George R.R. Martin is a strong admirer of Vance’s (he wrote the foreword to the last big best-of-Vance collection), and his wonderfully wry Haviland Tuf short stories, originally published in sf magazines but all collected in Tuf Voyaging, have more than a whiff of Cugel in them.
Oh! Up until now, I’ve managed to avoid the GRRM bandwagon, but now… You got me! Thanks!
Yes, Tuf isn’t bad at all. GRRM was good back before he was too good to let a editor touch his masterwork.:rolleyes:
The Tschai novels’ alternate name Planet of Adventure is more revealing of what they are. As Tamerlane and Trinopus have said, Vance isn’t known for his hard science fiction. I think the Cadwal Chronicles, the Alastor novels, and maybe the standalone Languages of Pao might be more appealing to you.
never read him…
can he compare at all to Philip K. Dick or Asimov?
No, Jack Vance is utterly incomparable. The only writer I can think of who is even remotely similar is Gene Wolfe.
thank you, but is his work highly cerebral and questioning or is it well written adventures in space? i’d think from the high regard his work has intellectual merit?
I’d say that more than anything, they had literary merit. Vance was a master of language like few, if any, other SF writers.
On an intellectual level, his his greatest interest was probably anthropology and sociology, especially that of highly structured subcultures. In that sense, he had much in common with Ursula K. LeGuin, although their wroting style was different.
well thank you for a good recommendation. sounds interesting 
I quite enjoyed both Emphyrio and The Blue World, I remember. I haven’t read a great deal of his later work, though.
This article from 2009 by Carlo Rotella does a very good job of summarising Vance’s merits as a writer and the esteem in which he is held. A sample:
Thanks, lisiate. That’s the interview I mentioned in post 27.
Gladly. Hope you love Tuf Voyaging as much as I do!
You know I still haven’t read ‘The Moonmoth’, ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ yet. I may have to do a bit of shopping…
I’ll always have a special fondness for “The Last Castle,” as it was the first Vance story I ever read.
It’s really a novella or novelette rather than a novel, although it has been published as a separate book. It’s a decent starting place because it isn’t so long, and so, if you don’t like it, you haven’t wasted too much time!
It is highly characteristic of him at his best: the creation of an entire society, the austerity of the characters, the ornateness of the language…
(Oops, sorry, I’m speaking Groaci. Different author entirely.)
If you would excuse my presumption, may I recommend the anthology, Nebula Award Stories Number Two, edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison.
It not only contains Jack Vance’s “The Last Castle,” but a handful of other classics, some of which are…beyond remarkable.
“The Secret Place” by Richard McKenna is a masterpiece of “urban fantasy,” i.e., a story ostensibly set in the real world, but into which the fantastic creeps.
“Light of Other Days” by Bob Shaw is one of his “glass” themed stories. To say more would be unfair.
“Who Needs Insurance” by Robin S. Scott is another “real world” story, into which the impossible intrudes its nose. Some beautiful lines.
“Among the Hairy Earthmen” by R.A. Lafferty. Terrifying without being horrifying; an analysis of history from a viewpoint no one else on earth could have seen. If this story doesn’t creep you out, you haven’t got a soul.
“Call Him Lord” by Gordon R. Dickson: an exploration of duty.
“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” the Philip K. Dick story that “Total Recall” was (loosely) based on.
And others, although I confess I never have really comprehended “When I Was Miss Dow” by Sonya Dorman. Yet I would happily make a bet, right now, that there is someone, right among us, reading these comments, who will find it the best story in the whole bunch!
Anyway, a brilliant anthology, alternatingly haunting and inspiring. And not infrequently funny.