Not a whole lot of posting here lately, mainly because I haven't been reading or watching much relevant material. I've been reading about orality & literacy in medieval (and other) culture, about Cuba & the United States, and about the RCMP's domestic spying programs. Outside of that I've been reading a number of comics, so I may be posting more frequently at Holy Heroes!!
I have however read An Evil Guest. The early descriptions were fairly accurate: it's a blend of genres, drawing on pulp fiction and early-twentieth century atmospheres. It also blends the world of "Memorare" and the world of "The Tree Is My Hat," which is a pretty amazing feat in itself. H.P. Lovecraft's mythos plays a role, for the reasonably clued-in reader.
I did find myself wondering about Wolfe's literary direction. Ever since, say, The Book of the Long Sun, he's been including bigger and bigger chunks of conversation in his novels, and there's a lot in this book. Sometimes his newer novels feel like 60 or 70% conversation with a bit of action and description mixed in. This is still tricky Mr. Wolfe, after all, so the conversations imply a lot, and they definitely show us the characters instead of simply telling about them. Still, sometimes I disloyally wonder what he's up to, if he's doing this deliberately, or if he's gotten lazy and lost his edge, or has just become very literary-Zen, or what?
Well, I was wrong to doubt. He hasn't lost his abilities. Towards the end of this book there's a chapter in which the protagonist sees through the eyes of a dead woman... (or something) and it's absolutely electrifying. We leave the careful conversations behind and are plunged into a stunning series of impressions and sensations.
So, never fear, he still has his superpowers. He's just become more and more subtle in his old(er) age.
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It was a long time since I read anything by Gene Wolfe. Maybe I should do that soon. Ah, frustration! How will I find time to read all books?
The book was well done -- there were times that I couldn't put it down -- but I'm afraid that I don't understand what Wolfe's purpose was with the ending. I don't recall another Wolfe book that left me so dissatisfied.
The island story (the last 1/3rd of the book) felt tacked on. Was Margaret's kidnapping ever resolved? Did the bizarre government agency that gunned down Casey's friend make any sort of showing at the end? If so, then I must have missed it. Further, the abrupt transformation of the Reid character didn't work at all.
What I'd really like would be for Wolfe to finish the Evil Guest that he started instead of the one that it became.
Good to see you back. Did you see the Strange Horizons review of An Evil Guest (here)?
One thing that drove me crazy with Wizard Knight was the conversations when they talk about what they're going to talk about ("I'm going to tell you about X and you'll think I've forgotten that we're talking about Y, but it's important and will get back to Y." "I said I was going to tell you three things, but is it all right if I tell you four?" "We said we could each three questions, but you've only asked two."). There was some of that in Short Sun, but it didn't annoy me there like it did in Wizard Knight. Interestingly there didn't seem nearly as much of that in Pirate Freedom. Sounds like this has more again? Still, I'll be keeping an eye out for it and may read it...but for now my plan (having just finished Short Sun a month or so ago) is to reread the various Sun series before trying to tackle others of his books.
Thras:
Personally I liked the island story better than the Broadway/wizard/thriller story. Wolfe's Cthulu-esque stuff appeals to me. But I agree that those two stories didn't seem to fit together, and that the details weren't wrapped up in any recognizable sense. As you say, if he'd finished both, they might've worked better as two separate books.
I'm used to Wolfe being oblique, but sometimes it feels that he's becoming so oblique no one else can follow him. I was blown away by that undead-vision chapter but I wish he would write like that more often.
Daniel:
"I'm going to tell you about X and you'll think I've forgotten that we're talking about Y, but it's important and will get back to Y." "I said I was going to tell you three things, but is it all right if I tell you four?" "We said we could each three questions, but you've only asked two."
LOL! Too true! Yeah, those sorts of conversations are particularly frustrating, because they make many of his characters sound the same, and how many people actually talk that way? Unfortunately yes, that kind of thing does appear in An Evil Guest.
PS: Hmm. That review is fairly insightful. Though I didn't think the character's puns were meant to be humorous to the reader. And I think a few of the other flaws are more inherent in the pulp fiction Wolfe was imitating than anything (the portrayal of the island folk, say).
But still, Roberts raises some good points. Cassie is, well... yeah. I think Wolfe *can* create strong, intelligent female characters who aren't scheming villains (like Maytera Mint or Holly Hollander) but for the most part he doesn't. Of course, some of his male leads are not the best and brightest (like in There Are Doors.) So maybe I should say Cassie herself isn't necessarily unrealistic, except that when I look at Wolfe's previous books and see the stereotypes many of his previous female characters fall into - those larger gender patterns seem unrealistic, even potentially offensive.
Personally, I'd just read Wolfe for what he's good at (and he's good at a lot) but then turn to certain other authors to get more a full spectrum of female characterization (Ursula K. LeGuin? Connie Willis?)
When I was younger and geekier (but before I'd read any Wolfe), I sometimes talked that way. It's soothing, really, because most people don't pay much attention to whether the expressions they use actually make any sense. It can also be useful in conversation, as it provides an outline.
But yes, the people who talk like that in real life are very, very geeky and very, very rare. Since Wolfe lives in a geek mecca, these conversations may reflect the speech around him; or he may just find it a pleasing style.
I can see why it might bother a reader. But honestly, Wolfe is so literary, so artificial (in a good way), and so mannered a writer that I don't see why any odd quirk would surprise anyone. Once someone's used all the vocabulary words in Shadow of the Torturer, it's not as if any other literary device can possibly be ruled out.
"Wolfe lives in a geek mecca"
Is Barrington a university town?
I found myself talking a bit like Silk for awhile after I read the Book of the New Sun... giving the context of every story I told, lots of digressions, using some of those "I have two questions and a statement" statements. But it drove everyone crazy, so I stopped. Though I still do digress and ramble too much.
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