Fantasy stories are typically set in either an imaginary world like Nehwon and Narnia or an imagined past like the Hyborian Age or Middle Earth. Then there is the Dying Earth genre which is set not only in the future, but at the end of Earth’s history. The earliest story in this genre might by The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson (which I have not read). This essay will focus on three series set at this time: Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique, Jack Vance’s Dying Earth, and Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun.

One thing that these three series have in common is the style they are written in. All three writers were superb prose stylists. More than that, they all wrote in a highly ornate and quite beautiful style. They also tend to use a lot of rare and obscure words. For example, the word “eidolon” is used in both the Zothique stories and The Book of the New Sun. Wolfe’s work in particular uses a lot of obscure words. When I first read The Book of the New Sun, I had one of those really thick dictionaries by my side. It was interesting to look up various words, though I have on various rereads decided it is best to read it straight through relying on inference to figure out the meaning. There are two reasons for this. One is that the conceit of the book is that it is translated from a future document and words are the closest equivalents in meaning to the original manuscript, but do not necessarily have the exact same meaning. This gives the series an edge of ambiguity and implies that the setting is far more alien than we can imagine.

The second reason is simply that it can be tiring to stop and look up each new word you come across.

This is a conscious choice on the part of the authors. It undoubtedly comes from the Zothique stories which predate the other two series. While I believe that The Night Land had an archaic style as well, many reviewers seem to criticize the style of the novel. Smith was an accomplish poet and was able to make that style work. Same with Wolfe and Vance.

It should not be inferred that the three authors only wrote in this style. Smith’s “Genius Loci” is not written in ornate style. Jack Vance’s style in Planet of Adventure series is very plain compared to the Dying Earth. The long, complex sentences of Gene Wolfe’s opus contrast to the very simple ones of his Soldier series.

The value of this type of writing, though it can make the story opaque to some readers, is that it lends an alien atmosphere to the setting.

All three settings have a feeling of decadence. The world is ending in the Zothique and Dying Earth stories so there is nothing left but to party until the end. There is a bleak, almost, but not quite, nihilistic tone to these stories. There is also a great deal of sardonic irony in them as well. The Book of the New Sun is the exception of the three.

While Urth is most certainly decadent, there is hope in the coming of the New Sun. I imagine that difference comes from Wolfe having a different outlook than either Smith or Vance. Wolfe was a Catholic while neither Smith nor Vance were religious. In fact, the two writers often satirized religion.

The Dying Earth and The Book of the New Sun are also alike in that they mix science fiction and fantasy tropes. Both sorcery and highly advanced science coexist on the Dying Earth. In The Book of the New Sun, it is hard to tell what is fantasy and what is science fiction. The Matachin Tower, where the main character Severian was raised, at first seems to have been built by a medieval society. However, it is implied that it is in fact a grounded rocket ship. Zothique, on the other hand, seems to be purely fantasy. While I have not read all the stories in the series, (I am currently reading through them), technology does not seem to play a role in them.

All three series have different structures. Zothique is a series of short stories and a single play. The Dying Earth started as short stories, but they were tied together into a series of picaresque fix up novels. While Wolfe intended The Book of the New Sun to be originally a short story it grew in to a larger work of four novels, or rather a novel in four volumes. There are also its sequels Urth of the New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, The Book of the Short Sun, and a few short stories in various collections.

The longer structure of New Sun allows for a great deal more of world building in the manner of Tolkien. Also, the protagonist, Severian, is given greater psychological depth than any of the characters of the other series. However, those series have multiple protagonists rather than one. I also do not think that those stories need in-depth characterization to work.

Because of the decadence of the setting, the characters in all three series are morally suspect if not out right villainous. The most prominent character of the Dying Earth, Cugel the Clever, is a thoroughly self-interested rogue. Severian is a professional torturer. In “The Dark Eidolon” of the Zothique series, the main character is a diabolical sorcerer seeking revenge on a corrupt prince. None of those characters is good guy. Some of the other Zothique stories have more sympathetic protagonists, though.

The books are not quite without moral vision though. In The Eyes of the Overworld, the extremely roguish Cugel is often punished for his transgressions. Severian is a morally complicated character but in the end he abolishes the practice of the torture and goes off to space to bring about the New Sun.

It is also interesting that while all three series can be considered in the Dying Earth genre, they can also be considered in three separate genres. Zothique is dark fantasy/horror. The Dying Earth is Sword and Sorcery. The Book of the New Sun is usually labeled Science Fantasy, but it has elements of both High Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery. The thing about genre is that while categorization can serve a useful tool, it tends to be rather simplistic. It is often like there are walls between genres but when examined closely one realizes that the walls are porous. Things seep in from one genre to the next.

What all three series have in common is that they are all worth reading. The beauty of the language in all three series alone justifies the time spent. The Zothique and Dying Earth stories are marvelously entertaining works. The Book of the New Sun is dense with meaning. So read them before the Sun burns out.