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The Book of the New Sun is a pretty good book.
Bogart
Streetwise HerculesRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
Streetwise HerculesRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
I've recently re-read The Book of the New Sun, and reading practically anything by Gene Wolfe makes me want to do two things: read more Wolfe, and press upon anyone I can as much Wolfe as their arms will carry. I know he's a pretty popular choice here in the Reading Room thread, but for anyone who doesn't know anything about him here's the wikipedia page: it's a little scanty, but then again the best way to get acquainted with Wolfe is to read him. He's been writing for decades, but has, considering the awards and lavish praise heaped upon him (LeGuin compares him to Melville, while Michael Swanwick, among others, rates him as the finest writer in the English language), remained virtually unknown outside the SF/Fantasy readership.
The Book of the New Sun is probably his best-known work, and consists of a series of four novels (with a fifth that was originally unplanned, but which serves as both an extension and a fitting capstone to an already complete story). They follow Severian, an apprentice in the guild of Torturers that resides in the citadel of the immense city of Nessus, as he is initiated in the guild, his travels across the world he calls Urth, and his final fate. Do you like stories that feature swordplay, battles, strange creatures and beautiful women? You're in luck! How about lasers, spaceships, aliens and strange science? Or perhaps magic, ghosts, legends and terrors. Again, welcome. Or possibly you're looking for a book with depth, subtexts, symbolism, meditations on being and reality and a fine literary prose style. All are here. If you've never encountered Wolfe, it's safe to say it's unlike anything you've ever read. Here are a couple of excerpts: the first chapter of The Shadow of the Torturer, the first novel in the sequence; the first chapter of The Sword of the Lictor, the third.
More than any other novel I've read, the Book of the New Sun repays re-reading. Mysteries that baffled you first time around become clear, and are replaced by deeper mysteries in turn. If your first reading can be likened to your first sight of a great and epic painting, your second and subsequent readings are new viewings that give you a perspective that is at once a step further away and a step closer. You can see details on your closer viewing that escaped you before: the ring around the knight's finger is actually the coil of a snake whose head is preparing to strike his unprotected wrist, and the maiden you thought was idly wading in a stream between two swans is actually aboard a boat whose bow and stern are wooden carvings of swan's heads. And the farther perspective lets you take in the greater sweep of the painting: the maiden in the boat is heading for a waterfall, and the snake's poisonous bite may save a sleeping beggar from the knight's careless charge. The book is both a masterpiece of epic scope and detail (I always think of Tintoretto's Crucifixion in the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice - it was said that "all human life is here") and a deceptive series of tromp l'oeils and symbolic images whose true meaning is only revealed after study. And the more you look, the more you see and the more you understand. And, as you can tell, the books can also make you quite the ponce.
And even then, after multiple re-readings, there are still some riddles for which I have no solution.
So, the tl;dr version. The Book of the New Sun. Great SF novel, or greatest SF novel?
Or, if that doesn't strike up enough interest, how about the Long Sun or Short Sun books? Or any old Gene Wolfe blather in general, really.
The Book of the New Sun is probably his best-known work, and consists of a series of four novels (with a fifth that was originally unplanned, but which serves as both an extension and a fitting capstone to an already complete story). They follow Severian, an apprentice in the guild of Torturers that resides in the citadel of the immense city of Nessus, as he is initiated in the guild, his travels across the world he calls Urth, and his final fate. Do you like stories that feature swordplay, battles, strange creatures and beautiful women? You're in luck! How about lasers, spaceships, aliens and strange science? Or perhaps magic, ghosts, legends and terrors. Again, welcome. Or possibly you're looking for a book with depth, subtexts, symbolism, meditations on being and reality and a fine literary prose style. All are here. If you've never encountered Wolfe, it's safe to say it's unlike anything you've ever read. Here are a couple of excerpts: the first chapter of The Shadow of the Torturer, the first novel in the sequence; the first chapter of The Sword of the Lictor, the third.
More than any other novel I've read, the Book of the New Sun repays re-reading. Mysteries that baffled you first time around become clear, and are replaced by deeper mysteries in turn. If your first reading can be likened to your first sight of a great and epic painting, your second and subsequent readings are new viewings that give you a perspective that is at once a step further away and a step closer. You can see details on your closer viewing that escaped you before: the ring around the knight's finger is actually the coil of a snake whose head is preparing to strike his unprotected wrist, and the maiden you thought was idly wading in a stream between two swans is actually aboard a boat whose bow and stern are wooden carvings of swan's heads. And the farther perspective lets you take in the greater sweep of the painting: the maiden in the boat is heading for a waterfall, and the snake's poisonous bite may save a sleeping beggar from the knight's careless charge. The book is both a masterpiece of epic scope and detail (I always think of Tintoretto's Crucifixion in the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice - it was said that "all human life is here") and a deceptive series of tromp l'oeils and symbolic images whose true meaning is only revealed after study. And the more you look, the more you see and the more you understand. And, as you can tell, the books can also make you quite the ponce.
