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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A deep deconstruction of concepts of self and other, and the lasting impacts and complexities of colonial and settler ideologies. Shows it’s age at times, but overall a thoughtful and provoking read. Great read for lovers of non-traditional story structure. A rich and deep narrative which leaves you with many questions without answer through three distinct but interconnected vignettes. Light on world-building too if you like sci-fi but not so much that you want a dictionary for their new words for everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Cannibalism
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Link with further thoughts after reading it a 6th time: https://www.danscanon.com/2020/12/early-december-rereads.html
Fourth time through this masterpiece, the first since 2012. It's a set of three interconnected novellas.
The first is flat out one of the best things ever written. A man returns home from prison and recalls his life before prison being raised by his father who was a mad scientist/brothel owner/former slave trader who performs experiments on him. It's set in a city modeled on New Orleans on one half of a set of twin planets that have been colonized by humans some generations before. It is beautiful, heartbreaking and absolutely brutal in its depiction of human capability for cruelty. But it's subtler and more enjoyable than that description would indicate. While I haven't read Proust, the opening is famously modeled on the opening of Swann's Way, and the writing is some of my favorite anywhere. Themes of memory, slavery, colonialism, identity, pedagogy, robotics and genocide are all at play here. Despite all of that, play is a key word because there's a lot of subtle punning around Wolfe's name and shots taken at Academics. The novella is still entertaining, though. Wolfe doesn't forget that he has to tell a good story to carry all that weight. Even his exposition here is handled gracefully.
The second novella purports to be written by an anthropologist who is a minor, if significant, character in the first section and a prisoner in the third. It's the most confusing part of the book. It reads like a bumbling colonial anthropologist recounting a myth of the people who were native to the other half of the twin planets. This is complicated by the fact that the identity of the author is ambiguous (though I think he can be identified after reading all three novellas). There's a lot to parse out here and I'm not sure I fully understand it, but I was able to enjoy it immensely. The themes from the first section are at play here as well, but from another angle.
The third novella reveals the extent of the cruelty, evil and absurdity of the government of the planet from the first section. It is reminiscent of Kafka. It takes the form of a series of interviews of and conducted by the anthropologist, his prison diary and his diary of his trip where he gathered the material for the second novella seen through the eyes of a government official who reads/listens to them out of order because the labels have fallen off. Here more of the extent of the slavery (including sexual slavery) becomes clear and the horror of the situation is brought home. It ties up the three novellas thematically.
I love this type of storytelling, learning about a place through very different perspectives and genres. Wolfe has a subtle touch and there's a lot to consider. I've been meaning to reread this for a while and was prompted to finally do so because The Gene Wolfe Literary Podcast is doing a close reading and discussion of it all fall.
Highly recommended.
Fourth time through this masterpiece, the first since 2012. It's a set of three interconnected novellas.
The first is flat out one of the best things ever written. A man returns home from prison and recalls his life before prison being raised by his father who was a mad scientist/brothel owner/former slave trader who performs experiments on him. It's set in a city modeled on New Orleans on one half of a set of twin planets that have been colonized by humans some generations before. It is beautiful, heartbreaking and absolutely brutal in its depiction of human capability for cruelty. But it's subtler and more enjoyable than that description would indicate. While I haven't read Proust, the opening is famously modeled on the opening of Swann's Way, and the writing is some of my favorite anywhere. Themes of memory, slavery, colonialism, identity, pedagogy, robotics and genocide are all at play here. Despite all of that, play is a key word because there's a lot of subtle punning around Wolfe's name and shots taken at Academics. The novella is still entertaining, though. Wolfe doesn't forget that he has to tell a good story to carry all that weight. Even his exposition here is handled gracefully.
The second novella purports to be written by an anthropologist who is a minor, if significant, character in the first section and a prisoner in the third. It's the most confusing part of the book. It reads like a bumbling colonial anthropologist recounting a myth of the people who were native to the other half of the twin planets. This is complicated by the fact that the identity of the author is ambiguous (though I think he can be identified after reading all three novellas). There's a lot to parse out here and I'm not sure I fully understand it, but I was able to enjoy it immensely. The themes from the first section are at play here as well, but from another angle.
The third novella reveals the extent of the cruelty, evil and absurdity of the government of the planet from the first section. It is reminiscent of Kafka. It takes the form of a series of interviews of and conducted by the anthropologist, his prison diary and his diary of his trip where he gathered the material for the second novella seen through the eyes of a government official who reads/listens to them out of order because the labels have fallen off. Here more of the extent of the slavery (including sexual slavery) becomes clear and the horror of the situation is brought home. It ties up the three novellas thematically.
