Comments on: Gene Wolfe’s An Evil Guest

By: Susan Loyal

Susan Loyal — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:42:01 +0000

Well, I’ve read it now, and I think there’s a bit of Sheridan le Fanu in the mashup, although the atmospherics in the first third reminded me more of Nathaniel Hawthorne in some ways, the dialog of Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason novels almost as much as of Dashiell Hammett, and then, of course, there’s the tip of the hat to George du Maurier’s Trilby, and HPL, and a little of PK Dick. A mashup that complex and thorough winds up, in the end, as entirely and solely Gene Wolfe. Wow.

By: Susan Loyal

Susan Loyal — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:35:11 +0000

Thank you for satisfying my curiousity, Jonathan. I have several months to wait before publication date, but I’d be happy to share my reaction then. Your recommendations are always sound. (The title could just be happenstance. Le Fanu has slipped out of current awareness, I think, but Wolfe is such an erudite writer.)

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:33:22 +0000

I’ve definitely got to the Lovecraft stuff. I’m in the last 100 pages, and there’s a squid god and all. Now, it wouldn’t surprise me of the title was a nod to Le Fanu (I’d be very interested to hear your take on the book), but the Lovecraft stuff is definitely there.

By: Susan Loyal

Susan Loyal — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:54:42 +0000

I’d be interested in whether you ever get to “the Lovecraft stuff,” since the title makes me wonder if it isn’t an homage to Sheridan Le Fanu (who wrote a little thing called “The Evil Guest”), and Le Fanu is gothic (and psychological) as all get out, but a distinctly different root of the dark fantasy tree than Lovecraft. I’ve been wondering about this ever since I saw the title!