|
Chichevache posted:Lmao. I already got Terminus Est tattooed on my arm when I was an angsty teen. Could use severian's quote about the power of symbols from chapter 1 of botns.
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2019 19:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 04:31 |
|
|
andrew smash posted:Could use severian's quote about the power of symbols from chapter 1 of botns. Lmao that is a little crowded for a tattoo. I'm thinking something along the line of "unreliable narrator".
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2019 19:36
|
|
|
If you don't have a tattoo of the face on the pringles can with "terminus est" underneath it I don't want to be your friend.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2019 19:45
|
|
|
Unormal posted:If you don't have a tattoo of the face on the pringles can with "terminus est" underneath it I don't want to be your friend. gently caress, man. I think I might be a bad enough dude for this.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2019 20:34
|
|
|
loving hell. Wolfe has been my favorite for years. Originally found him with BotNS, read all the Sun books for the first time over the course of a summer. Finishing Return to the Whorl for the first time that way blew me away. I've yet to find anything else like it. I decided last night to pick up Shadow of the Torturer and reread again. I have a signed copy of Soldier of the Mist, and an early edition hardcover copy of The Devil in a Forest that my wife bought me on our second christmas together. They are my favorite things on my shelf. afflictionwisp fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Apr 15, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2019 21:04
|
|
|
The last Wolfe I read was Seven American Nights. Still amazing turns out! I think my favorite standalone book of his is There Are Doors. Its weird and maybe not his greatest work, but its low stakes and even the very long parts about tables are fun (more fun on a reread when you arent wondering where its going).
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2019 21:37
|
|
|
Truspeaker posted:The last Wolfe I read was Seven American Nights. Still amazing turns out! Seven American Nights is uncomfortably relevant in the current political climate "When we(Americans) feel cheated we are ready to kill; and maybe we feel cheated all the time"
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2019 00:48
|
|
|
RIP gene
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2019 01:58
|
|
|
gently caress. I'm running on three hours' sleep so will have to postpone a message gushing about Wolfe. I hope his final days were peaceful.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2019 02:50
|
|
|
Just finished reading the story Silhouette for the first time. That might be the best thing I've read of his since finishing The Wizard Knight. It's one of his relatively few stories that reads like modern hard sci fi like Peter Watts; much as I liked it, however, I'm left with deep feelings of ambiguity as to the conclusion. Johann feels both more alien and more human than the other characters, while he seemed to be putting the ship on the right course while there were also some foreboding elements like the fact it ended with him fulfilling his long-held ambition over the probable body of the previous captain. And I wasn't sure what to make of the clear ties to Goethe's Faust - Johann himself seemed to represent Faust, and the world they'd encountered certainly seemed to have elements of hell (the harsh UV, the possible terrible fate of the past inhabitants) but the alien entity he encountered seemed benign, and Johann himself never seemed to act explicitly malevolently. Goethe's works were of course in two parts, and everyone is familiar with the first, but the second had a kind of redemption for the protagonist; I have trouble mapping Johann's experiences onto the story, however, so I'm confused. I guess I was left with the feeling Johann was charting a course away from the hell-world and the godless anomie and social decay of the ship's society, but there are enough contrary indicators I wasn't certain.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 05:43
|
|
|
If you think you can write a few hundred words of Wolfe inspired prose, entries for the current week of thunderdome are open for the next 24 hours or so. Just go there and type 'in' and you'll have until Sunday midnight to write and post your story!
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 09:45
|
|
|
sebmojo posted:If you think you can write a few hundred words of Wolfe inspired prose, entries for the current week of thunderdome are open for the next 24 hours or so. Just go there and type 'in' and you'll have until Sunday midnight to write and post your story! I'm not quite ready to contribute, but I am very ready to read all of these. Thank you for doing it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 15:36
|
|
|
What Wolfe should I pick up next after BotNS and Fifth Head of Cerberus? Been meaning to get deeper into his stuff and the latest news is probably the kick I need to get going. For what it’s worth, I tried to read Soldier of the Mist years ago and bounced off pretty hard.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 21:25
|
|
|
Bold Robot posted:What Wolfe should I pick up next after BotNS and Fifth Head of Cerberus? Been meaning to get deeper into his stuff and the latest news is probably the kick I need to get going. For what it’s worth, I tried to read Soldier of the Mist years ago and bounced off pretty hard. What do you normally like? The Sorcerer's House is a ton of fun, but it isn't really like any of the "classic" Wolfe that is so popular.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 21:35
|
|
|
Chichevache posted:What do you normally like? The Sorcerer's House is a ton of fun, but it isn't really like any of the "classic" Wolfe that is so popular. Thanks. I’m pretty open, but ideally less opaque than Soldier of the Mist. But admittedly I was like 16 when I tried that so it might not be as challenging as I remember.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 21:40
|
|
|
Bold Robot posted:Thanks. I’m pretty open, but ideally less opaque than Soldier of the Mist. But admittedly I was like 16 when I tried that so it might not be as challenging as I remember. Oh, definitely go back to Soldier if the Mist. It isn't too opaque and I'd say it is much simpler than BotNS. It's so much fun too. If you don't know any Mediterranean history you might want to do a little research first, but the book is perfectly readable without that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 21:45
|
|
|
Long sun, short sun, wizard knight also
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2019 21:46
|
|
|
Personally I only like the 80s stuff, which is botns and soldiers of mist and arete: I think his style changes markedly after that
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 00:54
|
|
|
sebmojo posted:Personally I only like the 80s stuff, which is botns and soldiers of mist and arete: I think his style changes markedly after that if you're limiting it to that decade, Free Live Free and There are Doors were both published in the 80s.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 01:36
|
|
|
andrew smash posted:if you're limiting it to that decade, Free Live Free and There are Doors were both published in the 80s. I did not find enjoyment in the former!
