Gene Wolfe Quote
It has been remarked thousands of times that Christ died under torture. Many of us have read so often that he was a humble carpenter that we feel a little surge of nausea on seeing the words yet again. But no one ever seems to notice that the instruments of torture were wood, nails, and a hammer; that the man who built the cross was undoubtedly a carpenter too; that the man who hammered in the nails was as much a carpenter as a soldier, as much a carpenter as a torturer. Very few seem even to have noticed that although Christ was a humble carpenter, the only object we are specifically told he made was not a table or a chair, but a whip.
Gene Wolfe
It has been remarked thousands of times that Christ died under torture. Many of us have read so often that he was a humble carpenter that we feel a little surge of nausea on seeing the words yet again. But no one ever seems to notice that the instruments of torture were wood, nails, and a hammer; that the man who built the cross was undoubtedly a carpenter too; that the man who hammered in the nails was as much a carpenter as a soldier, as much a carpenter as a torturer. Very few seem even to have noticed that although Christ was a humble carpenter, the only object we are specifically told he made was not a table or a chair, but a whip.
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About Gene Wolfe
Wolfe is best known for his Book of the New Sun series (four volumes, 1980–1983), the first part of his "Solar Cycle". In 1998, Locus magazine ranked it the third-best fantasy novel published before 1990 based on a poll of subscribers that considered it and several other series as single entries.