Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City(newyorker.com)
newyorker.com
Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/10/samuel-r-delany-profile
67 comments
I'd suggest starting with Conversations with Samuel R. Delany (2009):
> It may seem paradoxical from my statement that generally speaking I think sexual relations between children and adults are likely to go wrong and that most of them are likely to be, start off as, or quickly become, abusive, that I also support a group like NAMBLA—which I do. But that’s because I feel one of the largest factors in the abuse is fostered by the secrecy itself and lack of social policing of the relationships.
> It may seem paradoxical from my statement that generally speaking I think sexual relations between children and adults are likely to go wrong and that most of them are likely to be, start off as, or quickly become, abusive, that I also support a group like NAMBLA—which I do. But that’s because I feel one of the largest factors in the abuse is fostered by the secrecy itself and lack of social policing of the relationships.
Nova is simply incredible.
If you are looking for good books by Delany
Jewel Hinged Jaw is literary criticism and advice for writers https://www.amazon.com/Jewel-Hinged-Jaw-Language-Science-Fic...
His three most pure "science fiction" novels are Babel-17, Trouble on Triton (originally published as Triton), and Nova. They are all very imaginative but grounded in scientific extrapolation.
His Neveryona series of stories and books are set in a medieval frame but are really about modern life. I found them interesting and thought-provoking.
He wrote a short autobiographical piece about some time he spent in a commune called "Heavenly Breakfast" that I found insightful.
He has a number of very good shorts science fiction stories from the 60's and 70's that are very good as well. Two in particular I enjoyed:
"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones"
"We, in Some Strange Power’s Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line"
are collected in "Driftglass"
Jewel Hinged Jaw is literary criticism and advice for writers https://www.amazon.com/Jewel-Hinged-Jaw-Language-Science-Fic...
His three most pure "science fiction" novels are Babel-17, Trouble on Triton (originally published as Triton), and Nova. They are all very imaginative but grounded in scientific extrapolation.
His Neveryona series of stories and books are set in a medieval frame but are really about modern life. I found them interesting and thought-provoking.
He wrote a short autobiographical piece about some time he spent in a commune called "Heavenly Breakfast" that I found insightful.
He has a number of very good shorts science fiction stories from the 60's and 70's that are very good as well. Two in particular I enjoyed:
"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones"
"We, in Some Strange Power’s Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line"
are collected in "Driftglass"
I notice you skipped “Dhalgren”. Probably for the best.
I never recommend Dhalgren to anyone.
When you are ready for Dhalgren, it will find you.
When you are ready for Dhalgren, it will find you.
Totally.
I discovered it on a shelf labeled "The Unfuckwithables" in a little indie bookstore years ago, next to Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis and William Vollmann.
Since I loved the other three, I pretty much had to give it a shot. I still think about it regularly even though I can't really recall any particular storyline or plot. I've always thought it would make for a great procedurally generated game world for some reason.
Since I loved the other three, I pretty much had to give it a shot. I still think about it regularly even though I can't really recall any particular storyline or plot. I've always thought it would make for a great procedurally generated game world for some reason.
I tried one, maybe 20 years ago. I barely remembered it existed. I know I gave it a decent go, at least 100 pages, but it didn't stick. But I've had 20 more years to consume formulaic books, and then more that did quite a bit to subvert those overlapping genres in interest ways. Maybe I'll appreciate what might have been subtleties more nuanced than I had an eye for the first time around, and come at it with a more experienced set of eyes a second time. I'll go dig up something online to go through the beginning, and see if Dhalgren's found me now and buy a copy.
I have read many of his books, including Dhalgren, which is a complex and dense book that does not make for easy reading. I recommended the ones that were more "hard science fiction" that were full of interesting ideas. The protagonist in Triton is not really a hero but Delany's world building is very thought provoking.
I love Dhalgren so much. but also in non-fiction, _Times Square Red, Times Square Blue_, on public sex and sociality, is pretty amazing.
He has a few other memoirs too, that are really insightful looks into ways of living I would not ordinarily have a view on.
He has a few other memoirs too, that are really insightful looks into ways of living I would not ordinarily have a view on.
The Neveryon books and 'Times Square Red, Times Square Blue' are my favorite Delany.
My introduction to Delany was randomly stumbling on the first Neveryon book in the stacks of a university library, being intrigued by the (wholly untrue) intro about Linear B translations of ancient stories, and then getting completely sucked in by the storytelling. The world needs more pan-sexual barbarians, IMO.