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 01:39
|
|
|
Chichevache posted:I did not find enjoyment in the former! I haven't read that one myself. I read There are Doors (like 10-12 years ago) and it was pretty odd.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 01:42
|
|
|
andrew smash posted:if you're limiting it to that decade, Free Live Free and There are Doors were both published in the 80s. It's more of an observation, I haven't liked long sun, wizard knight or soldier of sidon but I should try short sun and those two.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2019 03:12
|
|
|
So did he already submit the manuscript for Interlibrary Loan before he passed??
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 04:45
|
|
|
gene wolfe was cool, jack vance rips
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 05:14
|
|
|
Peace is also really good, it's probably Wolfe's most quote "literary" unquote work, it's like Alice Munro meets Edgar Allen Poe meets Guy Gabriel Marquez if I had to choose three authours (with a smidgen of Citizen Kane): focus on a sort of small town coming of age and a man making himself with some incredibly unsettling borderline magical realism and some really dark subtext. There is a scene where he's talking with a bookseller towards the end which is straight up one of the most memorable bits I have ever read in a novel, period. Very different from his usual work but it reminds me a lot of the good poo poo I read while in uni, which as an English undergrad happens maybe once per semester. Say what you will about Wolfe, the man had loving breadth. I need to repropriate it, I lent it to my Mom a year ago and she still hasn't read it 
ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Apr 23, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 11:48
|
|
|
Peace is great. I love the whole sequence with the Chinese egg. Like what the gently caress man.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 14:44
|
|
|
I finished Book of the New Sun the other day and...man, it's a lot to take in. I'll need to read Urth of the New Sun soon.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 15:05
|
|
|
How is The Devil in a Forest? It's the Wolfe book I've heard the least about, but it's got the coolest cover art.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 16:11
|
|
|
MeatwadIsGod posted:I finished Book of the New Sun the other day and...man, it's a lot to take in. I'll need to read Urth of the New Sun soon. Maybe give Urth some time before you pick it up. I didn't realize quite how many spoilers it had and some of those things I may've figured out had I reread New Sun first. Plus I just don't like it as much as the rest o' his stuff, and I like most of his stuff. Lester Shy posted:How is The Devil in a Forest? It's the Wolfe book I've heard the least about, but it's got the coolest cover art. I read it once a good while ago and it seemed... straightforward. Which probably meant that I missed something significant. Or maybe he just wanted to write a young adult adventure novel with some moralizing. S'pose I should dust it off at some point. Barto posted:So did he already submit the manuscript for Interlibrary Loan before he passed?? I remember hearin' that at least one manuscript was submitted a fair number of months ago so we'll likely see somethin'. Hopefully not somethin' too posthumously-edited.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 19:07
|
|
|
Guy Gabriel Marquez, noted author of The Lions of al-Macondo
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 19:10
|
|
|
Barto posted:So did he already submit the manuscript for Interlibrary Loan before he passed??