I love this type of storytelling, learning about a place through very different perspectives and genres. Wolfe has a subtle touch and there's a lot to consider. I've been meaning to reread this for a while and was prompted to finally do so because The Gene Wolfe Literary Podcast is doing a close reading and discussion of it all fall.
Highly recommended.
Microreview: Amazing! The one downside is the middle story which drags a bit. Maybe that construction is required for the synthesis of the whole, but this is Gene Wolfe and he knows how to keep a story's momentum from being dragged down like this. The first story, clearly, is the best, but it is even better if you read the other two.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Copied from my Blog review
Synopsis
The novel is a cycle of stories, consisting of three novellas which share two common planets – Sainte Croix and twin-planet Sainte Anne -, a common character – John V. Marsch, and common topics about identity, humanity, and memory.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus
The first novella is a coming-of-age story with a narrator called “Number Five” written from a first person point of view. He looks back at his youth on planet Sainte Croix, the murder of his father and his way to freedom. He was brought up in a luxurious brothel, which financed his father’s genetical experiments on him and his brother David. He meets anthropologist Dr. Marsch and gets to know that he is a descendant of a “family” of clones. Sick of the terrible experiments, he decides to kill his father, gets caught, is imprisoned. Free again, he returns to his old home, only to repeat his father’s history, because he cannot change.
‘A Story’ by John V. Marsch
The second novella shifts planet and time to the sister planet Sainte Anne and the ancient past. It tells of the aborigines Sandwalker who searches his kidnapped brother Eastwind. He meets humans of another race, the mythical “Shadow Children”, who influence a starship to land. The brothers’ identities merge and one meets the arriving French people who will colonize the planet. By the time of Number Five several centuries later it’s even argued that the abos have been entirely wiped out.
V. R. T.
The last novella is about the H. R. Haggard “She” like diary of anthropologist Dr. Marsch, read by an officer on Sainte Croix. Marsch was mistakenly arrested for murder in the Fifth Head of Cerberus. The diary tells of Marsch’s adventures on Sainte Croix where he wanted to study the aborigines. At some point it becomes clear, that Marsch is really replaced by a shape-changing aborigine.
Review
This is a brilliantly narrated Gothic Mystery, a pivotal story in Gene Wolfe’s writing career and one of the high points of 1970s Science Fiction.
“When I was a boy my brother David and I had to go to bed early whether we were tired or not.”
This first sentence echoes Proust and is the beginning of a masterpiece in prose, world-building, and engaging riddles. The setting of this coming-of-age novella is a future turned to past: slavery friendly Fin de Siècle, post-colonial French town called Port-Mimizon on planet Sainte Croix. The narrator’s home remembers me a bit of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast with its grotesqueness.
You can read the novella as a straight-forward story, but revisiting it leads to the included riddles. Just to name a few: Number Five’s real name, his relation to his girl-friend Phaedria, the nature of the five heads of Cerberus. I won’t point out the solutions here, but if you’re curious, there is a great Wiki resolving all those riddles.
The novella is one of the SF genre’s early discussions of cloning, evolution theory, and human identity: Identity is not only a matter of genes and environment, but also of the soul. By duplicating his father’s life, he denies his individuality.
Besides of the intellectually interesting details, the novella is exciting, emotional, wonderfully Kafkaesque, and full of great ideas. But it is also ambiguous and leaves some elements unresolved – so, if you’re a friend of clear words and fixed endings, then Wolfe might not be your preferred author.
Synopsis
The novel is a cycle of stories, consisting of three novellas which share two common planets – Sainte Croix and twin-planet Sainte Anne -, a common character – John V. Marsch, and common topics about identity, humanity, and memory.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus
The first novella is a coming-of-age story with a narrator called “Number Five” written from a first person point of view. He looks back at his youth on planet Sainte Croix, the murder of his father and his way to freedom. He was brought up in a luxurious brothel, which financed his father’s genetical experiments on him and his brother David. He meets anthropologist Dr. Marsch and gets to know that he is a descendant of a “family” of clones. Sick of the terrible experiments, he decides to kill his father, gets caught, is imprisoned. Free again, he returns to his old home, only to repeat his father’s history, because he cannot change.
