The Fifth Head Of Cerberus
by Gene Wolfe · first published 1972
81% recommend19% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Three linked novellas on colonialism, identity and unreliable narration, praised as a short, readable way into Wolfe before his denser Book of the New Sun; suits skeptics of fantasy and readers wanting layered SF.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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.
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…only had about a decade-long run as a writer of high art in the 1970s. I strongly recommend the early Wolfe, but the later Wolfe is a lesser author. In that decade, Wolfe produced three large works (The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Peace and The Book of the New Sun) and a number of short stories where the prose was incredibly rich and beautiful, fully the equal of Proust or Nabokov. His reputation should rest on these. But from…
on “Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)” ↗Wolfe wrote some incredible masterpieces. The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Peace, and some of his 1970s short stories deserve a place in 20th-century serious literature in general. The Book of the New Sun stunned me as a teenage reader, and I fondly reread the book every few…
on “Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87” ↗…do in ours), and the hero travels back and forth between that world and ours. It's good, but not as strong as Wolfe's best, which to my taste is the Book of the New Sun tetralogy, the novellas in the Fifth Head of Cerberus collection, and many of his short stories (well-collected in The Best of Gene Wolfe). The other two are the first half of the "Book of the Long Sun" series that I'm still reading through. Ursula K. Le…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗…So thanks OP for the reminder. At that age, with my experience then, it had the same effect that The Lottery had on a lot of older people, I think. An engaging novella by a now-dead luminary is The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe, 1972. It’s a book of three short stories, written in three different styles, all interrelated and containing a central mystery. Wolfe is well-known for hiding puzzles in his books that…
on “50 authors, 50 science fiction stories shorter than novels” ↗I think Gene Wolfe is the one of the greatest authors of all time across any genre. I highly highly recommend the Fifth Head of Cerberus which is 3 short interconnected novellas and Peace, which isn't traditional Sci-Fi but is absolutely worth a read. He's not just writing, he's constructing beautifully crafted puzzle-boxes that take…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗…17 are often beautifully written. * Ursula LeGuin, e.g. The Left Hand of Darkness. * Gene Wolfe. Increasingly also recognized as a genius, I also particularly like his short stories. Start with The Fifth Head of Cerberus; graduate with the monumental The Book of the New Sun, which has no equal in or out of the genre. * J. G. Ballard. A consummate stylist, he eventually drifted away from SF, but his earlic works are fantastic.…
on “The Essential Philip K. Dick” ↗Very few indeed. Have you read Gene Wolfe? One of the few writers in the genre I truly admire as a literary writer. A good starting book is "The Fifth Head of Cerberus".
on “A Personal Statement from Iain Banks” ↗…book) possibly the best work of fiction ever, but it's quite heavy. I'm not sure I'll ever reread them, because I remember feeling a bit like I'm drowning in the story. For someone new to Gene Wolfe, The Fifth Head of Cerberus gives a good taste about what's in store without so much commitment. Besides those I also strongly remember these works: - The Wizard Knight: straight-up fantasy but quite philosophical like sci-fi…
on “Dark Futures: What happens when literary novelists experiment with Sci-Fi” ↗Wolfe was terrific for the brief span of a decade or so. It is no accident that the books for which he is so often acclaimed (The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Peace, BotNS) were all written in the 1970s. At that time he managed to combine intricately plotted, deceitful-narrator plots with excellent prose that was fully the equal of Proust or Nabokov. Beyond…
on “Ends of the Urth” ↗Gene Wolfe. The whole Solar Cycle (The Book of the New Sun, Urth of The New Sun, The Book of The Long Sun, The Book of The Short Sun), Fifth Head of Cerberus, Peace, There Are Doors, The Sorcerer's House ... . Wolfe is a genius. Before that I also finished Malazan.
on “Ask HN: What is the best thing you read in 2022?” ↗…majority opinion on The Sparrow, but I'd rather be positive and suggest a few alternatives which I feel deal more inventively with the themes of first contact, the alien, and colonialism: Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Stanislaw Lem's Eden, Solaris, The Invincible, and Fiasco. Wolfe does a fine job of modulating his prose style according to the dictates of his content, and unpacking the workings of the book over…
on “The Sparrow” ↗> Personally, though, I wouldn't put Dune or any Gene Wolfe on my Top 100 SF novels. Could never get past the first pages. Try Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus and see if you might change your mind. It's very readable, and it's pleasantly short. It's half Borges, half Sturgeon, with a pinch of Ray Bradbury.
on “The Best Science Fiction Books (According to Reddit)” ↗Ayn Rand shares shelves with Tintin, Eli Weisel and Twilight.... Banned are books with... anti-establishment ideas. Poor Ayn Rand. Actually, I wonder if they have The Fifth Head of Cerberus? That's just as much a trip as The Trial, and the last novella, "V.R.T.", would really speak to the abductees at Guantanamo. I'm not sure how much Wolfe has been translated to Pashto, however.
on “No One Reads Kafka At Gitmo” ↗…conservative and who occasionally voiced suspicion of modern academia with its focus on race and gender, wrote decades ago a work that really does mesh with modern post-colonial studies. I keenly recommended The Fifth Head of Cerberus to a friend of mine who is a scholar in that field, but sadly the robot on the cover of the Orb Books edition made him assume it was just goofy sci-fi.
on “Gene Wolfe, 'magnificent' giant of science fiction, dies aged 87” ↗Absolutely. Of his novels, I always recommend The Fifth Head of Cerberus as a starting point. It's relatively short (it was expanded from a short story), and it marks the point when Wolfe's fiction matured. It's as deep as anything else he has written. If you end up liking…
on “50 authors, 50 science fiction stories shorter than novels” ↗