Wolfe, Gene (Rodman) (1931-).
        Major 21st-Century Writers. Ed. Tracey Matthews. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 5 vols.

PERSONAL: Born May 7, 1931, in Brooklyn, NY; son of Roy Emerson (in sales) and Mary Olivia (Ayers) Wolfe; married Rosemary Frances Dietsch, November 3, 1956; children: Roy II, Madeleine, Therese, Matthew. Education: Attended Texas A&M University, 1949-52; University of Houston, B.S.M.E., 1956. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 69, Barrington, IL 60011. Agent—Virginia Kidd, Box 278, Milford, PA 18337.

CAREER: Project engineer with Procter & Gamble, 1956-72; Plant Engineering Magazine, Barrington, IL, senior editor, 1972-84; writer. Military Service: U.S. Army, 1952-54; received Combat Infantry badge.

MEMBER: Science Fiction Writers of America.

AWARDS, HONORS: Nebula Award, Science Fiction Writers of America, 1973, for novella The Death of Doctor Island; Chicago Foundation for Literature Award, 1977, for Peace; Rhysling Award, 1978, for poem "The Computer Iterates the Greater Trumps"; Nebula Award nomination, 1979, for novella Seven American Nights; Illinois Arts Council award, 1981, for short story "In Looking-Glass Castle"; World Fantasy Award, 1981, for The Shadow of the Torturer, 1996, for life achievement; Nebula Award, and Locus Award, both 1982, both for The Claw of the Conciliator; British Science Fiction Award, 1982; British Fantasy Award, 1983; Locus Award, 1983, for The Sword of the Lictor; John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Science Fiction Research Association, 1984, for The Citadel of the Autarch; World Fantasy Award, 1989, for collection Storeys from the Old Hotel; nominated for Nebula Award, 1993, for Nightside the Long Sun.
WRITINGS:
SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY

Operation ARES, Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1970.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus (three novellas), Scribner (New York, NY), 1972, reprinted, Orb (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Ursula K. LeGuin and James Tiptree, Jr.) The New Atlantis, and Other Novellas of Science Fiction, edited by Robert Silverberg, Hawthorn (New York, NY), 1975.

The Devil in a Forest (juvenile), Follett (Chicago, IL), 1976, reprinted, Orb (New York, NY), 1996.

The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1980, reprinted, Orb (New York, NY), 1997.

The Shadow of the Torturer (first book in "The Book of the New Sun" tetralogy), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1980.

Gene Wolfe's Book of Days (short stories), Doubleday (New York, NY), 1981.

The Claw of the Conciliator (second book in "The Book of the New Sun" tetralogy), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1981.

The Sword of the Lictor (third book in "The Book of the New Sun" tetralogy), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1982.

The Citadel of the Autarch (fourth book in "The Book of the New Sun" tetralogy), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1983.

The Wolfe Archipelago (short stories), Ziesing Bros. (Willimantic, CT), 1983.

Plan(e)t Engineering, New England Science Fiction Association, 1984.

Free Live Free, Ziesing Bros. (Willimantic, CT), 1984, new edition, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1985.

Soldier of the Mist, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1986.

The Urth of the New Sun (sequel to "The Book of the New Sun" tetralogy), Tor Books (New York, NY), 1987.

There Are Doors, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1988.

Storeys from the Old Hotel (short stories), Kerosina, 1988, reprinted, Orb (New York, NY), 1995.

Endangered Species (short stories), Tor Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Seven American Nights (bound with Sailing to Byzantium, by Silverberg), Tor Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Soldier of Arete (sequel to Soldier of the Mist), St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1989.

Pandora by Holly Hollander, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1990.

Castleview, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1991.

Castle of Days, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1992, reprinted, Orb (New York, NY), 1995.

Nightside the Long Sun, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Lake of the Long Sun, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1993, reprinted, Doherty (New York, NY), 1994.

Sword and Citadel, Orb (New York, NY), 1994.

Calde of the Long Sun, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1994.

Shadow & Claw (contains The Shadow of the Torturer, and The Claw of the Conciliator), Orb (New York, NY), 1994.

Exodus from the Long Sun, Tor Books (New York, NY), 1995.

In Green's Jungles, Tor (New York, NY), 2000.

Latro in the Mist, (contains Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete) Orb (New York, NY), 2003.

The Wizard, Tor (New York, NY), 2004.

Innocents Aboard: New Fantasy Stories, Tor (New York, NY), 2004.

