Solar Labyrinth: Exploring Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun"

by Robert Borski

Gene Wolfe's BOOK OF THE NEW SUN has been hailed by both critics and readers as quite possibly the best science fiction novel ever written. And yet at the same time, like another masterpiece of fiction, James Joyce's Ulysses, it's been deemed endlessly complex and filled with impenetrable mysteries. Now, however, in the first book-length investigation of Wolfe's literary puzzlebox, Robert Borski takes you inside the twisting corridors of the tetralogy and along the way reveals his solutions to many of the novel's conundrums and riddles, such as who really is Severian's lost twin sister (almost certainly not who you think) and why he believes the novel's main character may not even be the torturer Severian. Furthermore, and in essay after essay, Borski demonstrates how a single master key will unlock many of the book's secret relationships-all in the attempt to guide you through the labyrinth that is Gene Wolfe's BOOK OF THE NEW SUN.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Essays, Speculative Fiction

204 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 2004

Reviews

[Ben]

Ho boy. Want to dive into the deep end of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun tetralogy? This is the book for you. Some of it goes too far -- hunches and wild speculations about characters and Wolfe's motivations -- but most of it is fascinating. A few dozen times I read an analysis of some plot point or character and thought "Wow, I really missed that!" or "Am I really reading the same book?" or "Wolfe, you sneaky bastard. You're not making this easy at all!"

So if that sounds like fun to you, I'd highly recommend this book.

[Shannon Appelcline]

An interesting read, but so full of preposterous over-reaching that it's hard to take any of it seriously.

[Alexander]

some of the stuff he says is suspicious esp wrt the nomenclature but I really need to reread BOTNS again with this

[Dan]

About 35% genuine useful insight, and 65% way too speculative overreaching

[Dan Yingst]

I'm not sure really. Borski's certainly done his homework, but I ultimately find a lot of his theories unconvincing, mainly because I never really bought his "second rule of names." To his credit, Borski recognizes the tenuousness of his argument, but he doesn't really offer much in the way of proof other than personal conviction. More, I think he doesn't pay enough attention to two key factors 1.) the angelic character of the hierodules/hierogammates 2.) the deeply Catholic character of the work (in fact, the argument where Borski appeals most to Wolfe's Catholicism is to my eyes his absolute worst--the Kennedy/Navigator connection). Not that I have many alternative explanations to offer in their place.

[Ed Erwin]

I picked this up because while I enjoyed Book of the New Sun, the further I got into it, the less I understood it. What I was hoping for was a book that could explain what the heck was happening in New Sun. That isn't what this is. (Nor does it claim to be, so I simply had the wrong expectations.) There is lots of information in here which helps to decipher New Sun, but it seems to be intended for someone who already has a pretty good understanding of the book and wants to dive deeper into some more speculative theories. This, ultimately, is just not for me.

[Vasily Ingogly]

Provides some great background and theories about the goings-on in Book of the New Sun. Not as essential as background material to BotNS as Lexicon Urthus in my opinion (and I'm not sure I agree with all his conclusions), but something Wolfe fans will definitely want for their libraries.

[Kate Sherrod]

Know what? I don't buy the sister stuff at all right now. But I still enjoy this book.

[Don]

A lot of interesting theories about BoTNS.

[Picklefactory]

It's several hundred pages' worth of speculation about the most circumspect work of SF ever published, The Book of the New Sun. What's not to enjoy?

[Thomas Gizbert]

Best read as a Borgesian pseudo-analysis on an impossible text.