Gene Wolfe (born May 7, 1931) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short-story writer and novelist and has won many science fiction and fantasy literary awards.[2]
Wolfe is most famous for The Book of the New Sun (four volumes, 1980–83), the first part of his Solar Cycle.[1]
In 1998, Locus magazine ranked it third-best fantasy novel before 1990, based on a poll of subscribers that considered it and several other series as single entries.[3][a]
Personal life
Wolfe was born in New York City, the son of Mary Olivia (née Ayers) and Emerson Leroy Wolfe.[4] He had polio as a small child.[5] While attending Texas A&M University, he published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. (ISFDB catalogs two 1951 stories.)[6] Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War.[7] After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He was a senior editor on the staff of the journal Plant Engineering for many years[8] before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato chips.[9] Having previously lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, with his wife Rosemary, he moved to Peoria, Illinois in 2013.
Wolfe underwent double bypass surgery on April 24, 2010.[10]
Wolfe also underwent cataract surgery on his right eye in early 2013.
Wolfe's wife, Rosemary, died on December 14, 2013, after a series of illnesses.[11][12]
Literary works
Wolfe's first published book was the paperback original novel Operation Ares (Berkley Medallion, 1970).[6] He first received critical attention for The Fifth Head of Cerberus (Scribner's, 1972), which examines "colonial mentality within an orthodox science fiction framework".[13] It was published in German and French-language editions within the decade.[6]
His best-known and most highly regarded work is the multi-volume novel The Book of the New Sun. Set in a bleak, distant future influenced by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, the story details the life of Severian, a journeyman torturer, exiled from his guild for showing compassion to one of the condemned. The novel is composed of the volumes The Shadow of the Torturer (1980), The Claw of the Conciliator (1981), winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, The Sword of the Lictor (1982), and The Citadel of the Autarch (1983). A coda, The Urth of the New Sun (1987), wraps up some loose ends but is generally considered a separate work. Several Wolfe essays about the writing of The Book of the New Sun were published in The Castle of the Otter (1982); the title refers to a misprint of the fourth book's title in Locus magazine).
In the 1990s, Wolfe published two more works in the same universe as The Book of the New Sun. The first, The Book of the Long Sun, consists of the novels Nightside the Long Sun (1993), Lake of the Long Sun (1994), Caldé of the Long Sun (1994), and Exodus From the Long Sun (1996). These books follow the priest of a small parish as he becomes wrapped up in political intrigue and revolution in his city-state. Wolfe then wrote a sequel, The Book of the Short Sun, composed of On Blue's Waters (1999), In Green's Jungles (2000) and Return to the Whorl (2001), dealing with colonists who have arrived on the sister planets Blue and Green. The three Sun works (The Book of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, and The Book of the Short Sun) are often referred to collectively as the "Solar Cycle."
Wolfe has also written many stand-alone books. His first novel, Operation Ares, was published by Berkley Books in 1970 and was unsuccessful. He subsequently wrote two novels held in particularly high esteem, Peace and The Fifth Head of Cerberus. The first is the seemingly-rambling narrative of Alden Dennis Weer, a man of many secrets who reviews his life under mysterious circumstances. The Fifth Head of Cerberus is either a collection of three novellas, or a novel in three parts, dealing with colonialism, memory, and the nature of personal identity. The first story, which gives the book its name, was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella.
Style
Wolfe's writing does not generally follow genre conventions. He frequently relies on the first-person perspectives of unreliable narrators. He says: "Real people really are unreliable narrators all the time, even if they try to be reliable narrators."[9] The causes for the unreliability of his characters vary. Some are naive, as in Pandora by Holly Hollander or The Knight; others are not particularly intelligent[14] (There Are Doors); Severian, from The Book of the New Sun, is not always truthful; and Latro of the Soldier series suffers from recurrent amnesia. The cause aside, this can make Wolfe confusing or disconcerting for the new reader, but some find this "difficulty" rewarding. Wolfe said, in a letter to Neil Gaiman: "My definition of good literature is that which can be read by an educated reader, and reread with increased pleasure." In that spirit, Wolfe also leaves subtle hints and lacunae which may never be explicitly referred to in the text. For example, a backyard full of morning glories is an intentional foreshadowing of events in Free Live Free, but is only apparent to a reader with a horticultural background, and a story-within-the-story provides a clue to understanding Peace.
