How is Gene so good bros?
>Why do we love this forlorn land at the edge of everywhere?
Sitting before my little fire, I know, when the wind blows outside, moaning in the fieldstone chimney I caused to be built for ornament, shrieking in the gutters and the ironwork and the eaves and trim and trellises of the house, that this planet of America, turning round upon itself, stands only at the outside, only at the periphery, only at the edges, of an infinite galaxy, dizzily circling. And that the stars that seem to ride our winds cause them. Sometimes I think to see huge faces bending between those stars to look through my two windows, faces golden and tenuous, touched with pity and wonder; and then I rise from my chair and limp to the flimsy door, and there is nothing; and then I take up the cruiser ax (Buntings Best, 2 lb. head, Hickory Handle) that stands beside the door and go out, and the wind sings and the trees lash themselves like flagellants and the stars show themselves between bars of racing cloud, but the sky between them is empty and blank.
What story is that from?
>>7989242
His novel Peace. It's about an old man reflecting on his life in the haunted midwest. It's very good and rather spooky in some ways. As with Wolfe's other work, it has many many layers.
>>7989233
Is his prose this good in BotNS?
>>7989346
Yes and no. His prose is as much a narrative technique and is used for characterisation as it's there to read nice.
>>7989354
Thats what makes good prose...
>>7989356
Yes, but not everyone here has that concept.
Also happy birthday Marc.
betcha guys didnt know gene wolfe invented pringles and they modeled the pringles man after him
>>7989460
He didn't invent them and sadly it isn't him on the picture since he used to be shaven and young then.
>>7989482
let me have my dream
>>7989508
There are a few podcasts with him and he speaks of it there.
>>7989424
Ahhhh yeah thank you!!! ;) first post here in a while
>>7989233
Don't know any other writer that uses archaisms so well; I wish Pynchon did a book where he tries to ape Wolfe's style.
>>7991153
Maybe they do a super cryptic Catholic teamup?
>>7989233
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Peace is quite possibly the most underrated novel of the 20th century. It is fucking brilliant.
>>7991178
Doubt it yet am hopeful.
>>7991203
>tfw you've read 15 Gene Wolfe novels and feel bad for reading more of him and not more philosophy and still haven't read Peace
He fucking sucks.
Got 75% of the way through Shadow Claw and said "Fuck it, this sucks."
Nothing fucking happens. There is no direction. Everything is so fucking inconsequential. He finally meets Vodalus then doesn't like him in like 2 pages. He meets some woman who we are supposed to care about then she is gone without a care.
Sucks.
>>7991323
Kek you literally missed everything in the novels
>>7991335
What? Wandering about in some gardens for a bit?
It's like... why does it matter?
I want a fucking plot. I don't want waffle.
Is Vodalus about to do something bad that shifts Severian's perspective of him? Then fucking hype it up. Don't just be like: Oh okay, we're not totally down with Vodalus now.
Wolfe sucks and I am sad that I wasted a few days of reading on him.
I'm on the verge of giving up American literature altogether. Wolfe and Lovecraft both sucked, and they are supposed to be amongst the best.
Change your values. There are actual, exciting novels out there which don't rely on you the reader imagining deep profound things whilst you read the boring text.
>>7991350
>he wants a fucking plot
>>7991350
>What? Wandering about in some gardens for a bit?
Aside a Borges tribute, it's about the multiple worlds existing and a glimpse into the future if I remember correctly.
>It's like... why does it matter?
Due to the structure of the narration you are supposed to think about it and discover it actively as you go on. Are you asking why does it matter as a single event or how it adds to the overall message?
>I want a fucking plot. I don't want waffle.
The plot is pretty active. I'd say much more active than similar modernist novels in that page range. You get his childhood, youth, significant events that shaped him as well as encounters with multiple fascinating characters.
>Is Vodalus about to do something bad that shifts Severian's perspective of him?
He first met him when he was a confused child. He never really knew him, he was a legend to him because he was essentially a character he fabricated for himself to try and give his life more significance, and he a few pages later eats Thecla. So yeah, something big happened.
>Then fucking hype it up. Don't just be like: Oh okay, we're not totally down with Vodalus now.
So you don't like characterisation in general?
>Wolfe sucks and I am sad that I wasted a few days of reading on him.
And I'm sorry you are such a massive pleb who if anything can't enjoy the mystery, language, characters, atmosphere and musings on divinity which are one of the central themes of the novel woven through symbols you've already encountered such as baptism and resurrection of both Dorcas and Severian and Eucharist with Thecla.
>I'm on the verge of giving up American literature altogether. Wolfe and Lovecraft both sucked, and they are supposed to be amongst the best.
Lovecraft? Heh kid who told you this nonsense? Clearly a newfag or something because Pynchon and Nabokov are for example here seen as the best of America. Lovecraft doesn't even hit the most popular literary fantasy writers here
>Change your values. There are actual, exciting novels out there which don't rely on you the reader imagining deep profound things whilst you read the boring text.
There are on the other hand novels that don't spell everything out and require active reading and attention to details, which you clearly lack.
>>7991372
I thought I saw Chelsea Wolfe there.... My newfound obsession with all things Wolfe is getting out of hand.
>>7991390
OP here. I have that poster and am wearing a Chelsea Wolfe shirt lol
it's a good name
>>7992972
I should get one. Top heroin waifu and a splendid musician.
