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94-401: The city of Bellona is severely damaged; radio, television, and telephone signals do not reach it. People enter and leave by crossing a bridge on foot. Inexplicable events punctuate the novel: One night the perpetual cloud cover parts to reveal two moons in the sky. One day a red sun swollen to hundreds of times its normal size rises to terrify the populace, then retreats across the sky to set on

188-536: A "last stand for cultural autonomy". However, the secession failed, and Vegan art and architecture has been absorbed by the wider culture in what he calls a "parlor game". Nova has a number of motifs in common with Delany's later works; for example, the Mouse, a damaged artist who wears one shoe as does the Kid in the later Dhalgren , is a "classic Delany protagonist" in the mold of Jean Genet and François Villon and

282-452: A burning canyon and dies. The third chapter is a flashback to Lorq's youth, beginning with his boyhood on the planet Ark, when he meets Prince Red and his sister Ruby. Prince was born without an arm and has an artificial one. As they play, Lorq mentions Prince's arm, angering him. Later, they sneak out to an arena and see Lorq's parents and the Reds' father watching animals fight. Lorq becomes

376-555: A company making interstellar drives. Starship travel depends on Illyrion, a rare and valuable power source. The story begins on Triton . A blind man named Dan tells a young drifter called the Mouse how he flew on Lorq Von Ray's starship, the Roc , and how he was injured in a dangerous voyage. A flashback to the Mouse's childhood follows, explaining how he stole a sensory syrynx (a machine capable of producing sound, images, and scents) and learned to play it from his friend Leo. Lorq recruits

470-415: A deep breath – Ted Sturgeon , Ray Bradbury , nor anyone else we could have put forward as being a poet" before 1960 and "urgently recommended" the novel". In February 1968 he named the book the best novel of 1967. This article about a 1960s science fiction novel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on

564-403: A direct connection to Escher's "Möbius Strip". Within the looping text that comprises Dhalgren , many other textual plays on perception can be found. Imagery and conversations, some hundreds of pages apart, closely echo each other. One case in point: The scenes on the bridge mentioned in the "Plot Summary" above. In another, light sliding across the face of a trucker driving at night is echoed in

658-400: A forest somewhere outside the city, the protagonist meets a woman and they have sex. After, he tells her that he has "lost something"—he cannot remember his name. She leads him to a cave and tells him to enter. Inside, he finds long loops of chain fitted with miniature prisms, mirrors, and lenses. He dons the chain and leaves the cave, only to find the woman in the middle of a field, turning into

752-611: A future where cyborg technology is universal, yet making major decisions can involve using tarot cards. It has strong mythological overtones, relating to both the Grail Quest and Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece . Nova was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1969. In 1984, David Pringle listed it as one of the 100 best science-fiction novels written since 1949. After Delany completed Nova at

846-459: A group of entertainers performs a song by The Mamas & the Papas . Katin makes an offhand remark indicating that Monopoly is still in existence, and mentions Bertrand Russell and Susanne Langer as renaissance figures . The novel refers repeatedly to a historic Vega Republic, which tried to secede from Draco in 2800. Katin states that they tried to create original art, and calls them

940-470: A group of women leaving the city. They ask him questions about the outside world and give him a weapon: a bladed "orchid," worn around the wrist with its blades sweeping up in front of the hand. Once inside Bellona, an engineer, Tak Loufer, who was living a few miles outside of the city when the initial destruction happened, meets and befriends him. Tak has moved to Bellona and stayed there ever since. Upon learning that he cannot remember his name, Tak gives him

1034-631: A limited hardback edition including tarot cards designed by Russell FitzGerald, who created the original cover art. In the original novel, Lorq's crew member Brian disappears without explanation after a single chapter. In later editions, Prince sends Lorq a message while he is visiting the Alkane museum, describing how, with no more provocation than a careless comment Brian made about Prince's arm, he used his wealth and power to systematically destroy Brian's life until he became homeless and died of exposure. Prince claims that he has killed some two dozen others in