‘A Story’ by John V. Marsch
The second novella shifts planet and time to the sister planet Sainte Anne and the ancient past. It tells of the aborigines Sandwalker who searches his kidnapped brother Eastwind. He meets humans of another race, the mythical “Shadow Children”, who influence a starship to land. The brothers’ identities merge and one meets the arriving French people who will colonize the planet. By the time of Number Five several centuries later it’s even argued that the abos have been entirely wiped out.
V. R. T.
The last novella is about the H. R. Haggard “She” like diary of anthropologist Dr. Marsch, read by an officer on Sainte Croix. Marsch was mistakenly arrested for murder in the Fifth Head of Cerberus. The diary tells of Marsch’s adventures on Sainte Croix where he wanted to study the aborigines. At some point it becomes clear, that Marsch is really replaced by a shape-changing aborigine.
Review
This is a brilliantly narrated Gothic Mystery, a pivotal story in Gene Wolfe’s writing career and one of the high points of 1970s Science Fiction.
“When I was a boy my brother David and I had to go to bed early whether we were tired or not.”
This first sentence echoes Proust and is the beginning of a masterpiece in prose, world-building, and engaging riddles. The setting of this coming-of-age novella is a future turned to past: slavery friendly Fin de Siècle, post-colonial French town called Port-Mimizon on planet Sainte Croix. The narrator’s home remembers me a bit of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast with its grotesqueness.
You can read the novella as a straight-forward story, but revisiting it leads to the included riddles. Just to name a few: Number Five’s real name, his relation to his girl-friend Phaedria, the nature of the five heads of Cerberus. I won’t point out the solutions here, but if you’re curious, there is a great Wiki resolving all those riddles.
The novella is one of the SF genre’s early discussions of cloning, evolution theory, and human identity: Identity is not only a matter of genes and environment, but also of the soul. By duplicating his father’s life, he denies his individuality.
Besides of the intellectually interesting details, the novella is exciting, emotional, wonderfully Kafkaesque, and full of great ideas. But it is also ambiguous and leaves some elements unresolved – so, if you’re a friend of clear words and fixed endings, then Wolfe might not be your preferred author.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Remarkable writing, though the story itself is ultimately sad. It seems that even with two new planets to live on, human depravity finds a way to exert itself.
A triptych of stories, focusing on identity, colonisation and . Everything in Gene Wolfe stories are interpretation, so here is mine:
The first story was an interesting combination of future tech and post-colonial themes, with slavery front and centre. The name of the narrator can be guessed to be Gene Wolfe, beginning the dance of identity, we also discover that this boy is the fifth clone in a line of men, all 'treated' to be similar to their predecessors (identity). One of his precursors runs the brothel where he lives (slavery) and another's identity was placed into a robot, destroying the human as part in the process (identity). A final touch to the question of identity is the idea that all the humans from the sister planet are not in fact humans but aboriginal shape shifters that have forgotten they are mimicking humans (identity). The tale finishes with the boy taking his fathers place by killing him.
The second tale was a mythic story, which was so loosely tied to reality it was very difficult to follow along, but some points are developed (at least if you trust the story). There are many tribes in Sainte Anne, and they have a relationship to the trees or may in fact become trees. The adventurous tale finished with one young man killing his twin, and then not knowing which of them he is. This is easily the weakest of the three stories, and it's real value lies in the way the third story makes several calls back to it.
The third tale occurs via a haphazard assessment of evidence, looking at a Scientist from Earth (who we met in the first story) and documents his trip to find the aboriginals in Sainte Anne, and then his travels to Saint Croix and subsequent arrest. During the tale we realise that the young guide was present when the scientist died (or was killed?) in Saint Anne, and has taken on his role. There are also tales of aboriginals becoming sticks or trees, as well as hints that when the French were conquered by the English that the French also pretended to claim aboriginal status to claim land. The story finishes with the officer (who has slaves) deciding to leave the prisoner locked up.
For me I felt that most people in Saint Anne were not aboriginals, but I also felt that it didn't really matter, by having the question raised, and the issues of identity, and what it means to colonise a world and also be changed by it, the thrust and intent of the book had been achieved.
The problem with the work is that the effort to unpick the ever more subtle clues does not pay itself back in sufficient measure for me, and while I enjoyed the themes of identity and what it means to colonise a people, as well as some interesting thoughts on slavery it was all too much work for something that could have been done a little simpler. All too baroque for me, although I am aware that this is what makes Wolfe so great for others.