The Neveryon story about the invention of writing and its complex set of unintended consequences was perhaps my favorite in the series. ("The Tale of Old Venn" in Tales of Neveryon.)
My introduction to Delany was randomly stumbling on the first Neveryon book in the stacks of a university library, being intrigued by the (wholly untrue) intro about Linear B translations of ancient stories, and then getting completely sucked in by the storytelling. The world needs more pan-sexual barbarians, IMO.
The Neveryon story about the invention of writing and its complex set of unintended consequences was perhaps my favorite in the series. ("The Tale of Old Venn" in Tales of Neveryon.)
I would say Dhalgren's not particularly difficult to read, or complex - the Kid's experience in Bellona is not comparable to Bloom's allusive and metaphore laden journey through Dublin in Ulysses. Bellona is just fucking weird.
Starting with Section 7 "the Plague Journal" on page 723 the single narrative splits into multiple streams on the same page, there are gaps in all of the streams, and finally on pages 831-32 there is this
"My life here more and more resembles a book whose opening chapters, whose title even, suggest mysteries to be resolved only at closing. But as one reads along, one becomes more and more suspicious that the author has lost the thread of his argument, or more upsetting, have so changed by the book's end that the answers to initial questions will have become trivial."
It continues in this multi-stream format until page 869 and then ends ten pages later on 879 with sentence fragment "Waiting here, away from the terrifying weaponry, out of the halls of vapor and light, beyond holland and into the hills I have come to" At which point you remember it began with a sentence fragment "to wound the autumnal city." and realize that the book has wrapped on itself and will not reach a conclusion.
I am used to academic texts with footnotes and some how-to books with sidebars that provide details and examples from the primary flow, but this becomes a scrapbook that juxtaposes incongruous blocks of text. Sometimes I could tease out the connection but not always.
If your argument is that Ulysses or Finnegan's Wake are more complex then I agree. But I found Dhalgren much harder to follow or understand than the French existentialist novels (e.g. "The Flanders Road", "The Marquise went out at 5" or "Jealousy") that were stream of consciousness but maintained a consistent perspective
"My life here more and more resembles a book whose opening chapters, whose title even, suggest mysteries to be resolved only at closing. But as one reads along, one becomes more and more suspicious that the author has lost the thread of his argument, or more upsetting, have so changed by the book's end that the answers to initial questions will have become trivial."
It continues in this multi-stream format until page 869 and then ends ten pages later on 879 with sentence fragment "Waiting here, away from the terrifying weaponry, out of the halls of vapor and light, beyond holland and into the hills I have come to" At which point you remember it began with a sentence fragment "to wound the autumnal city." and realize that the book has wrapped on itself and will not reach a conclusion.
I am used to academic texts with footnotes and some how-to books with sidebars that provide details and examples from the primary flow, but this becomes a scrapbook that juxtaposes incongruous blocks of text. Sometimes I could tease out the connection but not always.
If your argument is that Ulysses or Finnegan's Wake are more complex then I agree. But I found Dhalgren much harder to follow or understand than the French existentialist novels (e.g. "The Flanders Road", "The Marquise went out at 5" or "Jealousy") that were stream of consciousness but maintained a consistent perspective
> Sometimes I could tease out the connection but not always.
I think that was Delaney's intention. The narrative, and the city aren't really open to analysis. Bellona is a hazy, druggy, liminal space and its incoherence and narrative instability is part of what makes it so beautiful.
I think that was Delaney's intention. The narrative, and the city aren't really open to analysis. Bellona is a hazy, druggy, liminal space and its incoherence and narrative instability is part of what makes it so beautiful.
So it's not complex or particularly difficult to read, but it is opaque, incoherent, self-contradictory, and intentionally incomplete. We don't agree on everything but we have discovered some common ground.
I haven't read Dhalgren, but "It's not as difficult as Ulysses" isn't saying much.
This is an excellent article on a writer that more people need to know about.
Just know that if you support Delany you're supporting the sexual abuse of children.
“I read the NAMBLA [Bulletin] fairly regularly and I think it is one of the most intelligent discussions of sexuality I’ve ever found. I think before you start judging what NAMBLA is about, expose yourself to it and see what it is really about. What the issues they are really talking about, and deal with what’s really there rather than this demonized notion of guys running about trying to screw little boys. I would have been so much happier as an adolescent if NAMBLA had been around when I was 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.” — Samuel R. Delany, June 25, 1994.
Is "support" always transitive? To support someone is necessarily to support everything they support? What does "support" mean, anyway?