Wolfe's language can also be a subject of confusion for the new reader. In the appendix to The Shadow of the Torturer, he says:
In rendering this book – originally composed in a tongue that has not achieved existence – into English, I might easily have saved myself a great deal of labor by having recourse to invented terms; in no case have I done so. Thus in many instances I have been forced to replace yet undiscovered concepts by their closest twentieth-century equivalents. Such words as peltast, androgyn, and exultant are substitutions of this kind, and are intended to be suggestive rather than definitive.[15]
Though this is in character as the "translator" of his novel, it provides a useful insight into the writing: all of Wolfe's terms (fuligin, carnifex, thaumaturge, etc.) are real words, but their meaning should be implied by context. Knowing the words, or re-reading with a copy of an English dictionary at hand, can offer further insight into the story.
Reception
Although not a best-selling author, Wolfe is highly regarded by critics[16] and fellow writers, and considered by many to be one of the best living science fiction authors. Indeed, he has sometimes been called the best living American writer regardless of genre. Award-winning science fiction author Michael Swanwick has said: "Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today. Let me repeat that: Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today! I mean it. Shakespeare was a better stylist, Melville was more important to American letters, and Charles Dickens had a defter hand at creating characters. But among living writers, there is nobody who can even approach Gene Wolfe for brilliance of prose, clarity of thought, and depth in meaning."[17]
Among others, writers Neil Gaiman and Patrick O'Leary have credited Wolfe for inspiration. O'Leary has said: "Forget 'Speculative Fiction'. Gene Wolfe is the best writer alive. Period. And as Wolfe once said (in reference to Gaiman), 'All novels are fantasies. Some are more honest about it.' No comparison. Nobody – I mean nobody – comes close to what this artist does."[18] O'Leary also wrote an extensive essay concerning the nature of Wolfe's artistry, entitled "If Ever A Wiz There Was", originally published in his collection Other Voices, Other Doors. Ursula K. Le Guin is frequently quoted on the jackets of Wolfe's books as having said "Wolfe is our Melville."
Wolfe's fans regard him with considerable dedication, and one Internet mailing list (begun in November 1996) dedicated to his works has amassed over ten years and thousands of pages of discussion and explication. Similarly, much analysis and exegesis has been published in fanzine and small-press form (e. g. Lexicon Urthus ISBN 0-9642795-9-2).
When asked the "Most overrated" and "Most underrated" authors, Thomas Disch identified Isaac Asimov and Gene Wolfe, respectively, writing: "...all too many have already gone into a decline after carrying home some trophies. The one exception is Gene Wolfe...Between 1980 and 1982 he published The Book of the New Sun, a tetralogy of couth, intelligence, and suavity that is also written in VistaVision with Dolby Sound. Imagine a Star Wars-style space opera penned by G. K. Chesterton in the throes of a religious conversion. Wolfe has continued in full diapason ever since, and a crossover success is long overdue."[19]
Early in his writing career, Wolfe exchanged correspondence with J.R.R. Tolkien.[20]
He was Guest of Honor at the 1985 World Science Fiction Convention and he received the 1989 Edward E. Smith Memorial Award (or "Skylark") at the New England convention Boskone. In March 2012 he was presented with the first Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Fuller Award, for outstanding contribution to literature by a Chicago author.[25]
He has also compiled a long list of nominations in years when he did not win, including sixteen Nebula award nominations and eight Hugo award nominations. [33]
Works
Novels
The Book of the New Sun, first two volumes in one (Orb, 2000 printing)
The Shadow of the Torturer (1980) BSFA Award winner, Nebula Award nominee, 1981;[34] Locus, WFA, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1981 [26]
The Claw of the Conciliator (1981) Nebula and Locus Fantasy winner, 1982; Hugo and World Fantasy Awards nominated, 1982 [34]
The Sword of the Lictor (1982) Locus Fantasy and BFS Winner, 1983; Nebula and BSFA Awards nominee, 1982 [34] Hugo and World Fantasy Awards nominee, 1983 [27]
"The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories" (1970)
"The Death of Dr. Island" (1973)
"The Doctor of Death Island" (1978)
Plan(e)t Engineering (1984) (published by Boskone when Wolfe was guest of honor; contains previously uncollected short stories, a new essay on Book of the New Sun and map, several poems, and an article by Wolfe on robots from Plant Engineering magazine)
The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)[48] A specialty press edition including an additional story and an introduction by Kim Stanley Robinson was published as The Very Best of Gene Wolfe.[49]
Short stories
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2011)
Collected
The following are short stories that have been included in published Gene Wolfe short story collections
Title
Collected In
First Published In
Alien Stones
The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories
Memorare (2007), collected in The Years Best SF 13
Chapbooks
Wolfe has published a number of short chapbooks, many published in very small quantities by Cheap Street. Some of these have been reprinted in his collections, as when Starwater Strains reprinted "Empires of Foliage and Flower".
