The Fifth Head of Cerberus is the title of both a novella and a single-volume collection of three novellas, written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe, both published in 1972.
The title refers to the Cerberus of Greek mythology, the three-headed dog who guarded the gate to Hades, the Greek underworld, a statue of whom stands outside the home of the family in the novel. One of the characters mentions him (her) as having had ...
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The Fifth Head of Cerberus is the title of both a novella and a single-volume collection of three novellas, written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe, both published in 1972.
The title refers to the Cerberus of Greek mythology, the three-headed dog who guarded the gate to Hades, the Greek underworld, a statue of whom stands outside the home of the family in the novel. One of the characters mentions him (her) as having had four heads (three actual heads along with her maidenhead); this condition is similar to that of the narrator of the first novella, whose four principal family members are analogous to Cerberus' four heads, while he is the non-existent "fifth head" (and, also, he is known as Number 5).
The collection is an expansion of the first novella, originally published in the Orbit 10 anthology edited by Damon Knight in 1972 . The following novellas, "A Story" by John V. Marsch and V.R.T. expand on the plot and themes of the first.
These works are set on...
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