(urth) instant new fan

Mon Dec 19 10:41:43 PST 2011

Daniel, if you want to check out Stephenson, I would recommend
starting with "Anathem," a book of deep secrets.

On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 10:40 AM, Daniel Petersen
<danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh yes, Antonin: happens to me all the time.  Dan Simmons, for example,
> writes a very compelling yard in perfectly capable prose.  But if I read him
> too close to an immersive reading of Wolfe, I'll find myself distactedly
> pining for Wolfean prose.  And, as you say, once I'm into the swing of any
> good writer's less-than-the-Wolfean-ideal prose, I thoroughly enjoy myself.
>  (I've been planning to check out Stephenson for some time.)
>
> -DOJP
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> 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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>>>>>
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes