(urth) instant new fan

[Antonin Scriabin]

Daniel, I understand what you mean about the prose being so good it kind of
slips under the radar, and "does its job".  I read Neal Stephenson's *
Quicksilver* and absolutely loved it, then read *Shadow and Claw*, which I
loved even more.  Then I went back to read Stephenson's *The Confusion*,
and it felt like I had really, really stepped down a notch.  I didn't
realize how good the prose in *New Sun* was until I read something else;
then it hit me how incredibly well Wolfe can write.

P.S. I feel like I should mention that *The Confusion*, once I got back
into the swing of that story, ended up being one of my favorite "adventure"
novels.  I highly recommend it!

On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:25 PM, Daniel Petersen <
danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:

> You know, it's funny.  The first chapters of SotT did *not* terribly
> impress me as to writing style when I first tackled BotNS over a decade
> ago.  There was nothing *wrong* with them at all - flawless grammar and
> syntax and what have you.  The story itself and its themes began to sweep
> me up as the book really got going, but it wasn't until later in the book
> or series that the writing itself began to leap out at me as really
> exquisite prose.
>
> Plus, sometimes I wonder if even the writing style itself is 'hidden in
> plain sight' from the reader along with so much else.  The writing is *so*
> good (grammatical and graceful as Wolfe recommends to aspiring writers)
> that it just ends up doing its job so effectively that you don't always
> notice it until you're quite some way into a work.
>
> Also, I'll here mention that I love the quality of prose in Long and Short
> Suns just as much as New Sun.  It's just doing something totally different
> than Severian's baroque machinations.
>
> -DOJP
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Antonin Scriabin <
> kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Wolfe's writing is very beautiful, and he uses such vivid, unique
>> language.  I haven't memorized the passage, but the part in *The Shadow
>> of the Torturer *where Ultan is describing the different books in the
>> library; wonderful!  That together with the nearby *Book of Gold*passage really made me fall in love with that book in particular and Wolfe
>> in general.
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:08 PM, Daniel Petersen <
>> danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, so many truly wonderful lines and passages.  I remember loving the
>>> really robust mountainous language at the beginning of SotL, starting with
>>> the sentence:  'Thrax is a crooked dagger entering the heart of the
>>> mountains.'
>>>
>>> You know, I don't think I've ever seen Wolfe's writing (as in style or
>>> tone or texture of prose, etc.) discussed on this list.
>>>
>>> -DOJP
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 3:58 AM, David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 12/18/2011 7:59 PM, Daniel Petersen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thought people here might enjoy seeing that new readers are still
>>>>> discovering Wolfe for the very first time and being instantly enchanted.  A
>>>>> friend of mine (an aspiring writer) who loves Tolkien and China Mieville
>>>>> finally, at my persistent insistence, obtained BotNS and posted this to me
>>>>> on Facebook just now about what he's read so far:
>>>>>
>>>>> 'I love the languid, ivy-wrapped prose that Wolfe writes in. I've been
>>>>> discovering that this is a style I find myself entranced by when I read it.
>>>>> I was not long ago working through Titus Groan and found myself ensconced
>>>>> by many of the same elements that I'm loving in Wolfe's writing. Mr. Wolfe
>>>>> seems much better at marrying plot and poesy than Mr. Peake, however.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm very excited about what waits around the corner. BotNS seems like
>>>>> the kind of novel I dream of writing.'
>>>>>
>>>>> Some pretty apt comments, I thought.
>>>>>
>>>>> -DOJP
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Cool!
>>>>
>>>> BNS has some of the most gorgeous lines I have ever read. There are
>>>> many others, but I think most often of the description of lotuses on Gyoll
>>>> in CotA immediately after Maxellindis's uncle's talk of what appear to be
>>>> the legions of Erebus:
>>>>
>>>> With that he fell silent, looking out over the nenuphars. We were well
>>>> above that part of
>>>>
>>>> Gyoll opposite the Citadel, but they were still packed more densely
>>>> than wildflowers in
>>>>
>>>> any meadow this side of paradise.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This kind of mood/content juxtaposition enraptures me.
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