To read and enjoy a book by him necessarily means I'm "supporting" everything he has ever supported, including in the past?
Why would it work that way?
(This is not meant to say anything either way on whether Delany "supports the sexual abuse of children". I suppose that's another transitive property of support... if I 'support' Delany who 'supports' NAMBLA which 'supports'... )
To read and enjoy a book by him necessarily means I'm "supporting" everything he has ever supported, including in the past?
Why would it work that way?
(This is not meant to say anything either way on whether Delany "supports the sexual abuse of children". I suppose that's another transitive property of support... if I 'support' Delany who 'supports' NAMBLA which 'supports'... )
Take NAMBLA out of the equation and Delany is still a man who promotes that man/boy sexual relationships aren't intrinsically abusive and should not be criminalized. There's nothing transitive about that.
He has not changed that opinion, nor is he ever going to. And yes, if you support his work then I'm going to look at you funny, just like if you had a painting by a certain German politician on your wall - and that goes double when you try to dissemble what his beliefs actually are.
He has not changed that opinion, nor is he ever going to. And yes, if you support his work then I'm going to look at you funny, just like if you had a painting by a certain German politician on your wall - and that goes double when you try to dissemble what his beliefs actually are.
This is pretty funny. Rail against browser boss Brendan Eich on HN for his anti gay marriage donations - all good. Rail against LGBTQ writer Samuel Delany on HN for his child rape advocacy - not good. Separation of art and artist, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater, downvotes, etc.
I’m sad that I’m not more surprised than I am.
I hypothesize that the negative response of a surprising number of readers is due to tripping some kind of pro-LGBTQ+ support mental programming rather than their taking a principled stand in favor of advocating the rape of little boys. Nevertheless whether it’s a principled stand or a knee jerk reaction, anyone who experiences a negative emotional response to opposing child rape, same sex or otherwise, has a serious problem and should get help.
I hypothesize that the negative response of a surprising number of readers is due to tripping some kind of pro-LGBTQ+ support mental programming rather than their taking a principled stand in favor of advocating the rape of little boys. Nevertheless whether it’s a principled stand or a knee jerk reaction, anyone who experiences a negative emotional response to opposing child rape, same sex or otherwise, has a serious problem and should get help.
"if there's a [X] at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 [X]"
What does "support Delany" mean? Imo you need to separate the art from the artist, and thus one can enjoy the art without necessarily aligning with the artist' views.
This was a statement Samuel Delany had well over two decades ago. Additionally it's clear Samuel Delany was himself a victim of child sexual assault if you knew anything else about him.
A lot of authors are deeply problematic. That doesn't mean you can't like their work unless a) their problematic views are baked into their work or b) they profit off their work and use that profit as a platform for their horrible views. Neither is the case here.
Read Hogg. Or better yet don't. But yes his horrible views are baked into his work.
This is discussed in the article and while not a position I support, I think leaving out this detail does him a major disservice: "Yet he has refused to retract the comments—in part because of his own sexual experiences with men as an underage boy, which he refuses to characterize as abusive."
I find that overall hard to fully condemn the person for, vs to separate out those views from his work, as I've never seen anything about him personally acting that way himself with any boys. (Though you say there's more to be found,so... what is it?) I'm no doctor, but the "standard" media-presented look at a situation like that would probably be something like manifestations of trauma from those encounters at young ages combined with the other traumas of growing up gay in America at the time, which I largely file in the "bad but understandable and not actively harming others" bucket.
I find that overall hard to fully condemn the person for, vs to separate out those views from his work, as I've never seen anything about him personally acting that way himself with any boys. (Though you say there's more to be found,so... what is it?) I'm no doctor, but the "standard" media-presented look at a situation like that would probably be something like manifestations of trauma from those encounters at young ages combined with the other traumas of growing up gay in America at the time, which I largely file in the "bad but understandable and not actively harming others" bucket.
I had never heard of NAMBLA before. The wikipedia page is fascinating:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_As...
Allen Ginsberg was a member as well.
Reading this article, it makes me recall all the pop songs from the 80s which had lyrics like "...she's only seventeen!" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_(Winger_song)). I don't think Winger was a member of NAMBLA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Man/Boy_Love_As...
Allen Ginsberg was a member as well.
Reading this article, it makes me recall all the pop songs from the 80s which had lyrics like "...she's only seventeen!" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_(Winger_song)). I don't think Winger was a member of NAMBLA.
Equating someone that recommends some magazine, that then publishes a story about sex, to child sex abuse, is a bit of a stretch. Since you browsed HN, which had a link to an interview, with someone that read an article once about sex, does that make you a child sex abuser?
