Shadow
& Claw, Vol. 1: The Shadow of the Torturer – Gene Wolfe (1980)
There are writers whose names float
around in my consciousness, having heard of them from other readers, or from
various book reviews or articles I read.
The name Gene Wolfe was one such name.
I knew him to be a writer of fantasy/science fiction, and that he had a
very loyal following of readers who found him to be a master storyteller. He has never been a “best-seller” but his
works always attract a devoted readership.
When my man Severian, from the Sonic Youth Gossip Forum, suggested I
read the 4 volume series Shadow & Claw, and when I realized it was by that
same Gene Wolfe whose works I had yet to read, I hit the library and checked
out the first two volumes. Upon opening
up the book I was surprised to read that the main character, the “Torturer” in
the title, was a young man named Severian!
Ha! I now knew where my online
friend had unearthed his bizarre forum handle!
Since my real-life Severian had already led me to read the great and
bizarre Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer, I felt that I
would enjoy The Shadow of the Torturer.
What I did not foresee is the extent that Gene Wolfe’s writing would
slink into my brain, occupying my non-reading time with thoughts about the odd
book I was reading.
This book begins the story of the
torturer Severian by introducing him as our narrator, describing events in his
past to us, and gradually exposing us to this ancient, mysterious world in
which Severian lives. He is a young man,
near to adulthood, who since his birth has been trained as a torturer’s
apprentice. The world of this story
reflects a rigorous caste and guild system that helps hold together this
society, but whose specific meanings and symbolism have been lost to the
passage of time. It is an ancient civilization,
one that has merged its technology and advanced knowledge with feudalism and
brutal enforcement of the rules. Most
live their lives in deep superstition, and fear of others. People stay to their own kind, and in their
own guilds. In fact, whole generations
die within the walls of their respective guilds, sometimes never stepping foot
outside into the giant, nearly incomprehensible city outside. In fact, this first volume is strictly the
tale of Severian as he seeks to leave the giant city, ending as he enters the
gates leading outside.
There is a lot of
amazing imagery in this book, and part of the joy of it is losing oneself in
the world that Gene Wolfe has created.
He does it so subtly, yet so completely, that it feels almost too real,
as if the real world around you is fake and the story in the pages is the
reality. This is what the very best of
genre fiction does. It takes the reader’s
mind and sends it hurtling through a wholly fabricated world, a world created
by the writer’s words and the reader’s imagination. The best writers build such amazing worlds
that people return to them again and again.
Frank Hebert did it with the Dune books. Robert E. Howard did it with the Conan stories. While Dune was a messianic tale of galactic
intrigue, and the Conan tales were the start of the swashbuckling Sword &
Fantasy genre, Gene Wolfe’s Shadow & Claw seems to be headed in a
completely different direction, although I will have to read the next three
volumes to truly understand. Right now,
I have come to know Severian, his life, the world he lives in, and his
training, but have yet to see where he is destined to be, although countless
hints and possibilities come to mind. I
am very excited to see where this story goes!(This book is available for purchase here: AMAZON )
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