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Gene Wolfe
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 Gene Wolfe's body of work in the science fiction field, along with that of Delany, Dick and Le Guin's,
is perhaps the most influential of any writer of the past two decades. Of them all, Wolfe is the one least
interested in technology, most interested in the uses of pure science in his fiction. And he remains interested in
the use of the conventions, tropes and images of genre sf, whereas the others moved away from them in the 1980s.
Always one to envision the metaphorical possibilities of scientific ideas and images, Wolfe's fiction is so
rich and evocative, his style so precise and complex, that much of his influence has been stylistic. His
emulators, such as Paul Park, rarely embed as much science in their fiction as he does. Wolfe's characters are often
not interested in, or aware of, the idea behind the story; they are more often concerned with metaphysics,
or solving problems of everyday survival. And he seldom uses the conventional problem-solving structure
of Campbellian sf, so his stories rarely have the overt affect of hard sf. It is therefore often a challenge to
the reader to perceive the scientific ideas of which the characters in the text are unaware.
"All the Hues of Hell" is a story in which theoretical physics and metaphysics combine. It has,
initially, the ring of a familiar hard sf situation: three characters on a ship in space approaching an alien planet, one
of them mad -- or dead. And quickly the story becomes mysterious, ambiguous, and disturbing. The
abstract concepts of theoretical physics are made manifest, the shadow matter (which is possibly the dark matter
that makes up a significant portion of our universe) that is a feature of superstring theory is literally explored in a
manner reminiscent of mathematical fictions such as
Flatland, Norman Kagan's classic "The Mathenauts,"
or Greg Bear's "Tangents," all stories that take one to new places. Technical imagery, such as color
enhancement, becomes freighted with rich metaphorical depth. And the powerful ending, reminiscent of the ending of
Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, demands a reconsideration of all the previous literal and
psychological coordinates of the piece. This is a big idea story, and the scale (and meaning) increases as the plot twists
and resolves.
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The Ascent of Wonder copyright © 1994 by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. | ||
Cramer: On Science & Science Fiction || Hartwell: Hard Science Fiction
David G. Hartwell || Kathryn Cramer || About Tor Books || Ordering Info
Interactive Intoduction to THE ASCENT OF WONDER copyright © 1995-1997 by Kathryn Cramer.