A lot of sci-fi authors have 'weird sex' stories. Not only was it the sixties, they are sci-fi authors in the sixties, writing about alien sex and all kinds of out of the box thinking.
I could just as easily say, don't vote Republican, they have a large percentage of sex abusers in office. Or, don't be Catholic.
A lot of sci-fi authors have 'weird sex' stories. Not only was it the sixties, they are sci-fi authors in the sixties, writing about alien sex and all kinds of out of the box thinking.
I could just as easily say, don't vote Republican, they have a large percentage of sex abusers in office. Or, don't be Catholic.
What's your problem with homosexuals? From what Ive read from your older posts like this
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33635565
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33635565
The funny part is that it isn't homosexuality being public that's at fault for men being afraid to show platonic affection just because they might therefore be mistaken for being gay, it's the fault of there being a stigma against being gay, otherwise why would anyone care about being mistaken for being gay? It's such a disingenuous argument to blame gay people being accepted in society for men being afraid to do things that might make them look gay and not homophobia. It's basically the definition of victim blaming.
Interesting point, but I think it's not quite right. It's the fault of men thinking there's still a stigma against being gay. (Or perhaps feeling that there is.)
Agreed. By far the most influential writer in my life.
What would you recommend as a first read?
"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones." Short story, bootleg scan available online; I have no qualms telling people to start with that since they'll want to buy the rest of the collection soon enough. It's my favorite of his stories in a lot of ways. The characters are fun, every word (or at least every sentence) is essential to building the world, it has a very strong sense of place that's so common in his work.
Dhalgren is his masterpiece really, but it's not what you would describe as typical science fiction.
I would /not/ suggest starting with Dhalgren. You will enjoy it more if you learn how to read Delany from his other works. Work through his super-accessible shorts, then Stars in my Pocket for an intro to theme and style, then Triton for an intro to disagreeable protagonists in his work. Then back to Babel-17 / Nova for use of language, and then -- if you enjoyed all of those -- on to Dhalgren for the first attempt.
Absolutely Nova IMO, its amazing
BABEL-17
Can you elaborate on this?
I remember the first time someone said a “joke” to me that was similar to Isaac Asimov’s.
I remember the second, third, fourth, and fifth times too.
On to the sixth!
I remember the second, third, fourth, and fifth times too.
On to the sixth!
I recently listened to the Stuff You Should Know episode on Afrofuturism, and the mentioned Samuel R Delany as revolutionizing sci-fi. Sounds like I need to add him to my reading list. Great episode: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-269...
I've only read Dhalgren, which I have extremely mixed feelings on.
The hazy liminal atmosphere and writing was impressive and moving. The people were generally shallow or neutral, but the main character was very difficult to appreciate and was borderline repulsive (not the sex, but the person and sometimes the vivid descriptions of his putrescence).
I was interrupted about 50 pages from the end (of like 800 total), and never bothered to finish it.
...
Any recommendations on another book from Delany?
The hazy liminal atmosphere and writing was impressive and moving. The people were generally shallow or neutral, but the main character was very difficult to appreciate and was borderline repulsive (not the sex, but the person and sometimes the vivid descriptions of his putrescence).
I was interrupted about 50 pages from the end (of like 800 total), and never bothered to finish it.
...
Any recommendations on another book from Delany?
Dhalgren is a very difficult and very long read. It might benefit from a hypertext or ebook form because it is so self referential and the main character is such an unreliable narrator, sometimes I would read one section, then have to refer back to make sure I was at the right place in the book because this happened before or this text was already used somewhere else or some other character said something different about the same experience. The sex scenes were very repetitive after about the quarter mark to me, but those seem to reflect a lot of his personal experience.
I thought Babel-17 was more approachable, shorter and smaller in scope.
I thought Babel-17 was more approachable, shorter and smaller in scope.
"Triton" (but this has another somewhat repulsive protagonist) and "Stars in my pocket like grains of sand"
I've said this elsewhere in the thread, but I really deeply enjoyed Nova. It's got a really unique, special feel to it I can't explain.
His 1988 memoir THE MOTION OF LIGHT IN WATER is pretty great; it's mostly about his experiences being young, gay, and black in the late 1950s/early 1960s.
The existence of this piece had me worried that he'd passed away. It's always nice when people get to be appreciated before they die.
Since I haven’t seen it recommended yet, his essay collection “About Writing” was an interesting read.
