I’ve read several of his novels, but the Book of the New Sun is my nominee for the title “Science Fiction’s Lord of the Rings”. Not Dune. New Sun.
Wolfe was the kind of guy that made me realize that no matter how hard I try, I will never be as intelligent and brilliant as some people. So intelligent, he was beyond many of us.
“We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their acceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life—they are soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the management of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things act of themselves or not at all.”
“I have no way of knowing whether you, who eventually will read this record, like stories or not. If you do not, no doubt you have turned these pages without attention. I confess that I love them. Indeed, it often seems to me that of all the good things in the world, the only ones humanity can claim for itself are stories and music; the rest, mercy, beauty, sleep, clean water and hot food (as the Ascian would have said) are all the work of the Increate. Thus, stories are small things indeed in the scheme of the universe, but it is hard not to love best what is our own—hard for me, at least.”
ETA: Absolutely agree with your assessment of Book of the New Sun.
Wolfe was an amazing writer. The Book of the New Sun was one of the few multivolume series worth reading, and a great novel in all respects. Free Live Free was a wonderful more mainstreamish book filled with subtle wonders.
My favorite Gene Wolfe story was when he was nominated for a Nebula for “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories.” Isaac Asimov named him as the winner, but as Wolfe was getting up to accept it, someone whispered to Asimov, who turned white and said that that the “winner” was actually no award.
Afterwards, someone suggested to Gene he write a story entitled “The Death of Doctor Island” and it would win. Wolfe wrote it, and it did. He later wrote “The Doctor of Death Island” and “Death of the Island Doctor.” All fine stories.
Indeed, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories is my all-time favorite single-author science fiction anthology. Absolutely stunning stories in one collection; it is a masterpiece.
Wolfe was one of the greats before Book of the New Sun ever hit bookshelves. His writing was amazing, witty, literate, and profound. Probably why he never won a Hugo.
He was also one of the nicest people in the field. That’s not a huge honor, given how small his competition was, but even so he was conspicuously nice.
Though I don’t remember hardly any of it, I enjoyed The Book Of The New Sun when I read it at age 20 or so. Apparently I only understood it on a superficial level, because I have since heard it had many layers I did not pick up on.
Alas! Alas! One of the greats has passed. Despite my username, I have only once ever read The Book of the New Sun. I shall have reread it, if I can dig out a copy.
Fun fact: Gene Wolfe developed the machine that cooks Pringles potato chips.
Yeah, I think it is a work that can be read on two levels.
A kind of twisted hero’s journey type thing that is actually pretty good. The strong use of language is the draw, too.
A whole 'nother level. Unreliable narrator, multiple meanings to many things. I don’t really get all of this and honestly, I am not smart enough to draw out all of these things.
Did anyone else read his last three novels? I did and would say that:
Sorcerer’s House - Really good and worth picking up if you want to read something written late in his life.
The Land Across - Pretty good, but the middle was too boring.
A Borrowed Man - Not bad, but clearly a 50 page short story he expanded out to full length later. Decent, but I also found that it falls short.
If you had to pick one, Sorcerer’s House is clearly the winner. His best “really late” book. Mysterious and when you reach the end, makes you look back on the entire book and re-think it, something Wolfe loved to make you do.
I read or listen to the series every year or so.There are, indeed, layers beyond the simple hero’s journey, though it can be read just to enjoy that. I’ve also read Lexicon Urthus and a couple other books about the series. I read extensively at Urth.net when the discussion there was still primarily about the New Sun series. Bottom line? A fair few fans of the series see layers of meaning that aren’t there. Some of their ideas are virtually fan fic. Wolfe was tricksy, though, and had a sense of humor. When asked by these folks whether they had discerned his true meanings, he always gave vague non-answers that neither confirmed nor denied.
I am sorry he is gone. He was not my favorite science fiction author. He was my favorite author of any kind.
The truth is that everybody seemed to like Gene Wolfe. He was a writer’s writer in that I think a lot of authors looked up to him. Neil Gaiman often listed him as one of the greatest writers in the English language.
I’ve seen interviews with him and honestly, he just seems like an older, kind of nerdy guy. You would not pick him out of a crowd as a great writer, just a guy.
He worked as an engineer for years before making enough money writing to go “full time” with it. He was a regular guy who turned out to be an amazing author.
I had lunch with Wolfe and Nancy Kress at some Worldcon. It was a very pleasant low-key conversation, without any of the ego normally found in the big names.
It’s sociologically fascinating to watch a hierarchy of esteem spontaneously emerge in a group of writers as new faces appear in the group. It has to be in a private setting because everyone vies for priority in public, so much fans don’t get to see this backstage stuff. In a hotel room in a con, though, people might come and go, allowing an observer to see the patterns of deference emerge and shift as if straight out of a textbook.
I met him briefly at a convention in the 80’s. That was exactly my impression of him. I watched a panel discussion he was on and had some books signed and asked a couple of questions. He just seemed like a super nice, chill guy who happened to be a phenomenal writer. He seemed genuinely happy to mingle with fans and answer questions.
Wolfe was a classy guy. When he was announced as the winner of the 1971 Nebula and then was informed that he wasn’t actually the winner, Wolfe handled this awkward situation with grace In Memoriam - Gene Wolfe - SFWA
Every few years I read adoration of him and give him another try, and every time I do I’m disappointed. I wish I could say why, but he’s always just left me cold. Maybe it’s time to try him again.