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1128-615: A million copies. A hardcover edition was published by Gregg Press (1977), based on the Bantam paperback edition with many errors corrected, and with an introduction by Jean Mark Gawron. After the Bantam edition went out of print the book was republished by Grafton (1992); Wesleyan University Press/University Press of New England (1996); and Vintage Books, an imprint of Random House (2001), the latter two with an introduction by William Gibson . In 2010 Gollancz brought out an edition as part of its SF Masterworks series, and in 2014 an ebook edition of

1222-446: A million sales, Dhalgren is by far Delany's most popular book—and also his most controversial. Critical reaction to Dhalgren has ranged from high praise (both inside and outside the science fiction community) to extreme dislike (mostly within the community). However, Dhalgren was a commercial success, selling a half million copies in the first two years, and over a million copies worldwide since then, with "its appeal reaching beyond

1316-473: A near paragraph-for-paragraph echo of his initial confrontation with the women on the bridge. This time, however, the group leaving is almost all male, and the person entering is a young woman who says almost exactly what Kid did himself at the beginning of his stay in Bellona. The story ends: But I still hear them walking in the trees: not speaking. Waiting here, away from the terrifying weaponry, out of

1410-418: A nickname—the Kid. Throughout the novel he is also referred to as "Kid", "Kidd", and often just "kid." Next Tak takes Kid on a short tour of the city. One stop is at a commune in the city park, where Kid sees two women reading a spiral notebook. When Kid looks at it, we see what he reads: The first page contains, word-for-word, the first sentences of Dhalgren . As he reads further, however, the text diverges from

1504-457: A nova—and the Mouse pockets it, thus making it impossible for Tyÿ's reading to include this card. Smaller tarot readings dot the rest of the novel. As a young child, Lorq receives a reading indicating a death in his family: within a month, his Uncle Morgan is assassinated. Likewise, Lorq's Aunt Cyana (Morgan's widow) has Lorq choose a single tarot card for insight: it is The Hanged Man, reversed, indicating that Lorq will succeed in his quest, but at

1598-461: A party for Kid and his book, Brass Orchids , at his sprawling estate. At Calkins's suggestion, Kid brings along twenty or thirty friends: the Scorpion "nest." While Calkins himself is absent from the gathering, there are extended descriptions of the interactions between what is left of Bellona's high society and, in effect, a street gang. At the party, Kid is interviewed by William (later passages of

1692-476: A poisoned tooth, recalling Frank Herbert 's Dune . Prince's ability to squeeze sand into glass and quartz fragments strongly parallels the power of many action heroes (most notably Superman ), and the idea of aristocratic families feuding in space is found in numerous other space opera novels. The character of Katin is partially written to resemble the classic "bore" in science fiction literature—a character who constantly gives lectures and explanations to describe

1786-525: A precursor to the Kid in Dhalgren . Other motifs include Katin, an intellectual and writer who attempts to record the events around him; the twins Lynceos and Idas, one black, the other albino; and Dan, a barefoot derelict, with a rope holding up his pants. The novel has also been compared to sea stories, with Dan recalling the blind pirate Pew in Treasure Island and Lorq Von Ray the captain of

1880-511: A similar manner for similar reasons. This passage significantly alters Prince's characterization . In the first edition, the worst that could be said of Prince is that he had been "spoiled" and had a violent temper. The new material turns him into a remorseless murderer and adds a moral component to Lorq's quest absent in the earlier versions. The Einstein Intersection The Einstein Intersection

1974-412: A solar system and creates new elements. While awaiting publication by Doubleday, Nova was submitted to Analog editor John W. Campbell for potential serialization. Campbell rejected the novel, saying in a telephone conversation with Delany's agent that, though he had enjoyed the book, he did not feel his magazine's readership "would be able to relate to a black main character." Because there