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 20:56
|
|
|
andrew smash posted:Guy Gabriel Marquez, noted author of The Lions of al-Macondo I only read 100 years of Solitude and a few of his short stories, that one's going over my head, sorry.  Mostly I'm kind of amused with how much Peace has in common with the small-town coming of age story that seems to be two-thirds of all Canadian fiction ever written. It's probably more consciously aping Faulkner but hey, my education leaves me certain biases. ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Apr 23, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2019 22:50
|
|
|
Hammer Bro. posted:Maybe give Urth some time before you pick it up. I didn't realize quite how many spoilers it had and some of those things I may've figured out had I reread New Sun first. Plus I just don't like it as much as the rest o' his stuff, and I like most of his stuff. Urth seems pretty polarizing so hopefully I like it. Some thoughts and questions about Citadel of the Autarch and BotNS in general: 1. So it's heavily implied that Dorcas is Severian's grandmother. When he goes back to the inn by the Sanguinary Fields to talk with the waiter, the proprietor mentions the family resemblance between them. I was wondering if there was some weird Futurama-esque grandfather paradox going on here since, if I remember correctly, Severian sleeps with Dorcas after the avern duel. Obviously the old man at the Lake of Endless Sleep was her husband, she died during childbirth and was revived 40-something years later but I wonder what, if any, implications Severian and Dorcas sleeping together could have given the apparent circularity of things. Towards the end of Citadel, Severian mentions "other" Severians. I'm not sure if this is a parallel universe thing or different versions of Severian being altered by time travel or what. I've always wondered if somehow Severian traveled through time when scaling that strange cliffside that leads to the cabin. Young Severian could have been himself before he was abandoned to the Torturer's guild maybe? The time travel implications confuse the hell out of me. You have Severian returning to Nessus on the Samru with sailors singing the same song he heard the night of his exile from Nessus. Could be coincidental, but Severian does wonder who might be setting out that night on their own adventure. And the Malrubius aquastor mentions that he and Triskele have a "range of a few thousand years" before they fade away so I don't know what that means for the timeline. 2. I still don't understand the significance of brother-sister names or all the "twinning" going on. You have Agilus and Agia, and during the cabin scene Agia says that she and Agilus were "of the same flesh." I guess that could be taken at face value, or as a reference to their incest vibes. But part of me wonders if they aren't meant to be gender-swapped parallel universe versions of the same person somehow cohabiting the same world. And what does that mean for Severa, or "Miles" and his vision of a female version of himself after Severian revives him? I really loved this series and how well Wolfe evoked an incredibly old, incredibly dead world. I also enjoyed that you don't have a straightforward redemption arc for Severian. He is essentially a vampire for 90 percent of the series but has flashes of humanity throughout and would not have grown at all without the influence of Dorcas, Jonas, or Thecla. When he discovers the old autarch's "pistol" in the Matachin Tower at the end of Citadel, I was worried he really had learned nothing because he describes it as lovingly as Terminus Est. But he fires it, realizes what a terrible thing it is, and give it to his maybe-father to protect his maybe-grandmother. I know I'll need to re-read this series almost immediately but it really was incredible, and frustrating but in a weirdly delightful way. I loved cracking one or two little mysteries on my own but I know countless things went over my head. MeatwadIsGod fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Apr 24, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2019 04:25
|
|
|
I don't think Young Severian can be Severian because Severian had to be brought to the Guild at a very young age, like an infant, to be free of the corruption of the outside world. It's possible he represents an alternative timeline though?
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2019 04:32
|
|
|
ManlyGrunting posted:I only read 100 years of Solitude and a few of his short stories, that one's going over my head, sorry.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2019 04:41
|
|
|
Atlas Hugged posted:I don't think Young Severian can be Severian because Severian had to be brought to the Guild at a very young age, like an infant, to be free of the corruption of the outside world. It's possible he represents an alternative timeline though? I was thinking maybe alternate timeline as well since little Severian gets vaporized. I just remember there being some line from Shadow of the Torturer that they wouldn't accept boys whose heads were taller than a bulkhead or something which seemed to imply that kids were brought in at like 5 or 6 instead of in infancy. MeatwadIsGod fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Apr 24, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2019 04:42
|
|
|
MeatwadIsGod posted:I was thinking maybe alternate timeline as well since little Severian gets vaporized. I just remember there being some line from Shadow of the Torturer that they wouldn't accept boys whose heads were taller than a bulkhead or something which seemed to imply that kids were brought in at like 5 or 6 instead of in infancy. I don’t think he’s literally, you know, but rather symbolically. Especially if you look at how he dies tryimg to take Typhon’s treasure, this is telling us, and maybe Severian, something.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2019 05:00
|
|
|
Based on Severian's conversation with Ouen toward the end of Citadel, Severian seems reasonably confident that a woman Ouen slept with was made a prisoner of the Torturers and that Severian was taken in by them as an infant. He mentions earlier, I think in Claw, that the children of prisoners are sometimes kept by the guild, and that female children are handed off to the Witches. So regardless of how old a Torturer apprentice could be, Severian was one from basically birth.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2019 05:02
|
|
|
Here is the winner of the Gene Wolfe Memorial Thunderdome. If you're interested in the others I liked Djesers and Crabrocks.Thranguy posted:The Price of a Blade sebmojo fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Jul 29, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2019 05:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 04:31 |
|
|
Lester Shy posted:How is The Devil in a Forest? It's the Wolfe book I've heard the least about, but it's got the coolest cover art. I like The Devil in a Forest! The title tells you exactly what you're going to get 
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2019 19:34
|
|