Spoiler
the coming of age of young men through deathSpoiler
The first story was an interesting combination of future tech and post-colonial themes, with slavery front and centre. The name of the narrator can be guessed to be Gene Wolfe, beginning the dance of identity, we also discover that this boy is the fifth clone in a line of men, all 'treated' to be similar to their predecessors (identity). One of his precursors runs the brothel where he lives (slavery) and another's identity was placed into a robot, destroying the human as part in the process (identity). A final touch to the question of identity is the idea that all the humans from the sister planet are not in fact humans but aboriginal shape shifters that have forgotten they are mimicking humans (identity). The tale finishes with the boy taking his fathers place by killing him.
The second tale was a mythic story, which was so loosely tied to reality it was very difficult to follow along, but some points are developed (at least if you trust the story). There are many tribes in Sainte Anne, and they have a relationship to the trees or may in fact become trees. The adventurous tale finished with one young man killing his twin, and then not knowing which of them he is. This is easily the weakest of the three stories, and it's real value lies in the way the third story makes several calls back to it.
The third tale occurs via a haphazard assessment of evidence, looking at a Scientist from Earth (who we met in the first story) and documents his trip to find the aboriginals in Sainte Anne, and then his travels to Saint Croix and subsequent arrest. During the tale we realise that the young guide was present when the scientist died (or was killed?) in Saint Anne, and has taken on his role. There are also tales of aboriginals becoming sticks or trees, as well as hints that when the French were conquered by the English that the French also pretended to claim aboriginal status to claim land. The story finishes with the officer (who has slaves) deciding to leave the prisoner locked up.
For me I felt that most people in Saint Anne were not aboriginals, but I also felt that it didn't really matter, by having the question raised, and the issues of identity, and what it means to colonise a world and also be changed by it, the thrust and intent of the book had been achieved.
The problem with the work is that the effort to unpick the ever more subtle clues does not pay itself back in sufficient measure for me, and while I enjoyed the themes of identity and what it means to colonise a people, as well as some interesting thoughts on slavery it was all too much work for something that could have been done a little simpler. All too baroque for me, although I am aware that this is what makes Wolfe so great for others.
I've been told that second and third readings of Wolfe's stories allow you to find layers of interesting meaning; my intent with reading this for a book club was to do two readings, but I'm not sure I'm up for a second reading of it--we'll see.
I get it. He's a genius. I just think he's not my flavor of genius. Interesting themes here, a puzzle-that-maybe-isn't-meant-to-be-solved sort of structure. Deep examination of colonizers becoming colonized (and vice versa!), of identity, of how stories are told. This is the kind of thing that sci-fi is made for, in my mind. And yet.
And yet, I like my stories interesting on the surface first, with all of the deep stuff there *as well*; instead, these stories aren't particularly interesting on the surface, with one-dimensional characters and some 40-year old sci-fi tropes that feel 140 here (ooooooh! cloning! it's so weird!). Yes, yes, yes, the deeper themes are explored in a wonderful way, but only if you dig pretty deeply in the text. Sure, that can be fun, but I'd rather read something like The Left Hand of Darkness, which explores similar themes in a deep way, but which can also/instead be read for its plot alone. I'd even rather read Dhalgren, which has a crazy, non-linear structure but at least is a wild ride, even if you set the themes to the side.
Maybe my thoughts will shift on a second reading? We'll see...
I get it. He's a genius. I just think he's not my flavor of genius. Interesting themes here, a puzzle-that-maybe-isn't-meant-to-be-solved sort of structure. Deep examination of colonizers becoming colonized (and vice versa!), of identity, of how stories are told. This is the kind of thing that sci-fi is made for, in my mind. And yet.
And yet, I like my stories interesting on the surface first, with all of the deep stuff there *as well*; instead, these stories aren't particularly interesting on the surface, with one-dimensional characters and some 40-year old sci-fi tropes that feel 140 here (ooooooh! cloning! it's so weird!). Yes, yes, yes, the deeper themes are explored in a wonderful way, but only if you dig pretty deeply in the text. Sure, that can be fun, but I'd rather read something like The Left Hand of Darkness, which explores similar themes in a deep way, but which can also/instead be read for its plot alone. I'd even rather read Dhalgren, which has a crazy, non-linear structure but at least is a wild ride, even if you set the themes to the side.
Maybe my thoughts will shift on a second reading? We'll see...