And even then, after multiple re-readings, there are still some riddles for which I have no solution.
Is Agilus a Heirodule? He has black bands on the sides of his face even after he removes the death mask Severian finds him wearing when they first meet, which indicates the face he reveals is only a second mask (which echoes the two masks of the Heirodules). But if he is, what of Agia? She certainly believes him to be her, presumably human, twin.
So, the tl;dr version. The Book of the New Sun. Great SF novel, or greatest SF novel?
Or, if that doesn't strike up enough interest, how about the Long Sun or Short Sun books? Or any old Gene Wolfe blather in general, really.
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I am really looking forward to reading the latest Latro book, too. My one complaint about him is that I think he relies a little too much on the "character writing a journal/letter/book" framing device, though. I think, for example, that the first story in The Fifth Head of Cerberus is an excellent unreliable narrator at the same time that it doesn't rely on his standby of a character writing down his experiences.
That character was a ghost? really?
I'm sold!
There used to be an old mailing list called WHORL, I've no idea if it's still around, but those dudes parsed the books like Jesuits. At least half of what I know about what's going on in Fifth Head or Peace or whatever is because of those guys.
For instance - have you read The Fifth Head of Cerberus? - I found out that (spoilers, obv.)
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Actually, the Long Sun
Yeah, there's nothing in the volume itself to really suggest that, except for one instance (the narrator referring to a character as "I" instead of "he") that was apparently a typo, since it was fixed in subsequent editions.
Yeah, that's Zenith. I had to finally get around to using imageshack to make the OP, so I figured I'd get an avatar as well, and Zenith was the only headshot I had lying around.
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How bad/common is this? I'm interested, but I don't know if I could make it through a book if it's really prominent. Is it like reading a C.S. Lewis book or more of a subtle thing where you can pick up that the guy is Catholic but it doesn't cloud the whole story?
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For the most part, the characters in Gene Wolfe books tend to be cheerfully amoral in every sense of the word, which prevents any moralistic message from being hamfisted. The same guy that says stuff like, "One who truely benefits another is for that moment at a level with the Pancreator, and in gratitude for that elevation will serve the other all his days..." also handwaves away his own job as a torturer and executioner.
So, the stories are pretty morally ambiguous and complex, with only a few glaring examples of the author believing a specific creed that sneak in.
It's not "Shove Catholic belief down your throat".
It's just alot of the imagery and such used makes alot more (or any) sense if your familiar with Christianity and Catholicism.
Basically, your not gonna get a Jesus allusion in a book unless you know who Jesus is. It doesn't mean the book is trying to convert you though.
Not really. He's got his own style. You can always tell when your reading Gene Wolfe.
It makes sense, Swanwick is one of Wolfe's disciples and Mieville is on record as being a huge fan. Wolfe also workshopped Kim Stanley Robinson back in the day, and while KSR is generally much more conventional I think you can see some of Wolfe's influence in his more consciously literary efforts like The Years of Rice and Salt.
There's a good interview somewhere with Wolfe about his Catholicism, lemme see if I can find it.
I told jacob this already but Wolfe has a new book coming out soon. It sounds interesting.
Which doesn't make The Iron Dragon's Daughter any less awesome.
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2tmhh/wolfejbj.html
Lots of interesting stuff in that interview.
The resemblance is a lot more obvious in his sci-fi, especially early books like Vacuum Flowers and Stations of the Tide.
Aww, that might be it. I don't read much Sci-fi.
Have any of y'all read his Pirate novel?
Ooh, I've got another Gene Wolfe book stashed around here somewhere. Free Live Free.
What was Will's problem with those bits? Since that character was into kinky sex magick stuff, it's not like it was extraneous to the plot.
edit: and no, I need to buy the pirate book.
edit2: Free Live Free is pretty cool. It's not as obtuse as some of his other stuff, but it's really crazy.
Free Live Free is great. I had no idea where it was headed the whole way through, and although I haven't read it for a while I seem to remember it as being funnier than most of Wolfe's other stuff.
Pirate Freedom felt like Wolfe running at maybe three-quarter speed, and it contained the only case of blatant author intrusion I've ever seen from him. You'll know it when you see it, and I came close to putting the book down after it. First time I've ever done that to a Wolfe book.
An Evil Guest looks good though - someone with an advance copy described it as Bladerunner meets Lovecraft.
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I think it's my favorite book, period. (thanks Dyna!) Not to turn this thread into a Swanwick wankfest, I just never get tired of talking about him.
As far as Wolfe goes, I'm really looking forword to Evil Guest.
Everyone suggests The Book of the New Sun, and that's a good recommendation, but if you're in the market for something a bit shorter try The Fifth Head of Cerberus. It'll give you a good idea what he's all about.