At the Point of Capricorn (1983)
The Boy Who Hooked the Sun (1985)
Empires of Foliage and Flower: A Tale From the Book of the Wonders of Urth and Sky (1987)
The Arimaspian Legacy (1988)
Slow Children at Play (1989)
The Old Woman Whose Rolling Pin is the Sun (1991)
The Case of the Vanishing Ghost (1991) The Pretentious Press
Introduction to Vera Nazarian's Salt of the Air (2006)
Shadows of the New Sun: Essays (2007)
Books about Gene Wolfe
The Wizard Knight Companion: A Lexicon for Gene Wolfe's The Knight and The Wizard: Michael Andre-Driussi (Sirius Fiction, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9642795-3-7), a dictionary of words and names from Wolfe's Wizard Knight novels
Lexicon Urthus: Michael Andre-Druissi (Sirius Fiction, 1994, ISBN 0-9642795-9-2), a dictionary of the archaic words used by Wolfe in The Book of the New Sun
The Long and the Short of It: More Essays on the Fiction of Gene Wolfe: Robert Borski (iUniverse, Inc., 2006, ISBN 978-0-595-38645-1)
Solar Labyrinth: Exploring Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun": Robert Borski (iUniverse, Inc., 2004, ISBN 978-0-595-31729-5)
Attending Daedalus: Gene Wolfe, Artifice, and the Reader: Peter Wright (Liverpool University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-85323-818-9): Study of The Book of the New Sun and The Urth of the New Sun
Shadows of the New Sun: Wolfe on Writing / Writers on Wolfe: Peter Wright (Liverpool University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84631-058-4)
Strokes: John Clute (Serconia Press, 1988, ISBN 0-934933-03-0)
Gene Wolfe: An annotated bibliography and criticism on Wolfe's science fiction and non-fiction writing: Joan Gordon (Borgo Press, 2008, ISBN 0-930261-18-6)
Gate of Horn, Book of Silk: A Guide to Gene Wolfe's The Book of the Long Sun and The Book of the Short Sun: Michael Andre-Driussi (Sirius Fiction, 2012, ISBN 0-964279-55-X)
^Locus subscribers voted only two Middle-earth novels by J. R. R. Tolkien ahead of Wolfe's New Sun, followed by Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. Third and fourth ranks were exchanged in the 1987 rendition of the poll, "All-Time Best Fantasy Novels", which considered as single entries Wolfe's The Shadow of the Torturer and Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea, the first volumes of New Sun and Earthsea.
References
^ abSolar Cycle series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved 2012-04-24. Select a title to see its linked publication history and general information. Select a particular edition (title) for more data at that level, such as a front cover image or linked contents.
^Such as John Clute; his The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction writes: “Though neither the most popular nor the most influential author in the sf field, Gene Wolfe is today quite possibly the most important. The inherent stature of his work is deeply impressive and he wears the fictional worlds of sf like a coat of many colors.”
^From an article first published in American Heritage May–June 1999. Pg 211 of Overrated/underrated: 100 experts topple the icons and champion the slighted, ed. by the editors of American Heritage magazine. 2001, ISBN 1-57912-163-2, 256 pages, hardcover.