My ten year old son loves sci-fi. And, it sounds like many of Delany's stories deal with adult-ish subject matter (of a sexual nature). I know he has a complicated history as a gay man in America, and I'm interested in knowing if there are good stories for young adults? My son can handle complicated things, but as his dad I want to be cautious as well.
I read Dhalgren at 14 and I would definitely not recommend that. I'd avoid the Nevèrÿon books as well, while they are among my favourites, their themes are very adult.
Babel-17 and Nova are probably both good places for him to start. They are both pretty interesting stories.
Babel-17 and Nova are probably both good places for him to start. They are both pretty interesting stories.
The short stories in Driftglass were pretty good, and relatively tame. Read them at 13 or 14.
The sex in Tales of Neveryon is basically off-screen, with heavy allusions.
The sex in Tales of Neveryon is basically off-screen, with heavy allusions.
It would be a bit like recommending he read Finnegan’s Wake. I don’t think he’d get very much out of it without a lot of context and he is unlikely to find it an enjoyable experience. I think Delany can fairly be described as an acquired taste.
I’d strongly recommend you look into Lois McMaster Bujold’s work. Her books have some complex themes and he’s likely to enjoy them a lot more.
I’d strongly recommend you look into Lois McMaster Bujold’s work. Her books have some complex themes and he’s likely to enjoy them a lot more.
Have you considered sending him some of Nnedi Okorafors Binti series? You might also think Iron Widow by xiran jay zhao (giant mechs vs aliens), anything by marie lu, aurora rising by amie kaufman & jay kristoff, invictus by ryan graudin
Nova
I love all of Delany's earlier SF writing, but felt that after getting praise and recognition for it, he decided he should be a more "serious" writer and started writing things like Dhalgren, which to me was basically unreadable and more about calling attention to the writing than telling a story.
I'm in the minority here I think. I thought Dhalgren was vivid and although some parts were difficult, especially around the bits where the story splits down the middle of pages, the challenge was rewarding. Those bits I ascribed to The Kid's somewhat tenuous mental state. Dhalgren is the only Delany work I can specifically recall scenes from some twenty+ years after reading it.
Very strange to see this now. I'm reading through Dhalgren currently. Bought it in a second-hand bookshop 15 years ago and never started reading it, and just 3 weeks ago picked it up from my shelf on a whim. Been reading it during my commutes to/from work.
A few random thoughts.
Wow, I didn't know Nova is about to be an Amazon series scripted by Gaiman. That's very impressive. I listened to it as an audiobook 8 years ago and really liked it. I hope they wouldn't ruin it completely, but I feel the novel has enough good parts that even a maimed and partial interpretation would be good.
I'm not yet finished with Dhalgren, but I'm very near the end. Reading the last part has been a slog. I'm very impressed with the language and the descriptions and the philosophy and the self-referential nature of the book, and the Delany keeps me reading even when the plot is quite thin and nothing really interesting happens. But on the whole the actual reading experience is boring, especially towards the end.
It kind of reminds me of someone who has just veered/discovered a lifestyle which they previously thought was extreme (and/or outside societal norms, or rather the societal norms they were raised with), was shocked, culturally and personally, and wants to share his shock with the rest of the world, maybe as a sort of a coping mechanism. Like some born-again religious tend to be very extreme and devout and proselytize religion. So does Delany, or at least his authorial voice, tend to go on and on about gay sex, homoeroticism, sexual fantasies and deviancies, abnormal behavior, etc. Also, self-referential plots, unreliable narrators. This gets tiring after a while.
Dhalgren's language has a strange effect on my mind. After a session of reading parts of it, my brain stays for a while in this strange inner loop where everything I see is described in the same floral, poetic language as the book, where little details in the world around me are important. It goes away after I talk for a while with people or answer emails, as if my mind is reset back to "normal" discourse.
I read Triton back when I was 20. I feel it had a huge influence on me, but I can't point out exactly how. Like if I'd never read it, would my life be different somehow? I don't know. I did pick my username in my very first post to an online message board, back in the mid-90's, from Triton. So there's that.
I think it's a shame that Delany hasn't written more science fiction, or fantasy, although after reading this article I understand why.
I personally find some of his views and writing to be repulsive. It should be fairly obvious which ones. I would never read Hogg or anything in that vain. Although personally I didn't find Dhalgren repulsive fwiw. I think. I'm still glad his works were written and are available. I think that as a society we need them, even if they are repulsive for me personally. And him, of course.
"Black Harlem speech and white Park Avenue speech are very different things" – from the article. Yes, that's very present in Dhalgren. The language veers between highly literate, erudite English, and street-level language. And even inside those two there are different variations of regional accents, cultural accents...