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2068-496: A starship racing pilot; his crew comprises Brian and Dan. He meets Prince again at a party, where Brian mentions Prince's arm. Lorq asks Ruby to run away with him, but Prince finds them and punches Lorq, scarring his face. Lorq's father describes how his great-grandfather secured the Pleiades Federation's independence by piracy and attacking Red-shift's mines, leading to a feud between the families. He also explains that

2162-446: A tarot reading about the mission; however, the Mouse has stolen a card. The Roc arrives at the planet Vorbis, and Lorq visits his aunt Cyana, who tells him a star likely to explode soon. Prince sends Lorq a message bragging that he destroyed Brian's life because he mentioned his arm, and that he intends to kill Lorq. Meanwhile, the Mouse visits some hunters and reunites with Leo. Ruby attacks Lorq, but one of Sebastian's pets saves him and

2256-405: A tarot reading mentioning a death in his family, about a month before his uncle, Secretary Morgan, was assassinated. Later, Cyana makes Lorq draw a card before she gives him the nova's location. Politically, the galaxy is divided between three factions: Draco, based on Earth, and the earliest area to be colonized; the younger Pleiades Federation; and the even newer Outer Colonies, where Illyrion

2350-409: A tree. Panicked, he flees. Many characters in the novel wear the same sort of "optic chain" (all will be uncomfortable discussing how they came to have it). On a nearby road, a passing truck stops to pick him up. The trucker, hauling artichokes, drops him off at the end of a suspension bridge leading across the river to Bellona. As he crosses the bridge in the early morning darkness, the young man meets

2444-458: A very high price. The tarot used in Nova is a modified Rider–Waite deck. Lorq is most closely concerned with tarot; he is unwilling or unable to begin his quest without Tyÿ's reading, suggesting that the cards can satisfy human needs that technology is unable to assuage. However, the Mouse also benefits from its use, as it helps him remember his mother using them to help her people. At the end of

2538-466: A weapon and a slang term for a guitar, fitting both the functions it performs in the novel. Furthermore, it symbolizes writing and invokes the Cretan labrys , implying the labyrinth. This allusive style has been described as a way to overcome the linearity of prose and enrich the text by invoking the textus , or web of meanings, in which Delany considers any given text to reside. Another example of this

2632-504: Is Nova itself. Another image of the work of art in Nova is the distinction between Katin and Lorq Von Ray at the end of the novel, after they have both experienced the nova. Lorq looks into the heart of the nova and his senses are overloaded; however Katin, who looked at it after the Roc left the core, is inspired to create art by organizing his experiences through controlled aesthetic techniques. Delany has consistently created black characters to populate his science fiction, and race

2726-622: Is "the Kid" (sometimes "Kidd"), a drifter who has partial amnesia: he can't remember either his own name or those of his parents, though he knows his mother was an American Indian. He wears only one sandal, shoe, or boot, as do characters in two other Delany novels and one short story: Mouse in Nova (1968), Hogg in Hogg (1995), and Roger in "We, in Some Strange Power's Employ Move on a Rigorous Line" (1967). Possibly he has schizophrenia :

2820-442: Is Brian Anthony Sanders. Moreover, according to the Mouse, Earth still has problems with racism; he recalls seeing Gypsies lynched when he was younger. The crew of the Roc are mixed in both 20th century terms—Lorq, Idas, and Lynceos are of African descent; Sebastian is a blond Asian (referred to in the text as "Oriental"); the Mouse is Romani—and in their own milieu, in terms of origin and economic class. Idas and Lynceos hail from

2914-416: Is a 1967 science fiction novel by Samuel R. Delany . The title is a reference to Einstein's Theory of Relativity connecting to Kurt Gödel 's Constructible universe , which is an analogy to science meeting philosophy. The original publisher, Ace Books , changed Delany's originally intended title from A Fabulous, Formless Darkness for commercial reasons. The protagonist, Lo Lobey, is loosely based on

