. Wolfe has left the Odyssey workshop prematurely; his explanation is on the Locus Website. http://www.locusmag.com/2003/Features/Letters07.html

Poor GW. That must have been distressing.

Reading that I cannot help thinking of the Doonesbury cartoon strip's Walden College - "Nothing but A grades". Matthew

I just read this. Damn. Here's an elderly gentleman being treated this way by novices, regardless of their age. Gene apologizes to his host. Gentleman all the way. Anybody who knows Gene knows that there could not have been anything harsh, rude, or mean about his comments on their work. I'm not a fiction writer, and so would not try to come to the proposed workshop. But if those of you who are writers want do so something like this to honor Gene's skill and what he has to offer, I'm all for your doing it. Damn, again. This is just appalling. Damn and hell! And there are a lot of other even better God-given words that are appropriate for this situation, but I'll forbear, since this is the internet! I'd better post this before I change my mind. I've gotta clean the vomit off my keyboard. #@$&&$XXXX*** Nutria

I agree that what the students in the workshop did was more than a little childish. Wolfe's work speaks for itself, and if they didn't want to be evaluated by him then they shouldn't have attended the workshop. You have to wonder what they expected really, a soft pat on the back? I think these people probably thought that they deserved to be there on account of the quality of their manuscripts, I think they should have looked at it as a privelage.