[DAV]⋙ Libro Gratis The Fifth Head of Cerberus Three Novellas Gene Wolfe 9780312890209 Books

The Fifth Head of Cerberus Three Novellas Gene Wolfe 9780312890209 Books

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The Fifth Head of Cerberus Three Novellas Gene Wolfe 9780312890209 Books

Over the course of three connected novellas, Wolfe gradually introduces the aborigines of a pair of foreign planets. At first, they are little more than curiosities at the edge of a tormented boys life. They take center stage, though, in the next two stories, and are the point on which ideas in anthropology, science, and the nature of freedom turn. By the end, it becomes a brilliant, complex commentary on colonialism.

This is why it's so unfortunate that the digital copy is littered with grammatical errors. Commas appear in random places, and periods are missing. "Then" is used when it should be "than." On and on. If this were self-published, I'd understand, but this is a novel by one of the greats of scifi/fantasy, sold by a publishing powerhouse like Macmillan. It's unacceptably lazy and disrespectful.


Tags : The Fifth Head of Cerberus: Three Novellas [Gene Wolfe] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Back in print for the first time in more than a decade, Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus</i> is a universally acknowledged masterpiece of science fiction by one of the field's most brilliant writers. Far out from Earth,Gene Wolfe,The Fifth Head of Cerberus: Three Novellas,Orb Books,0312890206,Science fiction.,FICTION Science Fiction Collections & Anthologies,FICTION Science Fiction General,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction anthologies & collections,Fiction-Coming of Age,GENERAL,ScholarlyUndergraduate,Science Fiction,Science Fiction - General,United States,WOLFE, GENE - PROSE & CRITICISM,science fiction short stories; sci fi short stories; science fiction books; science fiction and fantasy books; best science fiction books; books science fiction; books sci fi; american science fiction; science fiction fantasy; speculative fiction; best sci fi books; best science fiction; best sci fi

The Fifth Head of Cerberus Three Novellas Gene Wolfe 9780312890209 Books Reviews

This is a great book, probably one of the best Wolfe wrote. And it does not deserve to be printed on grey paper-towel-like paper, in blotchy type. This book wants to crumple, it is very awkward to hold.
If you want to buy it as a present, look for a hardcover, from another publisher maybe.
There's a reason why most of the worlds sci-fi authors look up to this guy. It's clear when you dig into his books that he is a genius. But you also kind of feel like you don't know what is going on because you don't have a professor there to explain it to you, and you are being beat over the head with it. That and the general terrible things happening all over in the stories make for a depressing read.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe was published in the early 1970s. Still fresh and way ahead of it's time. I've read almost all of Gene Wolfe's work (the Sun series) and this is now one of my favorites! The story will stay with you. Reading Wolfe is like reading a sci-fi James Joyce novel ala Finnigans Wake. Cerberus is comprised of 3 novellas that are tied to the same story involving a missing race of shape shifters who assumed the identities of the early settlers of a planet. The first story only touches on this very slightly but is a great read about a young man who finds out his true identity and where he meets the protagonist Dr. John Marsch who is doing research on the elusive aliens. The second story is way out there and is the most surreal. Written by Dr. Marsch, the story speaks of the shapeshifters. Told as if in a dream like state, bringing you into their belief system and mythos (i'd like to see an interpretation of this if available.) The third story at this point, involves our hero who is inhumanely imprisoned. The intelligent Dr. Marsch is arrested and interrogated by the fascist governement in power (very Orwellian). The story brings everything together (via flashback and interrogation), clarifying the previous two novellas in a way that makes the third story compelling, thrilling and heartbreaking all at once. The book particularly the 3rd novella, imho addresses tyranny by a political instrumentality that resonates to this day. Highly recommend!
This is a stunning, confusing, mystifying book, as are most of Gene Wolfe's books. What a mind and what a writer! There is no writer that I know of who writes such elegant, complicated, lovely prose. I am often baffled by the theme of this books, but I don't care. I get out of them what I want and will leave the lurid, complex explanations to others. I only recommed Gene Wolfe to certain people because I meet so few people who had a need for beautiful prose. Most people just want and are happy with serviceable prose, as am I some of the time. But Gene Wolfe is special.
Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a collection of three related novellas about a binary planetary system settled by Earth, but with the suggestion of an aboriginal population on one planet that either died off or by virtue of their shapeshifting properties replaced the original human colonists.The 1st tale concerns an unusual childhood that involves growing up in a brothel run by a strange brother sister tag team where the children are clones. At the same time, there appears to be bizarre human experimentation that leads eventually to patricide. The 2nd tale is a dream sequence taking place on the other world that is far more primitive suggesting other intelligent life forms as well as a form of cargo cult worship. The final tale is the story of an anthropologist researching the aboriginals who ends up in prison suspected of being a spy.

From the plot perspective, each story stands alone, although the characters are common across all the tales. While each tale explores a particular theme, the plots mostly meander with little closure or resolution. Each one seems like the kernel of a potential story that simply ran out of steam. The settings are not well detailed and the feel is of a Joseph Conrad story, but set on a distant planetary system, rather than Africa.
I have to confess my rating of this book was much, much worse than five stars for nearly the entire time I spent reading it. In fact, I contemplated putting it down altogether with the intention of starting again at a later date, hoping the problem was me and not the book, and that time would be the necessary agent for expulsion of the lameness that had claimed my thoughts. I came very close. But I persevered, figuring I should at the very least complete the book before coming to any definitive conclusion. What transpired in the last fifty or so pages, in me, was nothing short of miraculous. I caught a hint of some previously undetectable threads of fictive genius alive in the text. It awakened that ancient part of me that feeds on such things. From that point on I devoured the rest of the pages, sating my primitive hunger entirely by the end. The thing that nearly forced me to set this book aside, that maddening opacity, turned out to be my savior.
Over the course of three connected novellas, Wolfe gradually introduces the aborigines of a pair of foreign planets. At first, they are little more than curiosities at the edge of a tormented boys life. They take center stage, though, in the next two stories, and are the point on which ideas in anthropology, science, and the nature of freedom turn. By the end, it becomes a brilliant, complex commentary on colonialism.

This is why it's so unfortunate that the digital copy is littered with grammatical errors. Commas appear in random places, and periods are missing. "Then" is used when it should be "than." On and on. If this were self-published, I'd understand, but this is a novel by one of the greats of scifi/fantasy, sold by a publishing powerhouse like Macmillan. It's unacceptably lazy and disrespectful.