Dhalgren - Misplaced Pages Continue

3008-473: Is a circular text with multiple entry points. Those points include the schizoid babble that appears in various sections of the story. Hints along those lines are given in the novel. Besides the Chapter VII rubric mentioned above (containing the sentence "I have come to to wound the autumnal city"—the exact sentence that would be created by joining the novel's unclosed closing sentence to the unopened opening)

3102-489: Is a literary exposition of all these experiences for the "normal" reader. Dhalgren is often compared to James Joyce's Ulysses . Delany has cited poets W. H. Auden , Rainer Maria Rilke , and Paul Valéry as influences on the book, as well as John Ashbery 's poem "The Instruction Manual". Elsewhere he cites Michel Foucault , Frank Kermode , and Jack Spicer . Kenneth R. James has elaborated subtextual ties to mathematician G. Spencer-Brown 's Laws of Form . With over

3196-684: Is a pivotal period in Nova ' s future history. Cyana, a curator at the Alkane Museum, claims that almost a quarter of its galleries are devoted to the period. She justifies this by saying that the it encompasses the greatest change in humanity's fundamental situation: "At the beginning of that amazing century, mankind was many societies living on one world; at its end, it was basically what we are now: an informatively unified society that lived on several worlds." Characters make frequent references to 20th century culture. At Prince's party in Paris,

3290-399: Is a powerful energy source; a few grams provide enough energy for a starship. Katin estimates that 8-9,000 kg has been mined. Almost all the characters in the book are cyborgs, equipped with four sockets (in the small of the back, back of the neck, and both wrists) that allow the user to connect directly to a computer. These can be used to control starships or less complicated machines; in

3384-417: Is a widespread phenomenon." Almost certainly this is also the case with Dhalgren : Writing about the novel both as himself and under his pseudonym K. Leslie Steiner, Delany has made similar statements and suggested that it is easy to make too much of the mythological resonances. As he says, they are merely resonances, and not keys to any particular secrets the novel holds. Delany has pointed out that Dhalgren

3478-623: Is both obvious and essential to Nova . The main character, Lorq, is mixed-race; his father is of Norwegian descent, and his Earth-born mother is Senegalese . This prevented the novel from being serialised in Analog before publication. The Mouse is Romani (referred to in the text as a "gypsy"); his real name is Pontichos Provechi. The residents of the Pleiades Federation (and the Outer Colonies) overall are an extremely mixed racial population. In addition to appearances, characters from

3572-411: Is considered to be impossible. The novel is an obsolete art form and has been replaced by the "psychorama". However, in contrast to the technological background, reading the tarot is considered both scientific and accurate. Indeed, the Mouse is ridiculed as old-fashioned for his skepticism about it. In chapter four, Tyÿ gives Lorq the most detailed tarot reading in the novel. As a child, he also had

3666-498: Is illuminated by Katin's remark that novels were primarily about relationships, and the obsolescence of the form implies that people in Nova ' s milieu are generally solitary and lonely. However, art can make people consider these relationships, such as when the Mouse experiences Leo's playing and thinks of his parents, analyzing the difference in his relationships with them. Katin, the aspiring novelist, frequently records notes about what his novel should be like. The definition of

3760-516: Is mined rather than manufactured. In chapter three, Lorq's father explains these regions in terms of social class. Draco is primarily controlled by corporations and governments based on Earth. Pleiades was settled later by "small businesses... cooperative groups; even private citizens...a comparatively middle class movement". Lorq's great-great-grandfather attacked ships from Draco, including those owned by Red-shift, attempting to expand into Pleiades, helping assure its independence. A few generations before

3854-420: Is the notebook itself: Kidd receives the notebook shortly after entering Bellona. In the first several chapters of the novel we see, on several occasions, exactly what Kid reads when he looks at the open notebook. The notebook appears to take over as the main text of the novel starting at Chapter VII, coming almost seamlessly after Chapter VI. However, though Chapter VII reads as though it is written by Kid, many of

