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Gene Wolfe
An annotated bibliography and criticism of Gene Wolfe's science fiction and non-fiction writing.
116 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 4, 2016
The Starmont Guides were a series of chapbooks published in the '70s, '80s, and even into the '90s. Generally, each one focused on a particular author, and was written by an academic or critic. This particular guide from 1986 was written by Joan Gordon, and focuses on Gene Wolfe--my favorite author.
First, the format is an interesting look into the past. These were published by a relatively small company, and this book appears to have been written on a typewriter. There are no italics or boldface. Words they needed to emphasize or set off were underlined. It feels old.
But the content is great. After an introduction to the man and his life, Gordon dives into critiques of several of his works. There are chapters focusing on his novels Peace, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, and others; and two larger chapters, one dealing with a variety of his short stories, and another dealing with The Book of the New Sun.
Wolfe is an author ripe for diving in deep, and Gordon certainly does that. She dissects and examines themes, theories, and threads running through these books and stories. It's obviously chock full of spoilers, so don't say I didn't warn you. (I didn't read the chapters on Operation: Ares, his first novel, which I've never read and is long OOP. I also didn't read the chapter on The Devil in the Forest. Though I own it, I've yet to read it.)
What's amazing is how much is here, but how much hadn't been published when this came out. There's still 30+ years of his writings yet to come after this. She acknowledges that Wolfe was writing The Urth of the New Sun--the coda to The Book of the New Sun--at the time of publication. So she doesn't even know how he wrapped things up. That strikes me as odd, for some reason.
Anyway, though I enjoyed it, this will only appeal to die-hard Wolfe fans. And people with a bibliography fetish. I'm the former.
First, the format is an interesting look into the past. These were published by a relatively small company, and this book appears to have been written on a typewriter. There are no italics or boldface. Words they needed to emphasize or set off were underlined. It feels old.
But the content is great. After an introduction to the man and his life, Gordon dives into critiques of several of his works. There are chapters focusing on his novels Peace, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, and others; and two larger chapters, one dealing with a variety of his short stories, and another dealing with The Book of the New Sun.
Wolfe is an author ripe for diving in deep, and Gordon certainly does that. She dissects and examines themes, theories, and threads running through these books and stories. It's obviously chock full of spoilers, so don't say I didn't warn you. (I didn't read the chapters on Operation: Ares, his first novel, which I've never read and is long OOP. I also didn't read the chapter on The Devil in the Forest. Though I own it, I've yet to read it.)
What's amazing is how much is here, but how much hadn't been published when this came out. There's still 30+ years of his writings yet to come after this. She acknowledges that Wolfe was writing The Urth of the New Sun--the coda to The Book of the New Sun--at the time of publication. So she doesn't even know how he wrapped things up. That strikes me as odd, for some reason.
Anyway, though I enjoyed it, this will only appeal to die-hard Wolfe fans. And people with a bibliography fetish. I'm the former.
July 19, 2022
Excellent series of essays about most of Gene Wolfe’s work. Very well-written and thoughtful. Clearly, the author is passionate about Wolfe’s art. And I am, too!
May 27, 2022
Excellent critical summation of Wolfe's career at that point in time. Gordon was writing in the moment, without thousands of Reddit threads and Facebook posts to refer to, so one can forgive some faulty plot interpretations of some hard, hard, HARD material (ex. she completely whiffs it when explaining the conceit behind "Peace", for example, but then nails it when discussing a lot of the thematic content of the book - one outta two when analyzing "Peace" ain't bad).
Her breakdowns of Wolfe's short stories are obviously lacking compared to what other people (ex. Aramini) would do later on, but the essays about each novel are quite good and her general introduction is one of the best written at summing up Wolfe's career and writing style (again, at that point in time - he'd change quite a bit after this was written).
Good, not necessary unless you're a total freak like I am.
Her breakdowns of Wolfe's short stories are obviously lacking compared to what other people (ex. Aramini) would do later on, but the essays about each novel are quite good and her general introduction is one of the best written at summing up Wolfe's career and writing style (again, at that point in time - he'd change quite a bit after this was written).
Good, not necessary unless you're a total freak like I am.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews