>he grins smugly because he knows you can't understand his writing
Whenever I imagine Pynchon doing this when I get lost in a difficult passage of his, I make sure to jizz onto a printed out picture of his face to maintain my dominance
Gene Wolfe is actually pretty straightforward in his writing, its just the techniques he employs tend to baffle people because they arent used to them.
He's just writing what he himself would read, honestly.
I need to reread BOTNS.
>>7891726
I own a Wolfe book but I haven't read it yet, can you describe what "techniques" I should be prepared for?
>>7891748
Depends on the book. Which is it?
>>7891775
Shadow of the Torturer
>>7891704
>implying I can't write something incomprehensible, too
He's like Kafka, Joyce, or Borges, people worry about 'understanding' instead of paying attention to what's on the page.
He basically ripped off Proust but managed to do it better so its fine in the end
>>7891842
this, just read the damn thing
>>7891748
He's an engineer and he writes like one. His stories are written like puzzle boxes that have to be unlocked. There is the narrative, which is always relatively straightforward and communicates one thing, then there is what's underneath which takes effort to piece together.
Wolfe nerds are the ones who enjoy doing that last bit.
>>7891860
Wolfe nerds just come across as the lorefags of any videogame t b h, just discussing who was secretly who instead of what all that shit is actually about
>>7891842
True for Kafka, maybe Joyce I don't read him and don't care to. But Borges and Wolfe are very definitely about an extremely carefully crafted subtext, and they definitely both intend for a select few to understand.
>>7891704
This reminds me of the book City of Saints and Madmen
>>7891859
But if you don't understand what you are reading then what's the point?
>>7891777
He uses very obscure and archaic language to mean things that they don't actually mean, as well as an unreliable first person narrative. Oh, and it's basically him rewriting The New Testament.
>>7891899
I doubt most worthwhile literature can be fully understood on a first reading. The idea is to not get bogged down in 'what did he mean by this?' too early.
>>7891704
>whenever you finally show your bros your writing
>when they are finally finished they say, "I don't know man. It's like a 5 year old found a thesaurus and I just feel like I'm being told things the whole time."
>>7891709
underrated t b h
BOTNS is one of my favorite fantasy stories of all time. I have it on my bedside table along with the Everyman's Library edition of Ficciones. Often at night, I load a small pipe and smoke a bowl and read a chapter of the former or a story of the latter before going to bed. I find it gives me metaphysical dreams.
>>7892013
It's not them, it's you
>>7891899
Pleasure comes before understanding.
This is what Eliot said, not me.
If you don't understand, keep reading. After you finish the book, does it make you want to reread? Reread it then. And reread it again if necessary.
The first readers of Ulysses didn't have any of those silly 'guides' to help them and this didn't mean they couldn't enjoy the book - in fact, many of them loved it.
>>7891901
No, he isn't rewriting it at all. Severian isn't Christ.
What's worse is if it's a non fiction work. The author was probably struggling and devoted a great amount of time to their arguments or presentation, and they could still be doubtful or have had anxiety over what they wrote. I could digest their arguments fully and memorize every last arbitrary fact in the book but the process of experimentation, argument, reasoning, logic, rhetoric, research they used to arrive at what I'm reading I can't even come close to realizing.
>>7891850
he BASICALLY ripped off Proust, did he? He didn't rip him off in a complicated manner, then, just basically? He just BASICALLY ripped him off huh? BASICALLY, he just ripped off Proust, guys. Like, he basically did what proust did, but better, basically. Basically he imitated another author called Proust. Thats BASICALLY what he did guuys cant you see that?
>>7892415
lol
>>7891704
*pulls out shotgun from trenchcoat and blows op's face right off*