Dhalgren - Misplaced Pages Continue

3948-477: Is the word nova itself; literally, it denotes a supernova, but it is also the plural of novum , Latin for "new thing", a term that can be used to mean science fictional inventions. Lorq describes the nova is a place where all law, human and natural, breaks down, to which the Mouse replies that the voyage will be "real changey". As the title indicates, this is the novel's central metaphor: the destructive implosion/explosion of an entire sun, which both destroys most of

4042-623: The Flying Dutchman , and described as suggesting "Moby Dick at a strobe-light show". The name of Lorq's previous ship, the Caliban , is an reference to the character Caliban in William Shakespeare 's play The Tempest . Nova also refers to other space operas. A planet is named " Trantor ", after Isaac Asimov 's Foundation trilogy, and the name Ashton Clark alludes to the writer Clark Ashton Smith . Ruby Red has

4136-493: The Roc returns to Pleiades. The crew try to relax, but Prince and Ruby arrive. They argue with Lorq; Prince states that Lorq's quest will ruin both Draco and the Outer Colonies. Lorq replies that he is fighting for change, and Prince for stasis. Prince then reveals why he hates Lorq: their visit to the arena on Ark showed him how vicious and cruel his father could be. Sebastian and Lorq attack Prince and Ruby; Lorq uses

4230-570: The American "mythical folk hero," Billy the Kid, whom Delany used in his earlier, Nebula Award-winning novel, The Einstein Intersection [1967].) Denny, a 15-year-old Scorpion, becomes Kid's and Lanya's lover, so that the relationship with Lanya turns into a lasting three-way sexual linkage. Kid also begins writing things other than poems in the notebook, keeping a journal of events and his thoughts. In Chapter VI, "Palimpsest", Calkins throws

4324-404: The Mouse and other passers-by for a journey on the Roc . One is Katin, an intellectual who aspires to write a novel. Others are the brothers Lynceos and Idas, whose third brother is an indentured Illyrion miner; Sebastian, owner of flying pets; and his companion Tyÿ, a tarot reader. Lorq plans to fly through a nova to acquire seven tons of Illyrion. As the crew members leave Triton, Dan falls into

4418-531: The Mouse leave the Roc and Katin declares that his novel should be about the Roc ' s last voyage. Echoing Katin's observation that stories about the quest for the Holy Grail are never finished, the last sentence of the novel is incomplete. Nova is set in a science fictional universe with high technology, including interstellar travel and large-scale use of cyborg adaptions. Most people use intravenous drips for nutrition rather than eating, and disease

4512-406: The Outer Colonies, Katin and the Mouse from Draco, and Tyÿ, Sebastian, and Lorq from Pleiades. Lorq, at the center of the novel, is attracted to Ruby, angering Prince and reigniting their feud, even if his blackness is secondary to his identity as a Von Ray. Although race is different in the world of Nova , it still matters. However, Lorq is able to struggle against the Reds as equals and in the end,

4606-600: The Pleiades sometimes have names that indicate a mixed racial heritage. For example, Lorq's friend Yorgos Satsumi has a clearly Japanese last name, but a first name that is decidedly Greek. This is in sharp contrast to the Earth-centered Draco society, and the Red family are consistently referred to as Caucasian . Individuals from Earth also tend to have extremely " WASPish " names. For example, Brian's full name

4700-520: The age of 25, his published output stopped for several years, although his writing continued. His next published novel was the pornographic Equinox in 1973. The novel is set in 3172, when most humans belong to one of two factions: Earth-based Draco and the Pleiades Federation. The most important family in Pleiades is the Von Rays, and the most important in Draco is the Reds, who own Red-shift Limited,

4794-419: The alienations of capitalism and providing an alternative to it, while affirming the worker rather than the product. Although Delany sees technology as both a constructive and destructive force, he also sees it as having limits; it is not the sole determiner of a culture or a personality. Cooperation, or community, is needed for Lorq's success, as the whole diverse crew must work together to succeed. And despite