The Knight, Tor (New York, NY), 2004.
OTHER

Peace (novel), Harper (New York, NY), 1975, reprinted Tor (New York, NY), 1995.

The Castle of the Otter (essays), Ziesing Bros. (Willimantic, CT), 1982.

Bibliomen, Cheap Street (New Castle, VA), 1984.

Empires of Foliage and Flower, Cheap Street, 1987.

For Rosemary (poetry), Kerosina, 1988.

Contributor of stories to anthologies, including awards anthologies Best SF: 70, 1970, Nebula Award Stories 9, The Best SF of the Year #3, and Best SF: 73, all 1974. Also contributor of short stories to Omni, New Yorker, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and other publications.

SIDELIGHTS: "With the publication of his tetralogy The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe has entered the ranks of the major contemporary writers of science fiction," Pamela Sargent asserted in Twentieth-Century Science Fiction Writers. The series is set on Earth and takes place far in the future in a society reminiscent of medieval Europe in its social structure where long-forgotten technologies appear magical. When Severian, an apprentice torturer, is exiled from his guild for aiding the suicide of a prisoner he loves, a journey of discovery is inaugurated that culminates in Severian's elevation to Autarch, ruler of Urth. "The far-future world of Urth through which Wolfe's characters move is a world of beauty and horror, one in which humanity's great accomplishments are not only past, but also nearly forgotten, and in which the lack of resources makes the knowledge that remains nearly useless," noted Sargent. Severian, however, possesses perfect recall, making his retrospective narration fecund with detail and meaning. As Thomas D. Clareson wrote in his Dictionary of Literary Biography essay, Severian's account is "a rich tapestry rivaling any imaginary world portrayed in contemporary science fiction"; he called the series of books "one of the high accomplishments of modern science fiction."

Critics have particularly admired the realism with which Wolfe presents his imaginary society. London Tribune contributor Martin Hillman, for example, declared that "in the evocation of the world, and the unsettling technologies, creatures, and behavioural rules within it," Wolfe's tetralogy "is streets ahead of most tales featuring sword-bearing heroes." "Wolfe is not only deft at creating a whole and strange new world," Tom Hutchinson of the London Times claimed, "he also, disturbingly, makes us understand a different way of thinking." This vivid depiction of a remote civilization, however, has not prevented the author from creating a comprehensive portrayal of Severian's character. "Although Wolfe has created an epic stage and although he permits his protagonist to travel extensively through the world," Clareson commented in Extrapolation, "the emphasis is never upon external action for the sake of action; rather, the four novels become increasingly a study of Severian's reactions and musings. The result," the critic concluded, "is that Gene Wolfe has created one of the richest and most complex characterizations in the field of fantasy and science fiction." Peter Nicholls concurred, stating in a Washington Post Book World article that Severian "is perhaps the most extraordinary hero in the history of the heroic epic, and none of his confrontations are without surprises."

While The Book of the New Sun series has been celebrated for the vividness of its descriptions, reviewers also commend Wolfe's intricate imagery. "In fact, there are two 'Books of the New Sun,'" Nicholls argued. "Out in the open is the wonderfully vivid and inventive story of a brave and lonely hero; below is the sea of allusion and juxtaposition . . . [and] a pungent debate on ontology, eschatology and the metaphysics of time." Contributing to the series' profundity, C. N. Manlove suggested in Kansas Quarterly, is Wolfe's literary skill: "The author creates his images with such apparent effortlessness that they seem to have been come upon, to have been always there, rather than to have been invented. Every stage of Severian's journey is accompanied by a startling new image or landscape." "With great urgency, layer after layer," John Clute similarly maintained in the Washington Post Book World, Wolfe "has created a world radiant with meaning, a novel that makes sense in the end only if it is read as an attempt to represent the Word of God."

It is this layering of image and meaning that has led critics such as Algis Budrys to praise the overall literary quality of Wolfe's series: "As a piece of literature, the work is simply overwhelming," Budrys related in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. "Severian is a character realized in a depth and to a breadth we have never seen in SF before," the critic explained, adding that "as craftsmanship and as literature, what we're talking about are attributes that are world-class as prose, not 'just' as SF." As Thomas M. Disch elaborated in the Washington Post Book World: "Gene Wolfe has managed to do what no science fantasy author has done heretofore—he's produced a work of art that can satisfy adult appetites and in which even the most fantastical elements register as poetry rather than as penny-whistle whimsy. Furthermore, he's done this without in any way sacrificing the showmanship and splashy colors that auger a popular success." "In a triumph of imagination, [Wolfe] creates a truly alien social order that the reader comes to experience from within," concluded New York Times Book Review critic Gerald Jonas. "The result does not make for easy reading. But once into it, there is no stopping—and you will not quickly forget Severian or his world." Although the author leaves room for future volumes, a Booklist reviewer proposed that "it is not necessary that we see any more for this series to loom as a major landmark of contemporary American literature. . . . Wolfe has wrought a genuine marvel here."

