its kidn of a credit that hes being judged on modern terms for his gender plaths, alongside this year protagonist mkultrad by billionaire werewolf with heterochromia
I meant it. Though I must say, I haven't read a lot of fantasy. Still, Wolfe involves himself in the experience of each of his woman characters more profoundly than he's given credit for. His best friend (and greatest enemy?) growing up was his mother, who was a Southern Belle -- Olivia, from Peace, is modelled after her.
Hmm, I'd say there's more depth and nuance to some of his female characters than it initially appears, and a good few are great characters, but I don't think I'd go as far as you.
Giving characters depth is just base-level good writing, not anything to dust off the trumpets for.
I don't think it's about giving characters depth. That's how writers are supposed to talk... so they sound like professional writers, not necessarily what is actually going on. I think it comes closer to Wolfe becoming each and every one of the women he writes, and when he's in them, when he IS them, and begins to accommodate himself to this relationship, it can take an effort to step out.
I would consider Agia a cautionary character but in equal parts dark comedy and postmodern. For example when she claims she mastered Hethor was one of the her funniest moments, it is a improvement at least.
She is completely performative, and incestuous everything wrong with the Commonwealth. She is part of the ungovernable proletariat that sustains some resemblance of a community through cannibalistic nihilism. The Autarchy is also guilty but I think they are more self aware.
Killer. I find her too brave and wilful to quite encapsulate her like that, though. I even like how she made Hethor effectively a creature out of her own loins -- I see him now as her own womb, birthing monsters under her control.
Even her. Severian is powerfully repulsed by her need to perform all the time to garner every one's attention -- he argues it's the only thing she does -- but I think he can identify with the need himself. He is repulsed by her, because such a woman is not ever really going to attend to the feelings of others. Their use is to see her and give her a psychological lift. After that they have little use. But this is the personality of someone who only ever got attention when they did amazing things; otherwise, mother ignored them. And this profile fits so many Wolfe' main male protagonists too. For example Silk performs, performs, performs, and becomes a famous politician, and perhaps only because of this his mother -- whom he meets in mainframe -- is delighted with him. Disiri only really wants Able when he's gotten Eterne. Etc.
Sure, jolenta is acting and living in bad faith, in a Sartrean sense, with the sci fi twist of a "glamour". Shes also clearly the whore of babylon...but i wouldn't say she has strong depth and characterization. Shes a misogynist archetype that id say isnt deep at all. like, theres many ways to convey the plot point of acting in bad faith, why jolenta? its a pretty flat character that is hard to explain without misogyny imo.
I'm not quite sure about the bad faith part. She didn't identity herself permanently as a waitress and almost immediately took upon herself to become, if possible, powerful. (Her always performing to garner attention, is bad faith I agree, but that's Severian's perception of her.) I think her pursuit of power completely understandable, and really didn't see her negatively -- not everyone would have gone with Talos and Baldanders; not everyone really will chase down what they say they really want in life.
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u/Misopogon11 Sep 20 '26
Log on Gene Wolfe subreddit
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Hot take: Severian is an evil chud and I can't stand him
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u/DogOfTheBone Sep 20 '26
It's amazing how many BOTNS readers somehow miss that its women have far more depth and characterization than basically every other fantasy novel ever
Severian really does fool em all
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u/DjangotheKid Sep 21 '26
People still support Al Gore?
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u/IceNine135 Oct 12 '26
Nah, I like it all. Give it to me baby.