Η αίσθηση που έχω όταν πιάνω ένα βιβλίο του Τζίν Γουλφ είναι ίδια με το συναπάντημα με ένα παλιό φίλο. Από την πρώτη στιγμή, όπου και ξεκίνησε η γνωριμία μου με τα βιβλία του, με κέρδισε. Δεν ξέρω αν είναι αστραποβόλο χτύπημα, αλλά αν θέλω να προσδώσω μια ερωτική χροιά σε αυτό το πάρε-δώσε, θα πω πως ο Γουλφ κατέχει τα σκήπτρα της βιβλιοφιλικής καρδιάς μου. Με τον ίδιο ενθουσιασμό και λαχτάρα τον διαβάζω ακόμα, καθώς από καιρού εις καιρόν προσφέρω στον εαυτό μου την ευχαρίστηση να πιάσω άλλο ένα βιβλίο από την μεγάλη βιβλιογραφία του.Έτσι την ξεκοκκαλίζω την βιβλιογραφία του, με ευλάβεια. Και λέγοντας στον εαυτό μου πως κάποια στιγμή θα τα ξαναδιαβάσω τα βιβλία του.Όπως και αυτό εδώ. Όπου σε μια πόλη της Αμερικής, το Castleview, -όνομα που οφείλεται στις εμφανίσεις ενός κάστρου στον ορίζοντα-, αλλόκοτα πράγματα γίνονται. Παράξενοι ξένοι μπλέκονται με τους καθημερινούς ντόπιους, μυθικά πλάσματα κάνουν τις εμφανίσεις τους, χαρακτήρες με διττή προσωπικότητα κινούν τα νήματα μιας μυστηριώδους συνωμοσίας. Σταδιακά, παίζοντας με το μυαλό του αναγνώστη, ο Γουλφ, συνθέτει το σμίξιμο των δυο κόσμων - του καθημερινού με το μυθικού. Μιας παραμυθιακής πλάσης, βασισμένης στο Σκανδιναβικό πάνθεον, τους Βορειο-Ευρωπαϊκούς θρύλους και τον μύθο του Αρθούρου. Φαντάσμτα, βαμπίρ, τρολ και ιππότες εισβάλουν στην πραγματικότηα αυτής της μικρής πόλης.Φυσικά, μιλάμε για τον Γουλφ. Έναν συγγραφέα ευφυή, που δεν κάνει τίποτα εύκολο στον αναγνώστη. Εδώ επιλέγει μια θεατρική προσέγγιση. Οι σκηνές ξετυλίγονται μέσα από διαλόγους, χαρακτήρες έρχονται και φεύγουν πολλές φορές από την δράση, δίχως περιγραφές. Εντείνεται έτσι η δραματικότητα και το αλλόκοτο αυτής της ήδη παράξενη ιστορίας, όπου θαρρείς αυτά τα περιστατικά λαμβάνουν χώρα στο μυαλό των πρωταγωνιστών, σαν ένα θεατρικό έργο που εξελίσσεται ερήμην της υπόλοιπης μικρής κοινωνίας.Το αγάπησα το βιβλίο. Και για ακόμα μια φορά απόλαυσα αυτό το μηρυκασμό στο τέλος, που αναμασάς τις σκηνές, προσπαθώντας να βγάλεις άκρη με το όραμα του Γουλφ σε κάθε του βιβλίου.Για μένα ο αγαπημένος μου συγγραφέας και ένας από τους πιο αδικημένους και παραγνωρισμένους, ταλαντουχους συγγραφείς της Αμερικής.