While The Urth of the New Sun continues Severian's story, it is "neither afterthought nor reprise," Times Literary Supplement reviewer Colin Greenland remarked. Nevertheless, Roz Kaveney wrote in the Washington Post Book World, "this volume makes of the whole work a palimpsest, in which moments from an underlay of earlier versions of reality crop up suddenly, producing seeming inconsistencies. . . . The Urth of the New Sun makes of the whole sequence a more perfect work by showing us [these] inconsistencies before ironing them out." The novel traces the journey of Severian, now Autarch, as he travels to a high galactic court to petition for the "new sun" that will renew Urth. While the concept of one person representing his race to a higher authority is a common science fiction convention, a Washington Post Book World critic noted that "as usual, Wolfe takes this old chestnut and makes it into something very rich and very strange."

Kaveney likewise claimed that "Gene Wolfe's career has thus far been dedicated to making us see in a new light some of what we had thought of as the stock habits of science fiction and fantasy." In Free Live Free, for example, "Wolfe extends his freedom in another direction, embracing for his own purposes that problematic mix of nonscientific lore and dreams of power known as the occult," commented Jonas. The result, added the critic, is a series of "character studies," something "rare in science fiction." Soldier of the Mist is also innovative in its account of Latro, a soldier of ancient Greece whose memory is wiped clean every time he sleeps—payment for having seen the gods; Latro's condition necessitates the keeping of a journal in which he records each day's events—with each new day he must read the journal and relearn his life. Guided by his text and various gods, Latro journeys to regain his memory. Wolfe continues Latro's story in Soldier of Arete, in which Latro becomes embroiled in the political and military rivalry between Greece and Sparta. John Calvin Batchelor observed in the Washington Post Book World that Soldier of the Mist, while difficult reading, is "a work of consequence." The author "is a master of science fiction," Batchelor concluded, "and for the best of all reasons, vaulting ambition."

Some of Wolfe's novels are set in contemporary American society and present the intrusion of fantastic elements into mundane reality. A subtle example of this is Pandora by Holly Hollander, a murder mystery narrated by a teenage girl named Pandora. The investigation focuses on the contents of a mysterious box, and, as Faren Miller observed in Locus, while everything in the novel "has an explanation in human fear, curiosity, passion, or greed, . . . the little things, the offbeat details, manage to give a sparkle of fairytale to the book." In contrast, Castleview is an out-and-out fantasy in which the long-time residents of Castleview, Illinois, have all seen visions of a medieval castle floating in air. In the course of the novel, in which the reader follows the arrival to town of Will E. Shields, new owner of the local auto dealership, figures from Arthurian legend appear along with the fictional feline Puss-in-Boots and increasing numbers of dead bodies from bizarre accidents.

Although Wolfe became famous for his novels, the "Urth" series in particular, his literary reputation is also bolstered by his short fiction, notably the collections Storeys from the Old Hotel—a highly accessible gathering of imaginative fiction—and Endangered Species—a somewhat more challenging volume of philosophically inclined tales. As Clareson asserted in an Extrapolation review of Gene Wolfe's Book of Days, the collection "is another cornerstone in emphasizing how important a writer Gene Wolfe has been throughout his surprising brief career. His stature becomes apparent by reading a number of his works. Only in that way does one realize the skill and subtlety with which he brings a fresh perspective to established themes and situations." Gene Wolfe's Book of Days was recently republished in a volume titled Castle of Days that also includes the essay collection The Castle of the Otter, as well as previously unpublished fiction and nonfiction. Clareson contended in his Dictionary of Literary Biography essay that Wolfe is "a major figure whose stories and novels must be considered among the most important science fiction published in the 1970s. He will undoubtedly become increasingly significant in the 1980s because he skillfully uses the materials of science fiction and fantasy to explore the themes which dominate contemporary fiction." "Gene Wolfe is a writer for the thinking reader," Sargent similarly stated; "he will reward anyone searching for intelligence, crafted prose, involving stories, and atmospheric detail. He is the heir of many literary traditions—pulp stories, fantasy, adventure stories of all kinds, and serious literature—and he makes use of all of them," she continued. "His work can be read with pleasure many times; new discoveries are made with each reading, and the stories linger in one's mind."

