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Sword & Citadel: The Second Half of 'The Book of the New Sun'

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What Frank Herbert attempted and only partially succeeded at in the DUNE series--a tale of theosophy and apotheosis that keeps its head in the heavens and its feet down to Earth (or Urth)--Gene Wolfe does with the apparent effortlessness of a true master. I consider myself well-read in general, but THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN is easily one of the two or three most difficult texts I've ever encountered...it's the ULYSSES of science fiction.

Wolfe presents us with a cosmogony staggering in its scope and detail and challenges us, along with his narrator Severian the torturer, to puzzle out its secrets. He poses questions to us that, until we stumble across the answers, we weren't even aware were asked. The story is filled to the brim with Biblical allusions, rich metaphor, high adventure, and--at the last--revelations and insight that feel authentic rather than contrived or exaggerated. THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN makes you work for your entertainment, but what you come away with really sticks to your ribs.

Information about Mr. Wolfe is depressingly hard to come by, so I can only marvel at the kind of mind that could have produced something this compelling, truthful, and--let's not forget--entertaining.

If Gene Wolfe's BOOK OF THE NEW SUN stood alone, towering over a vast field of L. Ron Hubbard "blockbusters" and the latter works of Piers Anthony, surrounded by the worst of the Star Trek and Star Wars novels, the existence of science-ficton would be justified, and its glory established forever. Wolfe's four-volume work is, of course, one novel. It is also one of the finest works of 20th century literature. As usual, Wolfe brings the powers of a Dickens, a Proust, a Kafka, (in other words, a unique genius like and yet unlike every other unique genius) to bear on his subject matter, and here the subject matter is memory, space, time, sin and redemption, God and Man. This is the Book of Gold, and its beauty and strength is great. It is worthwhile to note the high praise given to Wolfe's work even (perhaps especially?) by critics who profoundly disagree with his moral and metaphysical aims--Ian Watson, roughly, said that Wolfe has re-written the New Testament, only with better prose and a nicer sense of structure. I disagree--but imagine the kind of book that can bring forth such claims when ideological sympathy is not a contributing factor. Read Wolfe!

If science fiction will ever gain any sort of critical respect from the literary canon, this is the type of book that would do it. Although many have compared this book to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, I think it's a poor comparison. Sure, it can be compared to Tolkien on the shallowest level, but it is much more akin to Dickens, Joyce, Proust, Chesterton, and (especially) Borges. Not that I dislike Tolkien, but he is overused as a comparison to provide any meaningful context in which to judge a book.

This book could be read for countless lifetimes without exhausting its wealth. On the surface its another stable boy becomes emporer sort of story (although a neat twist is that the "stable boy" is actually--by profession--a torturer), but wow...if any story can validate an entire genre, here it is. The imagery is also decidedly beautiful. The story is set in an unspecified, but EXTREMELY distant future...the moon has been made verdant and now shines green in the sky...the Sun is dying due to "a worm" at its center...the sands on the beach are full of colors because the sand is not really sand, but the glass and stone from our buildings of today ground into a fine powder...all the mountains have been carved to the shape of former "autarchs"...the city in which the action starts is actually a former spaceport and the towers of the city are spaceships....

I could go on and on. Most of these things are not explained directly in the book. They are hinted at and must be pieced together from the clues strewn about, and this makes the imagery that much more powerful. I cannot say enough about this book. If you aren't convinced, read what John Clute has to say about Wolfe, both in his books of essays, and in "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", which rightly calls Wolfe the most important writer of science fiction in the world today.

The predecessor to this book had me falling in love with Dorcas, one of the female characters. This one left me feeling a grave loss at her absence.

Wolfe has produced an excellently rich world and we accompany a rather unconventional character through it. Severian, a torturers' apprentice, guides us through our own planet- here spelled "Urth"- billions of years in the future as the sun is dying and humanity has advanced, as best I can put it, 'beyond technology.'

In his world, humans on Urth live in a ignorant barbarism while the technologies of today and of the future lie around them running their world. Severian is our guide through this world, and the journey is well worth taking- if you can put up with Severian's character.

The important thing to keep in mind is that these two books, and their predecessors, are written *by* Severian- Wolfe created Severian as a character, and then that character, in Wolfe's mind, wrote his own memoirs. The record is filled with the quirks of Severian's personality; it is disconnected, as so many lives are. Novels often present us with an unlikely series of events in which the hero continually gets lucky, saves the day just right, and then goes on to keep saving the day in a coherent fashion. Wolfe is well aware that things don't work that way in real life, and they don't work that way when people write memoirs, as Severian is doing. The entire Book of the New Sun is written as an account of Severian's life; he tells us the things that were important to him, and we watch as they happen. This story isn't "How Luke Became a Jedi and None of the Adventures that Occurred Along the Way" but rather "The Life of Severian, A Journeyman of the Order of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence."

