Neil Gaiman on reading Gene Wolfe
I picked up a few issues of Fantasy & Science Fiction today while at a thrift store including a Special issue dedicated to the work of Gene Wolf. I first picked up Wolfe’s work after my friend Mason suggested I read the Book of the New Sun series. I have since read the first two novels in the series which were so densely layered that I had to give my brain a break before I dive in and read the other three.
His work is not for the casual reader, it is peppered with archaic language that once fully researched and understood opens the world more fully. He sidesteps into chapters from books and mythology adapted from stories we may recognize from ancient literature but within the context of the novel have been adapted and bastardized over million years between our present and the present of the novel.
Of the two novels of his that I have read I feel that I only understood about 50% of what was going on by the time I finished the final page. Over time, however, I have thought back on certain scenes or phrases trying to place them within the context not only of the story’s world but of our own.
It was with that thought and understanding of his work that I was excited when I opened the cover of this issue of the literary magazine to find a brief introduction by none other than Neil Gaiman who, after relating his own history with the author, gives 9 tips on reading Wolfe’s work. They are as follows:
1. Trust the text implicitly. The answers are in there.
2. Do not trust the text farther than you can throw it, if that far. It’s tricksy and desperate stuff, and it may go off in your hand at any time.
3. Reread. It’s better the second time. It will be even better the third time. And anyway, the books will subtly reshape themselves while you are away from them. Peace really was a gentle Midwestern memoir the first time I read it. It only became a horror novel on the second or the third reading.
4. There are wolves in there, prowling behind the words. Sometimes they come out in the pages. Sometimes they wait until you close the book. The musky wolf-smell can sometimes be masked by the aromatic scent of rosemary. Understand, these are not only today-wolves, slinking grayly in packs through deserted places. These are the dire-wolves of old, huge and solitary wolves that could stand their ground against grizzlies.
5. Reading Gene Wolfe is dangerous work. It’s a knife-throwing act, and like all good knife throwing acts, you may lose fingers, toes, earlobes or eyes in the process. Gene doesn’t mind. Gene is throwing the knives.
6. Make yourself comfortable. Pour a pot of tea. Hang up a Do Not Disturb Sign. Start at Page One.
7. There are two kinds of clever writer. The ones that point out how clever thy are, and the ones who see no need to point out how clever they are. Gene Wolfe is of the second kind, and the intelligence is less important than the tale. He is not smart to make you feel stupid. He is smart to make you smart as well.
8. He was there. He saw it happen. He knows whose reflection they saw in the mirror that night.
9. Be willing to learn.
