Gene Wolfe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gene Wolfe
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Wolfe during Nebula Awards in Chicago (2005)
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| Born | Gene Rodman Wolfe May 7, 1931 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 2019 (aged 87) Peoria, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
| Alma mater | |
| Period | c. 1966 – 2019 |
| Genre |
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| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | See subsection |
| Spouse |
Rosemary Wolfe
(m. 1952; died 2013) |
Gene Rodman Wolfe (born May 7, 1931, died April 14, 2019) was an American writer. He was famous for writing science fiction and fantasy stories. People knew his writing for being very detailed and often having hidden meanings. His Catholic faith also strongly influenced his stories.
Gene Wolfe wrote many short stories and novels. He won many important awards for his writing. Some people even called him "the Melville of science fiction." He was also honored as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Wolfe is best known for his series called The Book of the New Sun. This series has four books published between 1980 and 1983. In 1998, Locus magazine, a popular science fiction and fantasy magazine, said it was one of the best fantasy novels ever.
Contents
About Gene Wolfe's Life
Gene Wolfe was born in New York City. When he was a small child, he had polio, a disease that can affect muscles. His family moved to Houston, Texas, when he was six years old. He went to high school and college in Texas. While at Texas A&M University, he published his first science fiction story in a student magazine.
From Engineer to Full-Time Writer
Gene Wolfe left college for a while to serve in the Korean War. After returning to the United States, he finished his degree at the University of Houston. He then became an industrial engineer. For many years, he worked as a senior editor for a magazine called Plant Engineering.
One of his most interesting achievements as an engineer was helping to design the machine that makes Pringles potato chips! Later, he retired from engineering to focus completely on writing.
Family and Later Years
Gene Wolfe lived in Barrington, Illinois, near Chicago, with his wife, Rosemary. They raised four children together and had three granddaughters. In 2013, the Wolfes moved to Peoria, Illinois.
Sadly, Gene Wolfe had some health issues later in life, including heart surgery. His wife, Rosemary, passed away in 2013 after being sick for some time. Gene Wolfe shared a touching memory about her, saying that even when she couldn't remember his name or that they were married, "she still remembered that she loved me."
Gene Wolfe died at his home in Peoria on April 14, 2019. He was 87 years old.
Gene Wolfe's Amazing Books
Gene Wolfe's first published book was a novel called Operation Ares in 1970. He started getting more attention for his book The Fifth Head of Cerberus in 1972. This book explored ideas about "colonial mentality" within a science fiction setting.
The Book of the New Sun Series
His most famous and highly praised work is The Book of the New Sun. This multi-volume novel is set in a dark, far-off future. It tells the story of Severian, a young torturer who gets kicked out of his guild because he shows kindness to someone he was supposed to punish.
The series includes these books:
- The Shadow of the Torturer (1980)
- The Claw of the Conciliator (1981) – This book won the Nebula Award for Best Novel.
- The Sword of the Lictor (1982)
- The Citadel of the Autarch (1983)
A later book, The Urth of the New Sun (1987), helps to finish some parts of the story, but it's usually seen as a separate work.
The Solar Cycle and Other Works
After retiring from engineering in 1984, Wolfe wrote even more. In the 1990s, he wrote two more series that take place in the same universe as The Book of the New Sun.
- The Book of the Long Sun (1993-1996): This series follows a priest who gets involved in political drama and revolution.
- The Book of the Short Sun (1999-2001): This series is about colonists arriving on two planets called Blue and Green.
These four main "Sun" works are often called the "Solar Cycle."
Wolfe also wrote many other stand-alone books. Two of his highly regarded novels are Peace and The Fifth Head of Cerberus. Peace tells the story of a man looking back at his life and secrets. The Fifth Head of Cerberus explores ideas about memory and who we are. The first story in this book was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella.
Gene Wolfe's Unique Writing Style
Gene Wolfe's stories often use characters who are unreliable narrators. This means the characters telling the story might not always tell the full truth, or they might not understand everything that's happening. Wolfe explained that "Real people really are unreliable narrators all the time." Sometimes his characters are innocent, not very smart, or they tell their story from a younger, less knowing point of view.
Wolfe believed a great story is "One that can be read with pleasure by a cultivated reader and reread with increasing pleasure." He often left small clues or missing pieces in his stories that readers might only notice after reading them multiple times. For example, a garden full of morning glories might hint at future events, but only if you know about plants!
His language can also be a bit tricky for new readers. He often used old or unusual words, like fuligin or carnifex. But here's a cool fact: all these words are real words, even if they're not used much today!
Gene Wolfe's Books
Here are some of Gene Wolfe's important works:
Novels
- The Book of the New Sun series:
- The Shadow of the Torturer (1980)
- The Claw of the Conciliator (1981)
- The Sword of the Lictor (1982)
- The Citadel of the Autarch (1983)
- Free Live Free (1984)
- The Urth of the New Sun (1987)
- The Soldier series:
- Soldier of the Mist (1986)
- Soldier of Arete (1989)
- Soldier of Sidon (2006)
- There Are Doors (1988)
- The Book of the Long Sun series:
- Nightside the Long Sun (1993)
- Lake of the Long Sun (1994)
- Caldé of the Long Sun (1994)
- Exodus From the Long Sun (1996)
- The Book of the Short Sun series:
- On Blue's Waters (1999)
- In Green's Jungles (2000)
- Return to the Whorl (2001)
- The Wizard Knight series:
- The Knight (2004)
- The Wizard (2004)
- Pirate Freedom (2007)
- An Evil Guest (2008)
- The Sorcerer's House (2010)
- Home Fires (2011)
- The Land Across (2013)
- A Borrowed Man (2015)
- Interlibrary Loan (2020)
Story Collections
- The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980)
- Gene Wolfe's Book of Days (1981)
- Storeys from the Old Hotel (1988)
- Endangered Species (1989)
- Castle of Days (1995)
- Strange Travelers (2001)
- Innocents Aboard (2005)
- Starwater Strains (2006)
- The Best of Gene Wolfe (2010)
Film Adaptations
- The Death of Doctor Island, a short film made in 2008.
See also
In Spanish: Gene Wolfe para niños