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4888-467: The beginning of the book thanks Helen Adam and Russell FitzGerald for their help with Grail and tarot research. Reviewers and academics have compared it to the story of Prometheus and the Holy Grail. However, the correspondences are not directly one-to-one but far more tangled; the characters are not heroes and villains in disguise but used to give resonance to the text. Jo Walton has suggested that

4982-562: The beginning of the second mission, in which she rather successfully predicts the stakes and outcome. For example, The Tower appears, indicating that a powerful family (presumably the Reds or Von Rays) will fall, and the large number of pentacles indicates wealth. Prince and Ruby are represented by the King of Swords and the Queen of Swords, respectively. An anomaly in the reading, however, occurs when Tyÿ drops The Sun—which Lorq considered to represent

5076-459: The book suggest William's last name is "Dhalgren," but this is never confirmed). In the concluding Chapter VII, "The Anathemata: a plague journal", bits of the whole now and again appear to be laid out. Shifting from the omniscient viewpoint of the first six chapters, this chapter comprises numerous journal entries from the notebook, all of which appear to be by Kid. Several passages from this chapter have, however, already appeared verbatim earlier in

5170-460: The character of Orpheus . In a post-transcendent Earth, intelligent anthropoids deal with genetic mutation from ancient radiation. The beings emulate early human civilization and retell stories from "our ghosts called Man". Lobey, a herder from a small village, sets out on a quest to avenge the death of Friza. The Einstein Intersection won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1967, and

5264-421: The characters; for instance, people from Pleiades speak with verbs at the ends of their sentences, and Lynceos and Idas begin and finish each other's sentences. The same is true for point of view; due to their different upbringings, Katin, the Mouse, and Lorq all have different perspectives on the assassination of the politician Morgan. Also, each page in the book carries a header that gives the year and location of

5358-470: The city seems to be in operation—while Mrs. Richards acts as though there's nothing truly disastrous happening in Bellona. By some force of will, she causes almost everyone who comes into contact with her to play along. While carrying a carpet to the elevator, June backs Bobby into an open elevator shaft, where he falls to his death. There is reason to believe that June did this intentionally after Bobby threatened to reveal her relationship with George Harrison to

5452-410: The city. It is therefore unclear to what extent the events in the story are the product of an unreliable narrator . Delany has stated that "Kid's sanity remains in question   ... for the same reason the disaster of the city is unexplained: such explanations would become a fixed signified straiting the play and interplay of the signifier - the city of signs - that flexes and reflexes above it." In

5546-554: The continuation of colonialism and empire; but because of Lorq's victory, the mining colonies will be closed, and the workers freed. Description of work before Ashton Clark and Souquet's plugs and sockets resembles the alienated , dehumanizing labor described in Karl Marx 's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 . However, work with the sockets links labor to life, allowing unalienated work. This resembles Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri 's idea of "living labor", subverting

5640-468: The description of light sliding across the face of a building. The repeated motif of a scratch down the lower leg of several female characters at different points in the novel is yet another example. Samuel R. Delany has dyslexia and dysmetria . He once spent time in the mental health ward of a hospital. and he has repeatedly spoken and written of seeing burned-out sections of great American cities that most people didn't see, or even know existed. Dhalgren

5734-438: The end of the novel which, when read, was obviously written by Kid. This means he left Bellona—taking the notebook with him, for how else would he be able to write about his departure—prior to that notebook being found inside Bellona and given to him. Delany has specifically stated that it is not a matter of settling or deciding which text is authoritative. It is more a matter of allowing the reader to experience perceptual shifts in

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5828-512: The family. The third chapter is also where successful poet Ernest Newboy befriends Kid. Newboy takes an interest in Kid's poems and mentions them to Roger Calkins. By the end of the chapter, Calkins is preparing to print a book of Kid's poems. As the novel progresses, Kid falls in with the Scorpions, a loose-knit gang, three of whom have severely beaten him earlier in the book. Almost accidentally, Kid becomes their leader. (Much of this suggests