Severian has adventures. They happen in such an order as to bring him to his final destination. Throughout it, there are side-adventures, needless digressions, unexpected meetings, stories told and stories heard, and unimportant characters encountered. Because that is how life goes.

So if you're looking for a true story, a Hero's Journey in the sense that we are used to seeing in our pop literature and movies, this isn't the place to find it. You might have noticed the rambling story in the first two books and assumed it would get more coherent. Not so. This series lacks narrative momentum entirely- you will find yourself engaged while reading it, but might not have much reason to pick it back up once you've put it down.

However, if you want to read a fictional memoir about a most interesting person who has some amazing adventures with some fairly good philosophical insights, I think you'll be very pleased. In this series, it is not the destination, but rather the journey, which dominates the mind of the reader. It is not important to make the decisions as to understand them- all of this exposition can get very Buddhist about it, but in the end these books do not center on continuity of adventures but rather the adventures themselves and how they shape Severian. They are truly a different kind of literature- new, fresh, and exciting for their experimentation and their creativity. At times, however, the freshness does work against the story. But I still feel it's well worth it.

Unparalleled, yes. Yet, I must offer a somewhat askew opinion of all four parts of Mr. Wolfe's magnificent series: There is much meandering and often seemingly parenthetical material to these episodes of Severian. Some of them are less than successfully interesting, others seem deliberately obtuse. Yes, Mr. Wolfe can illuminate by misdirection; but sometimes that misdirection is a distraction. In any case, after having read the entire series of four installments or movements - as you prefer to consider them - three times,I must confess that the Sword of The Lictor is, to my mind, perfect. Would that the other three shared the same wealth of plain old-fashioned narrative drive! Superb as the inventiveness, the brilliance of language and writing and overall ambiance of this masterpiece is, there are numerous tiresome stretches. Wolfe's virtue sometimes results in his only vice worth mentioning: over complicated indefiniteness -- he just hates resolution. This poetic openness of style, this opacity that makes New Sun so dreamlike, also can result in an aggravating diffuseness of meaning, as if he is afraid of limiting the story's scope or its resonance -- little chance of that though there is! Which brings me to that fith installment: Urth of The New Sun is the best example of over- mythopoeia, if that is the right word, I have ever seen (until Hyperion). After reading the fourth installment, Citadel of the Autarch, to discover its beautiful but unresolved finale to this long, long journey, I wanted to throw the book against the wall. In fact, I think I did (18 years ago). But after Urth, I vowed never again to let Mr. Wolfe take me on any more quests, or whatever it was! Of course, now I am planning to read The Litany of the Long Sun, so there is hope for me yet. Anyway, be prepared for wonder and beauty and deep, deep imagination...but at a price!

SWORD AND CITADEL is an omnibus containing the second half of Gene Wolfe's four-volume work The Book of the New Sun, the novels THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR and THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH. The Book of the New Sun, a work in which science and myth, mystery and enlightment mix, is one of the finest works of speculative fiction in the English language. Anyone who is not familiar with The Book of the New Sun is encouraged to read my review for SHADOW AND CLAW, the first half.

THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR marks an key point in the wanderings of the exile Severian. The volume begins a few weeks after he has arrived in the provincial town of Thrax, where he performs the duties of a lictor, a sort of double-duty jailer and executioner. Like his exile from the Guild which began the saga, here Severian is soon forced to flee Thrax because he has again shown mercy to a woman set for execution. Over the course of this book, he slowly loses all material comfort as he goes north through the wild and is eventually tempted by a diabolical figure from Urth's past. Obviously meant to symbolize Christ's fasting in the wilderness, SWORD provides through Severian a showing of imitation of Christ. The end of the novel shows Severian as a man who has cast off the role of torturer. THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR contains, as a reading from Severian's brown book, a curious story called "The Tale of the Boy Called Frog," in which the myth of the founding of Rome, the Jungle Book, and the Thanksgiving story have all been combined over the eons into a single tale. Lovers of digging up Wolfe's buried allusions will find a feast in this and other parts of SWORD.

THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH is the fourth and final volume of The Book of the New Sun. Severian arrives in the north country of Orythia, where the Commonwealth is waging its endless war against Ascia. Severian joins a group of irregulars who pitch in to the battle and eventually he encounters the Autarch, whose successor he becomes. Thus, Severian's claim that the Book of the New Sun is the long story of how he has "backed into the throne" is unfolded. The last portion of CITADEL tells of Severian's return to Nessus to claim the throne, and includes of four beautiful chapters. "The Corridors of Time" tells of Severian's annointing by the Hierodules that he may bring a New Sun to Urth. In "The Sand Garden" Severian experiences an epiphany besides Ocean that ranks among the most beautiful religious writing in history. In "The Key to the Universe," Severian recounts the secret history of Time given to him by the Hierodules where Wolfe has wonderfully meshed science and religion. Finally, the last chapter "Resurrection" is penned by Severians moments before he is to board the ship of the Hierodules in order to stand trial for Urth. It contains some suprising conclusions about his role in Time and ends with his returning to the first girl whom he loved.

