Is Gene Wolfe the greatest living writer?

>>8934220
He very well may be.

>>8934220
No, Philip K. Dick is.

>>8934256
>living

And even Kim Stanley Robinson who did his PhD thesis on Dick says that most of his work was shit

>>8934494
Philip K. Dick is eternal. The Empire Never Ended.

>>8934220
Living or dead, yes

>>8934220
no

pynchon > mccarthy > wolfe

Of course. Though his post 2001 work has some surface level issues of readability in favor of cryptic encoding. I am not even certain Grafton was American or the (spoiler you know if you read it) was the undead dragon in land across, and that's kind of the plot, really.

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>>8934220
Anon, I-

He's dead. He died last year.

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If you like Christianity in your novels, sure.

>>8936214
Dr. Peter Wright found a way to read New Sun as an anti-church work of Naturalism, somehow, that denies free will and mocks religion. Of course, he's objectively wrong, but that is what separates Wolfe from other Christian propagandists. And the worst part is, that's a fuck of a lot better than some other writing on Wolfe.

>>8935974
made me search

in english, yeah, he probably is OP.

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>>8936214
>If you like Christianity in your novels, sure.
You don't?

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>>8936314
Dusty struggled with Christianity all his life. The moral force of his books are derived from that struggle. Wolfe'a just a smug Silent-Gen ideologue who got really good at coating his Midwestern-Facebook-post outlook on life in sci-fi filigree. He's an incurious motherfucker. Clearly has a problem with women too, which is probably why he's so popular on here.

>>8936276
It's because Wolfe states that the world exists in three forms: events that have higher meaning, interconnectedness of all events, and simply as it is. Because he requires all events in his books to satisfy those three forms, they all have a reasonable materialistic explanation.
That's probably why it can be interpreted that way.

Wolfe's prose is nice but writing puzzles doesn't make up for not having any real characters

>>8936743
The world is the main character imo

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>>8934220
Nah. He is pretty good though.

>>8936730
underrated af

>>8936730
Kek, I just finished "Notes from Underground" which was my first intro to Dostoyevsky... Jesus, he's 4chan incarnate. I literally cringed numerous times, but especially when he was berating Liza.

none of you jiggaloos even understand Wolfe at the plot level. serious troll is serious.

>>8936743
he has multiple characters in one body, and you can tell which is which, jigglypuff. He is, however, bad at asian women. terrible.

>>8936772
>>8936772
>understanding dostoyevsky this poorly.

I enjoyed book of the new sun when I read it as a 17 year old. Years later, I read The Land Across. It felt like it was trying to imitate an Eco conspiracy, without the slyness. Anyone ITT want to share their interpretation of it?

>>8937013
probably his worst novel. protagonist was supposed to be a millennial but he talked and thought like Dick Tracy or some shit.

>>8936999
>The anonymous underground man
>believes he's more intelligent than everyone else
>is pleased by his own misery
>is pleased by his own self-deprecation
>alienates himself from society and stays in the underground (4chan)
>easily feels inferior and humiliated
>takes out his anger at himself an his irritability on everyone else

Yeah, the anonymous underground man is literally the typical 4chan poster. You want to tell me what I missed about that character?

>>8936772
It's a satire, darling

>>8937073
>darling
cringe

>>8934220
no. Pynch is. deal.

>>8934220
i tried reading his stuff, not sure what all the hype is about. what's this guy's appeal, why is he so memed? t. genuinelycuriousman

>>8937125
You have to finish BOTNS before you can have an opinion on Wolfe

Is there a word filter on pleb or something

>>8937190
i almost fell into that bullshit trap with wallace. no thanks.
>oh, well, you just have to read it again to REALLY appreciate it

>>8936730

This post was written by a woman.

>>8937284
I didn't say you had to read it again, faggot. Just that you at least have to finish it the first time.

>>8936730
No, he didn't. In fact, his religion is what caused tension between Dostoyevsky and Belinsky who was an atheist. Though, I'm sure that a death sentence and a 4 year stay in Siberia doing hard labor could make even the most devout religious man question his faith. But he remained a christian and went back to conservatism as he got older.

>>8937303
>you have to eat every bit of this dogshit souffle before you can criticize it or even presume to question why you're eating it to begin with.
ya i'll get right on that, holmes.

>>8936743

Peace has the some of the best characterization I have ever read. Weer is a fully fleshed out character who thinks, acts, and reacts in a real and true way. Wolfe is arguably one of the best writers of characterization in the 20th century.

The way Weer thinks and remembers events is incredibly accurate to how most humans delude themselves into remembering events in a self-serving way. The way that Weer's sub-conscience outwardly resists remembering Lois Arbuthnot is remarkable. His memory actively fights against summoning her memory precisely because he knows what he did to her was evil (in case you don't know, he killed her). Peace is probably his best work, and if you haven't read it, you should do so before criticizing the writer for what is one of his strengths.

>>8934220
No.

>>8937363
>t. araminiposter
will you ever stop sucking the man's dick?

>>8937125

What did you try to read? Did you finish it? Did you re-read it?

Contrary to popular opinion, I wouldn't suggest starting with BotNS. Is large in scope and ambition and Wolfe does things very few other writers do (Eco, Proust, and Faulkner do similar things, so if you're familiar with their work and like them, Wolfe is right up your alley).

I would start with his short stories and The Fifth Head of Cerberus. Go with The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories. Or just pick up The Best of Gene Wolfe as you can find most of his best short fiction in that collection (5HoC, The Island of Doctor Death, Seven American Nights, The Hero as Werwolf, etc.)

>>8937380

Never read Aramini's stuff. Saw one of his videos (the one on Wolfe and gender). Way to project though.

>no u

that's not how projection works, friend.

>>8937341
Have you even finished Shadow of the Torturer? What have you read of Wolfe?

heh, just yanking you guys, i never read sci-fi trash, i grew out of that shit at six years old. just funny watching how offended you plebs get.

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>>8937525

>>8937299
>not liking some Gene "("("("Little Homie Gayass")")")" Wolfe makes me a woman
Nah I just try not to convert my sexual psychoses into masculine self-pity. You may be right that men are more likely to be into this shit than women though. Genre fiction seems to have a way of only appealing to certain demographics, while literature transcends the same. This definitely seems like genre shit.

>>8937013
It is pretty fucked. When grafton is crossing the border at the start it is actually his soul being summoned back, the country is possessed by the dictator who leaked in through the roof of the house, the bishop probably isnt to blame, grafton somehow believes just what the legion of light does in the epilogue, repeating their litany, the girl eith the red pen is his editor (editors are hell, he says) ... i dont think they really got the undead dragon.

>>8938510
You are truly pathetic my man

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Aramani go to bed you little man. It is way past your bedtime!

yes. read all his novels and short stories. sounds gay but random little moments of his remain more vivid to me than most of my own life. I also like how he never really spoon feeds optimism into his stories yet most of them leave me feeling refreshed.