(urth) The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned byRudesind

[Ryan Dunn]

On Jul 8, 2010, at 12:46 AM, James Wynn wrote:

> Nor is it true that solid patterns are hard not find. Wolfe's problem is in the other direction. He doesn't leave nearly ENOUGH clues. His work often tends to appear to be randomly lackadaisical until you read it a second time or talk to someone about it. And then you find out it was a different story from the one you thought you were reading.


I think you've summarized what I've felt about Wolfe for some time. The first reading (if you've read him before) you are on high alert, and analyzing everything. This usually leads to a stiff first reading that sort of weaves together near the end. And this almost ALWAYS elicits a feeling of... "what the hell did I miss? Because I know it was significant, whatever it was."

At that point, you re-read it, and many of the clues you missed were perfectly placed, fully intentional, and clever to the hilt.

That is what separates Wolfe from most other mortals for me. Not to laud him overly idyllically, but I don't think many other authors attempt or could achieve if they DID attempt this sort of layered literary approach.

Hence the pondering of people who have monkey traits as not just some throwaway piece of scrap that I or someone else may be obsessing over.

It is the same with my assertion that he told us Agia's skull hit the stone with the sound of a hammer, despite her full head of hair. That, to me, was not just colorful description. It was a clue about the nature of her skull, and thus HER, and thus her affect on Severian, and thus her effect on his journey, and the whole book for that matter.

...ryan