Gene Wolfe is a writer like nobody else, and although I can’t say that I’m an expert on his oeuvre, I have read more than a little of it. (The Wizard Knight is my favorite and a good place to start.) I have been reading some tributes and criticism in light of his recent death, of which the best pieces so far are Brian Phillips’s unsummarizable biographical treatment and this wonderful long essay by Kim Stanley Robinson which reveals a key piece of information about one of Wolfe’s best-known novels. Spoilers, obviously, await.