The Book of the New Sun is a masterpiece, a poetic tale in which the reader is dazzled by Wolfe's style and entertained by his literary allusions. Once one has read SHADOW AND CLAW, the ombibus of the first two volumes, the second half SWORD AND CITADEL will continue to delight until the last word of Severian's saga and the "translator's" appendix.

I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi in general, and multi-volume "sagas" (re:$$$) in specific. Wolfe was recommended by a friend as a great, overlooked writer of first person narration, and after reading all 4 volumes I'd agree.

Severian is a sci-fi cousin to postmodern heroes like Humbert Humbert and Holden Caulfield. He only tells you what he wants you to know at that particular moment, revealing more about himself and his world in what he doesn't say than what he does. Understandably, this makes for frustrating reading at times, so I can understand why some readers feel that the plot doesn't really deliver the payoff. Instead, the payoff is in the language, the phrasing, the way Wolfe lets readers paint a fragmented picture of this far-future world through the eyes of a youthful, but far from innocent, narrator.

One more note: no transgression goes unmentioned in Wolfe's world. Torture, rape, incest, cannibalism - they're all touched on during the story. If you're easily offended, Severian's matter-of-fact detailing of such events may put you off. However, they're part of a larger picture that deals with the balance between justice and forgiveness (no wonder readers compare it to stories from the Bible). I thought it worked; you might not.

When I first read this series as a teenager, I did not understand the weighty implications, symbolism and depth behind the literature. I read them as a wonderful "Action/Fantasy" with "Cool" characters and began building my own vocabulary around the words I discovered in the text. The second time I read them, in my maturing years, I realized the impact the storyline would have on me. The tale is the classic chronicle of man alone against the forces of his life, acheiving his understanding through experience and consequence, learning through the characters he meets. Not only is that the underlying premise with which the concept of "Story" lies, but Wolfe weaves in the archetypal premise of a "Messiah" as well, in Severian as the Christ figure. I only wish that more people were readers of Gene Wolfe, so all could revel in the brilliance of these works. Make no mistake, I also wish we could review The Urth of the New Sun, the perfect companion piece to The Book of the New Sun, I've read that four times, awed at the effects the five books have had on my personal growth. I've never met a literate person who has read Wolfe that did not enjoy his works. Everyone needs to spread the word.

Call me a simpleton, but I thoroughly enjoyed the novel without any knowledge of its biblical allusions, or others that may exist. I was actually enthralled with the plot in itself the entire way through. As far as the diction and syntax are concerned, I did find that certain sections were a bit confusing, and I also found that the quality of the writing fluctuated at times. However, when it is taken into account that the text is written by Severian, such inconsistencies, while still frustrating, end up adding to the overall mystique of the text. Just for arguments sake, even if the blame were placed on Gene Wolfe himself, I found that the well written sections captivated me like no other text has. At times, I found myself experiencing something similar to a dream like state, where that ineffable combination of awe and confusion took hold of me. Typically, when I finish a novel, I put it down for good. Yet, as soon as I finished Book of the New Sun, I felt the urge to re-read it. Not because I want to understand its complex literary allusions or because I desire to expand my vocabulary, but because, quite simply, it moved me.

So far beyond nearly all speculative fiction in physical, temporal, philosophical and moral scope that this five-book series is truly sui generis. This is the Paradise Lost of the 20th century, and yes, I am comparing Wolfe with Milton, as an updater and explicator of the relevance of Christian though at its most creative and aware. I believe this work will gain stature until it is grouped with the other great classics of English literature.
On my 5th read, I have slowed down further to savior the puzzles, lyricism and humor within the language. Everything in the book fits together in a great puzzle, layered so subtly, yet with such lyrical freedom and wild invention, that one never wants to stop reading, yet is always satisfied. In a novel that seems dreamily opaque at first. everything important is explained, and nothing is what it seems. The author's afterwords, using the conceit of the hard-working translator of a found text. written in an unknown language from the future, is an almost fiendishly witty device that resonates the theme of the book like an obtuse harmonic of a great majestic bell tone.
I could go on, but others have, and the Book Of Gold is waiting. Reader, be prepared to work, and your efforts will be rewarded beyond imagining... but it is no easy road.