Gene Wolfe's CASTLEVIEW is the second of his turn of the 90's trilogy of fantastical fiction novels. The first, THERE ARE DOORS, was a rather confusing but ultimately comprehendible book, but with CASTLEVIEW the reader has no idea what's going on.CASTLEVIEW is perhaps the most infamous of Gene Wolfe's novels. Wolfe has always like to present puzzles to the reader, and every book he's written is filled with mysteries, allusions, and inside jokes. The answers to these are usually to be found after some diligent reading and research, and in any event the main plot can always be followed. In CASTLEVIEW, even the plot is totally baffling. Apparently it has something to do with magical creatures and characters from folklore, especially King Arthur and company, plaguing a modern town outside of Chicago. That's really all one can say for certain after reading the book. The entire point of the book is an enigma, and it doesn't appear that Wolfe has included the key anywhere in its 200+ pages. My personal hypothesis right after reading the book was that 50 pages or so fell out of my copy during the printing process, so that I missed the part where everything comes together. However, I read the same copy everyone else did, and no one's ever shown it was incomplete.Ignoring the fact that the book goes right over the heads of its audience, CASTLEVIEW is not one of Wolfe's stronger works. I was annoyed by the speed in which Wolfe introduced new characters, so that it was difficult to follow who's who. Chapters end abruptly on some mysterious development which may create suspense but which irks the reader. Ironically, the teenagers are the only characters which are portrayed realistically, and the adults are somewhat two-dimensional, which is the opposite of how these sorts of things normally turn out.Gene Wolfe is truly one of the finest writers in the English language. His four-volume work The Book of the New Sun is legendary, and his latest work The Book of the Short Sun is filled with moments of sublime beauty and poignant emotion. I would most certainly recommend that one read Wolfe's "solar" works first (starting with the BotNS), his magisterial novel PEACE, and just about everything else he's every written before coming to CASTLEVIEW. I do recommend CASTLEVIEW, and reading the book sure does explain why so many Wolfe scholars are beating their heads against the wall on this one. Save CASTLEVIEW for last.
What do You think about Castleview (1997)?
Gene Wolfe is one of my favorite writers. His Books of The New Sun series is one of the greatest science fiction fantasy works of all time. He excels in creating strange exotic worlds and has a prose that is hauntingly beautiful. However his stories can also be rather vague and bewildering. Rarely is there a clear ending. He is definitely an acquired taste.Castleview is not one of my favorite books by Wolfe. This story about two families who are caught in a town that exists between the real and the mythical should work but it just never comes together for me. The characters seem stilted and forced. I felt sad that I didn't like it because it certainly had the Gene Wolfe magic trying to sneak its way out. Just when I would wonder if I wanted to continue reading I would run into a paragraph like this..."They kissed, and it was not (as Mercedes has always heard it was supposed to be) before she knew what was happening. She knew perfectly well what was happening--that a whole world, new and strange, terrible yet wonderful, was unfolding for her. She understood, when their lips touched, exactly why Snow White and Sleeping Beauty has been awakened by a kiss, knew what those old grandmothers of eight hundred years ago had been trying to tell her, and knew that they had told her, their coded message coming clearly across the years, and that those dear old grandmothers--the bent crones at the firesides--had triumphed, their word not lost with the crackling of the sticks in their fires. That she and Seth or some other like Seth would someday ride on one white horse, laughing in the sunshine.".. and the magic would shine through.Yes, it is a good novel by Wolfe but, in my opinion, not consistent enough to be typical of the master. If you really want to see genius at work, read The Shadow of The Torturer and the other Books of The New Sun.
—Marvin
Typical to Gene Wolfe, it's an interesting idea, executed in an atypical fashion. In a small town south of Chicago, people have been seeing faint images of a castle for decades. Now, people are disappearing and odd phantoms are appearing more and more frequently. It turns out that these phantoms are spiritual remnants of figures from Arthurian legend, and they are trying to take a foothold in our world. The story is one that most authors would have expanded into 500 or 600 pages. Wolfe, as is his wont, crushes it into a dizzying 300 pages. There are some really curious moments, and some really tense moments, and the conclusion is as baffling as it is theory-inspiring. Overall, an interesting read but one that I won't run back to re-read any time soon.
—Scott
I've tried really hard to like Gene Wolfe, because people like Neil Gaiman think he's wonderful. But I just can't do it. Castleview was the book that finally brought me to the point of giving up on him. I could probably have put up with the perpetual ambiguity about which dead characters were actually dead if the live characters had acted and reacted like real people. The closing scene, in particular, is so unrealistic to actual human emotions that I resolved never to attempt another Gene Wolfe book again.It's just a bizarre, inexplicable sequence of things that happen - or, in some of his books, a bizarre, inexplicable sequence of not much happening - to alienated characters who seem to have learned how to be human from a poorly-written instruction manual. Clearly, his genius is over my head.
—Mike
