Surely the point about The Wizard Knight is that it's a book in which everything's changed except human nature. It's about what-is-good-conduct in a context which is so radically changed (or stripped down to essentials) that it exposes what Wolfe wants to talk about (the absolute nature of virtue, and the difficulty in achieving it).
That, I guess, would be Wolfe's answer. As much as I admire his short fiction, I don't feel he's done much major work in that field since about 1980. (I think the SF Encyclopedia says something like, "Lately, Wolfe has tended at shorter lengths to restrict himself to oneiric jeux d'esprit" - which sounds an accurate but slightly more Clutean way to put things.)
I find Wolfe a very easy writer to admire, but a difficult one to love. And (pace David Hartwell), I think he's got significantly less interesting since the mid-80s.
no subject
That, I guess, would be Wolfe's answer. As much as I admire his short fiction, I don't feel he's done much major work in that field since about 1980. (I think the SF Encyclopedia says something like, "Lately, Wolfe has tended at shorter lengths to restrict himself to oneiric jeux d'esprit" - which sounds an accurate but slightly more Clutean way to put things.)
I find Wolfe a very easy writer to admire, but a difficult one to love. And (pace David Hartwell), I think he's got significantly less interesting since the mid-80s.