New Sun, Long Sun?

[I, Brian]

It seems that the whole Book of the New Sun is the starter for a larger series - but how do the books of the Long Sun fit into it? Do they follow directly - or some distant point in time? Or are they prologues?

In fact, are any of Gene Wolfe's works considered as prologues for Book of the New Sun?

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

It seems that the whole Book of the New Sun is the starter for a larger series - but how do the books of the Long Sun fit into it? Do they follow directly - or some distant point in time? Or are they prologues?

In fact, are any of Gene Wolfe's works considered as prologues for Book of the New Sun?

HMMM..don't know how I missed this question..

Brian, Urth of The New Sun picks up several years after the Book Of The New Sun quartet and is much more SF than Fantasy per se from what I can gather. I have access to this book but am yet to read it. It revolves around the same main character Severian who was introduced to us in the original Sun quartet.

The Book of the Long Sun is Wolfe's next quartet, made up of Nightside the Long Sun, Lake of the Long Sun, Calde of the Long Sun, and Exodus From the Long Sun. however it introduces a new main character and story in Patera Silk and no I've not read it but I gather it's more SF than the previuos Sun books. Apparently the story here is designed to mirror and yet also contrast with the story of Severian in the orginal Sun books and hence the choice of titles of New Sun vs. Long Sun is no coincidence albeit they are 2 seperate stroy arcs in one sense at least eventhough obvious parallells are supposedly drawn by Wolfe b/w the 2 series.

Following this Wolfe has more recently completed his Book Of The Short Sun, which is a direct sequel to the previous series Book Of The Long Sun and is a trilogy consisting of On Blue Waters, In Green's Jungles and Return To The Whorl.

From what I can gather this marks the end of the Sun books but with Wolfe you never know. Hope this helps Brian...

[I, Brian]

Thanks for the info - much appreciated.

[Theorycraft]

Hmm,
As an avid Wolfe-r I have to admit I find his whole writing style very engrossing. I think it may be because my background in Classical Studies and Medieval Studies, so I am almost more to the rich history that he develops than to the actual progression of the characters in it.

The Earth of the Long Sun tetralogy has completely different characters than the previous series, and focusses on Patera Silk (Silk being a religious title, kind of similar to a pontifex in Rome under the Republic - authorized to carry out sacrifices, etc.) This one is definetely more sci-fi than fantasy, but in a unique way, a theme that carries throughout Gene Wolfe's literature.

Basically - what would a scientifically advanced society look like years in the future. Let's say that you colonized another planet, but you didn't know how to actually create the technology that you used, you could only use it until it wore out. Then imagine massive periods of time passed, so that this entire world is littered with technologies of different times and places, some still very usable, and this was incorporated seamlessly into the technological advances that this society was able to come up on its own.

These ideas are not new - they have been explored to some extent in the much more accessible Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, and the extremely fluffy Pern universe by Anne McCaffery. What makes Wolfe special is his literary elegance and philosophical sophistication - when you delve deeper, there really is more there!

I too had trouble getting interested in him originally - started reading Shadow in my first year at Uni, and didn't get past the duel... however I picked the book up on whim about a year later, and simply devoured it - read the whole of the New Sun in about 3 days, spent 2 more on Long Sun, and have recently ordered the sequel, as well as a couple of books that explore and explain Wolfe's universe and philosophy more fully.

Hope that helps!

[GOLLUM]

Hi there Theorycraft, nice to see another student of the classic SFF Genre...

So which of the Sun series is your fav??

I take it you've read some of his other works like Peace, Five Heads of Cerberus and Latro In The Mist to name but a few?

[Theorycraft]

Funny, you should mention - I currently have Peace and Cerberus on order from amazon.ca. hehehe I also really quite enjoyed Latro in the Mists.
The way that Wolfe constantly explores heritage/memory and how these are tied to identity really fascinates me. Severian - orphan, parentage unknown, memory suspect in certain situations. Silk - orphan, access to a divinememeory or special knowledge not privy to others. Latro - short term memory loss, etc, etc.
It seems that Wolfe is a big fan of Augustine - he really seems to hold to the idea (from Confessions) that memory is crucial to identity and understanding your world. Similarly, Wolfe also places tremendous importance on his characters' interactions with books and literature.

I think that's why I find The Book of the New Sun so much more palatable than a work like Dhalgren, which may also be dense and intellectual, but that gets lost in its own post-modern style, leaving the reader questioning whether or not there are actually depths beneath the incoherence of the protagonist's worldview.

What are your favorites?

[GOLLUM]

Hi there again, those are interesting observations you make on Wolfe, especially his philosophical influence by Augustine. I agree about Delaney's Dhalgren, I found it a difficult book to get a handle on.

As far as my favs go in order of a top 3:

Book Of The New Sun.
Five Heads Of Cerberus.
Latro In The Mist.