I’ve got a Gene Wolfe sized hole in my reading.
Wolfe is generally accorded of the most respected and literary fantasy authors--ever. Readers are enthralled by his fierce intelligence, incredible imagination, vivid world building and 3D characters. But even his most ardent fans acknowledge he can be tough, reading his stories not unlike grappling with water or a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu master. Half of the reviews of The Book of the New Sun are people who don’t seem to understand what’s going on yet declare that “you have to read this.”
Weird.
As for me, I read the first Book of the New Sun, The Shadow of the Torturer, some 10-12 years ago. Read is perhaps generous; I muddled through, and after closing the cover was left puzzled—not defeated, but feeling like I didn’t grasp it all and probably needed a second attempt. I’ve enjoyed a few of Wolfe’s short stories and deflected off few others; “The Sailor Who Sailed After the Sun” in Grails: Quests of the Dawn left me scratching my head and disappointed, but “A Cabin on the Coast” from the Year’s Best Fantasy 11 was terrific. I also liked “Bloodsport (not the one with Jan Claude van Damme) in Swords and Dark Magic well enough.
The best thing I’ve read by Wolfe is his essay “The Best Introduction to the Mountains,” a moving and poetic elegy to JRR Tolkien that you can read online in its entirety. Wolfe blends a poem by Robert E. Howard into the piece, S&S fans. Writes Wolfe of Tolkien’s greatest literary legacy, “Freedom, love of neighbour, and personal responsibility are steep slopes; he could not climb them for us—we must do that ourselves. But he has shown us the road and the reward.”
Check it out.
But as for his fiction… I’m decidedly mixed. Wolfe loves unreliable narrators and I’m generally not a fan of this device which perhaps explains my ambivalence. But I haven’t given up on Gene, and so decided to have another go with what others have described as his most accessible work—his The Knight and The Wizard, two novels often published together.
I’ve begun reading The Knight. And am happy to report, it’s fantastic. Teenage boy is transported into a magical realm and an encounter with a lusty sprite transforms him into powerful man, and a knight, Sir Able of the High Heart. It’s a straightforward narrative… yet there are clear Wolfe-ian undertones of, a lot more going on under the surface than our narrator understands.
I’m not quite halfway through and will have a review up here on the blog later.
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In other happy news Spring has finally arrived in New England. I broke out the smoker yesterday and made a brisket that was decidedly on-point. And enjoyed it with my father. No sides necessary, other than beer. I'm getting better with the smoker, which really comes down to low and slow. All good things take time to make.
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| So, on this great journey into the East, straight meat was the bill of fare, ammunition and tools principally made up the load on the sled, and the time-card was drawn upon the limitless future. -- Jack London |
9 comments:
I am a big Gene Wolfe fan but I understand why he's intimidating. A good writer rewards rereading but Wolfe sometimes needs rereading. However, once you do what seems confusing becomes clear and often brilliant.
I consider the Book of the New Sun to be along with Blood Meridian to be the major literary works of the 80s. That said they are both extremely dense works (and Blood Meridian has an atrocity on every page.) I definitely think that you need read the Deep writers Wolfe, McCarthy, Dostoevsky et cetera. But you also need to read the lighter ones sometime too.
"Wolfe loves unreliable narrators and I’m generally not a fan of this device which perhaps explains my ambivalence"
I'm with you. I really read for entertainment. I want to be told a story. I don't want to keep wracking my brain with "what's really going on here?" or triple-checking details as I am reading along to figure it out.
A good-looking hunk o' meat! I'm thinking of finally springing for a smoker this year. What kind of wood did you use?
Wolfe is my favorite author. I never found him intimidating, per se, but one does need to read (and reread) his books differently than other SF to get the most out of them. One overlooked aspect of his work, particularly The Book of the New Sun, is how much he was inspired by the pulps he read during his formative years (obviously Jack Vance but other more S&S authors too). BotNS can be read on the surface level as a pulpy S&S-type tale -- "warrior" with big sword travels across a land filled with monsters and oddities to return a magic relic while bedding beautiful women -- yet it's the stuff going on under the surface and behind the scenes that is never explicitly spelled out that makes it such a rewarding read. For some, especially those only interested in straight-forward adventure stories, they may judge the book only on that surface level narrative and come away shaking their head as to why it's considered one of the greatest works of SFF fiction. For those of use who love all the "extra" stuff, however, there really is nothing else like it. I've read BotNS five times now and most of his other major works. The Wizard Knight is a good entry point for readers who love fantasy more than SF. His Latro books are also amazing for those who love the ancient world.
Thanks for the comment Matthew... very much agree about needing to push your reading from time to time. Then cycle back to the familiar and easy.
It is the unreliable narrator that is frustrating/difficult... complexity is one thing, not knowing if you can trust what is being conveyed is another!
I use a propane smoker with wood chips (chips are soaked in water for a good hour beforehand so that they don't ignite). They sit in a steel ventilated flame disk with the flame underneath. I used hickory chips.
Thanks... am enjoying the Wizard Knight and will probably give BotNS another go at some point.
Like Andrew, I never had a problem with BotNS. That said, there ARE "easier" Wolfe books. Did you ever read this post by me, Brian?
https://dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2019/5/10/books-of-gold-reading-gene-wolfe
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