Rereading Wolfe
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Solar Cycle Reading Order
🕑 Added 2021-04-10 03:50:35 +0000 UTCI’ve noticed this question gets asked a lot on Reddit. So I’ll lay it out here.
1. If you read The Book of the New Sun and didn’t like it or you’d give it mixed reviews, try The Fifth Head of Cerberus. It breaks the envelope of “the novel” in a different but equally fundamental way.
That was me. Fifth Head recontextualized The Book of the New Sun for me. I went from seeing Wolfe as an amazing world creator but a so-so writer to seeing him as the greatest SFF writer period.
If you’re an adult and your reaction is still mixed, Wolfe might not be your thing. Honestly. You might enjoy and respect Wolfe but you probably won’t get hooked.
2. If you loved it and want to read the rest of the world, here’s the order;
a) The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator,
^ both in Shadow & Claw
The Sword of the Lictor, The Citadel of the Autarch
^ both in Sword & Citadel
b) Endangered Species (collection)
Contains “The Cat” and “The Map” set in the Severian's Autarchial period and a lot of other great stories. Also a Brown Book story, “The God and His Man.” In particular "The Cat" has vital information about Father Inire's mirrors and what happened when Jonas stepped into them. It also includes the fuller story of the old man in the Antechamber who was sent there for creeping on a young chatelaine -- where Severian shouts "The Dowager of Fors!"
c) Starwater Strains (collection)
Contains the Brown Book story “Empires of Foilage and Flower” which Severian references to the Cumaean at the end of Claw of the Conciliator. Also, a secret Urth story “From the Cradle”.
d) Castle of the Days (Castle of the Otter section)
A lot of great essays about New Sun, including one where the characters of the novel tell jokes. Also, Wolfe’s own definitions of some of the words in “The Book of the New Sun.” The other two sections can be read at leisure: one is another collection of essays and the other is a very fine short story collection.
e) Shadows of the New Sun: Wolfe on Writing/Writers on Wolfe
The first half of this book is interviews with Wolfe. Particularly useful is “Interview: Gene Wolfe ‘The Legerdemain of the Wolfe’ “ by Robert Frazier (1983) where Wolfe describes Severian physically and psychologically in detail. The second half is essays by Wolfe on the craft of writing (that can be read HERE)
The book is out of print but it can be bought for $15-30 at Google Play.
f) Urth of the New Sun
I’d recommend rereading the Book of the New Sun first—starting with the final chapter in Citadel of the Autarch.
IMO this is not “the rest of the story.” It’s “the further adventures of a character in “The Book of the New Sun.” It could as logically have been written from the perspective of Agia or the Cumaean or Hethor. But it does wrap up and clarify some significant gaps in “New Sun.” Not all , or even most though. And it initiates some new puzzles of its own.
g) The Book of Long Sun
Nightside of the Long Sun, Lake of the Long Sun
^ both in Litany of the Long Sun
Calde of the Long Sun, Exodus from the Long Sun
^ both in Epiphany of the Long Sun
The first half of a single 7 volume novel. Like any Wolfe novel, the end will make you reevaluate the beginning and your new perspective on the beginning will make you reevaluate the end.
h) Innocents Aboard (collection)
Includes “The Night Chough,” a story that takes place in a period in the first volume of The Book of the Short Sun when Oreb flew away for “nearly a year.” This is also my favorite collection.
i) The Book of the Short Sun
On Blue’s Waters, In Green’s Jungles, Return to the Whorl
The end of the Solar Cycle — or is it the beginning?!!
j) An Evil Guest
Although not in the Solar Cycle world, this novel offers a reevaluation of Jolenta, Typhon, and the Megatherians. It’s in the same world as the novella Memorare and the horror story in Innocents Aboard, “The Tree Is My Hat.”
- James
Comments
Dunstan Thorn
i) Pirate Freedom. There are many parallels or similarities to New Sun, and once you see that, the opening line of chapter one becomes VERY funny: “Sometimes it seems that I spend most of my time trying to explain things to people who do not want to understand. This may be more of that.”
Heh. That’s kinda funny.
I read the Night Chough well before I read the Long Sun. It had been long enough that I just now realized who the bird is when you listed it. Makes sense now.
Well, it has always seemed to me that Reis is Wolfe’s character analysis of Typhon. In the Solar Cycle, we only see him from Severian’s perspective — pure villainy. But I once heard Wolfe say about Reis “The best villain is someone who could almost be a good guy but falls short of it.” Cassie is jus like Jolenta: A partial human wizard puts a glamour on her to make her irresistible. So I guess Gideon Chase is a reevaluation of Talos. But in the end, he leaves her and the glamour burns her out physically. Wolfe said of Cassie “When I finished AEG it broke my heart because I’d never be able to write about that character again.” I wondered then and I wonder now “Why not?” It makes me wonder about Jolenta as well. Finally, the Sea King and the other aliens are like Abaia and Erebus. Gideon Chase and Cassie climb a MOUNTAIN that Chase says is one of those aliens. The aliens manipulate governments and government agencies to make them serve them. Cults and government departments are in a Cold War in service to their masters. The Sea King has considered Earth his home since before humanity was “human,” and he considers them his cattle.
Ori Kowarsky
Really interesting to bring in “An Evil Guest”. Could you please elaborate?
I haven't seen this chronological break down before. Nice touch. Fifth Head is my Favorite of Wolfe's work. In addition your take on that story opened my mind up to new possibilities. Wolfe is the greatest SF writer - full stop.