In the early 1990s, Wolfe started a new multivolume series to rival "The Book of the New Sun." Occasionally referred to as the "Starcrosser's Planetfall" series, the series includes the novels Nightside the Long Sun, Lake of the Long Sun, Calde of the Long Sun, and Exodus from the Long Sun. The main character of the series is a cleric named Patera Silk whose universe comprises the vast interior of the cylindrical starship Whorl, an environment lighted by a "long sun" that runs the length of the cylinder. The society inside the Whorl is roughly medieval, but there are numerous elements of high—albeit decaying—technology. Silk's adventure begins when he prophesies the existence of a god, the Outsider, who is not one of the nine who rule the Whorl.

Tom Easton, reviewing Nightside the Long Sun in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, commented that "Wolfe is a master of style and texture." Similarly, Gerald Jonas of the New York Times Book Review noted, "Sentence by sentence, Mr. Wolfe writes as well as anyone in science fiction today." "His writing is stamped by extraordinary grace," added Easton in a review of the series' second volume, Lake of the Long Sun. "It flows so smoothly and clearly and evocatively that one is hardly aware that one is reading and not living."

Wolfe commented: "The books and stories I write are what are usually called escapist, in the pejorative sense. They do not teach the reader how to build a barbecue, or get a better job, or even how to murder his mother and escape detection. I have never understood what was wrong with escape. If I were in prison, or aboard a sinking vessel, I would escape if I could. I would try to escape from East Germany or the U.S.S.R., if I were unfortunate enough to find myself in one of those places. My work is intended to make life—however briefly—more tolerable for my readers, and to give them the feeling that change is possible, that the world need not always be as it is now, that their circumstances may be radically changed at any time, by their own act or God's."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES
BOOKS

Andre-Driussi, Michael, Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle, Sirius Fiction (San Francisco, CA), 1994.

Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, Volume 9, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1989.

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 25, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1983.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 8: Twentieth Century American Science Fiction Writers, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1981.

Gordon, Joan, Gene Wolfe, Borgo (San Bernardino, CA), 1986.

Lane, Daryl, William Vernon, and David Carson, editors, The Sound of Wonder: Interviews from "The Science Fiction Radio Show," Volume 2, Oryx (Phoenix, AZ), 1985.

Twentieth-Century Science Fiction Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1986.
PERIODICALS

Analog Science Fiction & Fact, August, 1990, p. 143; June, 1991, p. 178; April, 1993, p. 160; June, 1994, p. 161; February, 1995, p. 159.

Booklist, July 1, 1975; November 1, 1982; August, 1989; November 15, 1992; September 15, 1994, p. 118.

Chicago Tribune Book World, June 8, 1980; June 14, 1981.

Extrapolation, summer, 1981; fall, 1982.

Kansas Quarterly, summer, 1984.

Library Journal, November 15, 1990, p. 95; December, 1992, p. 191; August, 1994, p. 139; September 15, 1994, p. 94.

Locus, March, 1989; February, 1990; November, 1990; January, 1993; December, 1993; August, 1994.

London Tribune, April 24, 1981.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 3, 1983; July 29, 1990.

Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April, 1971; May, 1978; June, 1981; September, 1994, p. 16.

New York Times Book Review, July 13, 1975; September 12, 1976; May 22, 1983; November 24, 1985; July 2, 1989; May 13, 1990; May 9, 1993, p. 20; January 2, 1994, p. 22; September 11, 1994, p. 46.

Publishers Weekly, September 8, 1989; November 9, 1992.

Science Fiction Review, summer, 1981.

Times (London, England), April 2, 1981.

Times Literary Supplement, May 18, 1973; January 15, 1988.

Washington Post Book World, May 25, 1980; March 22, 1981; July 26, 1981; January 24, 1982; January 30, 1983; November 24, 1985; October 26, 1986; October 27, 1987; August 28, 1988; April 30, 1989; January 31, 1993; December 26, 1993; October 23, 1994.*

Source Citation: "Wolfe, Gene (Rodman) (1931-)." Major 21st-Century Writers. Ed. Tracey Matthews. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 5 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Geneseo Libraries - SUNY. 25 Feb. 2010
How to Cite

Gale Document Number: CX3436001032