This is something that also speaks to me, personally. When I was growing up, I read a lot, and had a stutter. One of the reasons for it (in addition to some social anxiety) was the cognitive dissonance between my friends' and family spoken language, and the vocabulary and idioms of the written word. At times about every second sentence I wanted to utter would be censored immediately by a part of my brain, as being inappropriate and too literary for the person I was talking to.
Later in life, I met enough people from different walks of life, listened to them, and I was able to imitate them and their speech enough to be able to move back and forth rather effortlessly between different styles of speech.
Strangely enough, I see a similar pattern in my younger son. He has just started reading a lot of books, after some years of refusing to read much, and his spoken language has suddenly ballooned, has become a lot more erudite and refined. He doesn't seem to have the same problem as me though, he is still able to use the same language level near his friends. None of them read much, if at all.
A few random thoughts.
Wow, I didn't know Nova is about to be an Amazon series scripted by Gaiman. That's very impressive. I listened to it as an audiobook 8 years ago and really liked it. I hope they wouldn't ruin it completely, but I feel the novel has enough good parts that even a maimed and partial interpretation would be good.
I'm not yet finished with Dhalgren, but I'm very near the end. Reading the last part has been a slog. I'm very impressed with the language and the descriptions and the philosophy and the self-referential nature of the book, and the Delany keeps me reading even when the plot is quite thin and nothing really interesting happens. But on the whole the actual reading experience is boring, especially towards the end.
It kind of reminds me of someone who has just veered/discovered a lifestyle which they previously thought was extreme (and/or outside societal norms, or rather the societal norms they were raised with), was shocked, culturally and personally, and wants to share his shock with the rest of the world, maybe as a sort of a coping mechanism. Like some born-again religious tend to be very extreme and devout and proselytize religion. So does Delany, or at least his authorial voice, tend to go on and on about gay sex, homoeroticism, sexual fantasies and deviancies, abnormal behavior, etc. Also, self-referential plots, unreliable narrators. This gets tiring after a while.
Dhalgren's language has a strange effect on my mind. After a session of reading parts of it, my brain stays for a while in this strange inner loop where everything I see is described in the same floral, poetic language as the book, where little details in the world around me are important. It goes away after I talk for a while with people or answer emails, as if my mind is reset back to "normal" discourse.
I read Triton back when I was 20. I feel it had a huge influence on me, but I can't point out exactly how. Like if I'd never read it, would my life be different somehow? I don't know. I did pick my username in my very first post to an online message board, back in the mid-90's, from Triton. So there's that.
I think it's a shame that Delany hasn't written more science fiction, or fantasy, although after reading this article I understand why.
I personally find some of his views and writing to be repulsive. It should be fairly obvious which ones. I would never read Hogg or anything in that vain. Although personally I didn't find Dhalgren repulsive fwiw. I think. I'm still glad his works were written and are available. I think that as a society we need them, even if they are repulsive for me personally. And him, of course.
"Black Harlem speech and white Park Avenue speech are very different things" – from the article. Yes, that's very present in Dhalgren. The language veers between highly literate, erudite English, and street-level language. And even inside those two there are different variations of regional accents, cultural accents...
This is something that also speaks to me, personally. When I was growing up, I read a lot, and had a stutter. One of the reasons for it (in addition to some social anxiety) was the cognitive dissonance between my friends' and family spoken language, and the vocabulary and idioms of the written word. At times about every second sentence I wanted to utter would be censored immediately by a part of my brain, as being inappropriate and too literary for the person I was talking to.
Later in life, I met enough people from different walks of life, listened to them, and I was able to imitate them and their speech enough to be able to move back and forth rather effortlessly between different styles of speech.
Strangely enough, I see a similar pattern in my younger son. He has just started reading a lot of books, after some years of refusing to read much, and his spoken language has suddenly ballooned, has become a lot more erudite and refined. He doesn't seem to have the same problem as me though, he is still able to use the same language level near his friends. None of them read much, if at all.
This is depressing:
The only complication involved a pension that Delany thought he’d earned from the university; it didn’t exist.
Makes me wonder about his other business relationships and if there was a mismatch between what he expected vs. what was delivered. The fine print of employment and publishing contracts is often very restrictive and/or requires additional steps to unlock certain rights or benefits.
For anyone who hasn't read Delany, Nova is a solid starting point. Forget the "space opera" label, it's just a great story with interesting characters and vision of humanity's far future.