WRITER

Gene Wolfe

1931 - 2019

Photo of Gene Wolfe

Icon of person Gene Wolfe

Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and novelist, and won many literary awards. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Gene Wolfe has received more than 1,174,275 page views. His biography is available in 28 different languages on Wikipedia. Gene Wolfe is the 3,554th most popular writer (up from 3,583rd in 2019), the 4,558th most popular biography from United States (up from 4,747th in 2019) and the 381st most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 51.43

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 28

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.93

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.00

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

The Shadow of the Torturer
Fantasy fiction
The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume series, The Book of the New Sun. It is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession -- showing mercy toward his victim -- and follows subsequent journey out of his home city of Nessus.
The citadel of the autarch
Science fiction
The claw of the conciliator
Science fiction
Soldier of the Mist
Fiction, History, Soldiers
Free Live Free
Fiction, Treasure-trove, Chicago
A group of four down-on-their-luck strangers respond to a classified ad offering a strange bargain: live free of charge in an old man's house, and help him to prevent the city from having the building demolished. This is a strange, often comic, sometimes frightening novel that sticks so closely to depicting only what the characters themselves notice that, if you're not paying close attention, it's possible to miss that you're reading a science fiction story until the very last chapter.
The fifth head of Cerberus
American Science fiction, Fiction in English
The Shadow of the Torturer
Fantasy fiction
The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume series, The Book of the New Sun. It is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession -- showing mercy toward his victim -- and follows subsequent journey out of his home city of Nessus.
The claw of the conciliator
Science fiction, award:nebula_award=novel, Fiction, science fiction, general
The Fifth Head Of Cerberus
American Science fiction, Fiction in English, Fiction, general
Bien loin de la Terre, deux planètes soeurs, Sainte-Anne et Sainte-Croix, ont été colonisées par des Français qui ont détruit la population indigène de la seconde. Des décennies plus tard, après que les colons ont été eux-mêmes vaincus et dispersés, un ethnologue consacre sa vie à retrouver les traces de cette culture effacée et oubliée.
The Citadel of the Autarch
Science fiction, American Science fiction, Fiction, science fiction, general
Again, Dangerous Visions
American Science fiction, English Science fiction, Science fiction, American
The Sword of the Lictor
Science fiction

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Gene Wolfe ranks 3,554 out of 7,302Before him are Bertus Aafjes, Ibn Bibi, Onomacritus, Leslie Stephen, Charles Malik, and Aboul-Qacem Echebbi. After him are Angelos Sikelianos, Natsuo Kirino, Tōson Shimazaki, Edith Durham, Joss Whedon, and Oppian.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1931, Gene Wolfe ranks 264Before him are Alvin Ailey, Kyōko Kagawa, Richard Ratsimandrava, Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, Donald Barthelme, and Stelios Kazantzidis. After him are Paavo Haavikko, Alex Soler-Roig, José Alencar, Vizma Belševica, Mikael Tariverdiev, and Nicole Courcel. Among people deceased in 2019, Gene Wolfe ranks 224Before him are José Nápoles, Fahrudin Jusufi, Fernando Sebastián Aguilar, Elio Sgreccia, John Tate, and Alain Barrière. After him are Dick Miller, Johnny Clegg, Peter Snell, Luciano De Crescenzo, Carlo Maria Abate, and Julie Adams.

Others Born in 1931

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 2019

Go to all Rankings

In United States

Among people born in United States, Gene Wolfe ranks 4,558 out of 20,380Before him are Pamela Tiffin (1942), Andrew Robinson (1942), Nicole Scherzinger (1978), Nick Cassavetes (1959), William Livingston (1723), and Richard E. Stearns (1936). After him are Pete Maravich (1947), Bobby Vinton (1935), Ben Adams (1890), Michael Chang (1972), Dick Miller (1928), and Stephen J. Cannell (1941).

Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Gene Wolfe ranks 381Before him are Sara Teasdale (1884), Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892), Kim Stanley Robinson (1952), Donald Barthelme (1931), Howard Pyle (1853), and Cotton Mather (1663). After him are Joss Whedon (1964), Robert W. Chambers (1865), Emma Lazarus (1849), James Tiptree Jr. (1915), Charles Fort (1874), and Lillian Hellman (1905).