Gene Wolfe (1931-2019)

Gene Wolfe has died. Mr. Wolfe was an enormous influence on me as a writer and as a human being.

He was a master of implication and manipulating the reader’s inferences. You could read the first page of any Wolfe book and know things about the world in which the book was set that he never directly said – and not have the slightest idea of how you knew them.

The Book of the New Sun is some of the densest and most moving prose you will ever read.

There is a brief but excellent obituary at Tor Publishing:

Asked by editor Damon Knight to name his biggest influences, he replied: “G. K. Chesterton and Marks’ [Standard] Handbook for [Mechanical] Engineers.”

He was, to my mind, one of the greatest writers in the history of the English language. His own definition of a great story is one that I aspire to:

My definition of a great story has nothing to do with “a varied and interesting background.” It is: One that can be read with pleasure by a cultivated reader and reread with increasing pleasure.

℣. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine
℟. Et lux perpetua luceat eis:
℣. Requiescant in pace.
℟. Amen.

℣. Rest eternal grant him, O LORD;
℟. and let light perpetual shine upon him.
℣. May he rest in peace.
℟. Amen.