5922-418: The fate of the galaxy turns on the abilities of a black man. The setting of Nova is vague, but is explicitly defined as an empire, and it depends on Illyrion mining in the peripheral Outer Colonies. The name of the planet where Lynceos and Idas worked, Tubman, is a direct allusion to the American abolitionist Harriet Tubman . Colonial history is thus mapped onto the galactic setting. The Red family symbolize

6016-463: The fifteenth printing of the Bantam edition. As the critic and novelist William Gass writes of Joyce, "The Homeric parallels in Ulysses are of marginal importance to the reading of the work but are of fundamental importance to the writing of it...Writers have certain ordering compulsions, certain ordering habits, which are part of the book only in the sense that they make the writing possible. This

6110-494: The halls of vapor and light, beyond holland into the hills, I have come to As with Finnegans Wake , the unclosed closing sentence can be read as leading into the unopened opening sentence, turning the novel into an enigmatic circle. Writing in the Libertarian Review , Jeff Riggenbach compared Dhalgren to the work of James Joyce . A quotation from his review was included on the inside advertisement page of

6204-487: The humanizing effect of plug and socket labor, the freedom from alienation that it ensures has limits. Tarot and superstitions, such as the Mouse spitting in the river, are vital psychological supports. Meanwhile, plugs and sockets are unable to cure Prince's issues, and he remains a selfish, indulgent, and incestuous murderer pursuing his economic monopoly. Delany uses a careful prose style to present his work both sensually and metaphorically. He uses language to differentiate

6298-497: The local newspaper, The Bellona Times ; Madame Brown, a psychotherapist; and, later in the novel, Captain Michael Kamp, an astronaut who, some years before, was in the crew of a successful Moon landing. The notebook Kid receives already has writing throughout, but only on the right hand pages. The left hand pages are blank. Glimpses of the text in the notebook, however, are extremely close to passages in Dhalgren itself, as if

6392-407: The lower price of Illyrion from the Outer Colonies will shift the balance of power in the galaxy, bringing about the downfall of the Red family and ending Draco and Earth's dominance. Therefore, the two families are trying to destroy each other. Lorq wonders where to get Illyrion; later, Dan tells him how his ship accidentally fell into a nova but survived. The main narrative resumes. Tyÿ gives Lorq

6486-540: The man who will be following Ye Wenjie, is seen reading Dhalgren sitting at a table. In S1 E7 he is reading the book while queuing for a flight. Dhalgren was officially published in January, 1975 (with copies available on bookshelves as early as the first week in December, 1974), as a paperback original (a Frederik Pohl selection) by Bantam Books. The Bantam edition went through 19 printings, selling slightly more than

6580-535: The most obvious is the point where Kid hears "grendal grendal grendal grendal" going through his mind and suddenly realizes he was listening from the wrong spot: he was actually hearing "Dhalgren Dhalgren Dhalgren" over and over again. The ability of texts to become circular is something that Delany explores in other works, such as Empire Star . Delany conceived and executed Dhalgren as a literary multistable perception —the observer (reader) may choose to shift his perception back and forth. Central to this construction

6674-600: The nature and direction of the causal arrows between them, a vision of which lies just below the novel's surface." Bellona, Destroyer of Cities , a stage adaptation of (or sequel to) Dhalgren , was produced at The Kitchen in New York City in April 2010. In 2017, a multimedia performance called Dhalgren Sunrise was staged by Fort Point Theatre Channel in Chelsea, Massachusetts. In 3 Body Problem (TV series) S1 E6,

6768-526: The notebook were an alternate draft of the novel. Other passages are verbatim from the final chapter of Dhalgren . It is here in Chapter II that Kid begins using the blank pages of the notebook to compose poems. The novel describes the process of creating the poems—the emotions and the mechanics of the writing itself—at length and several times. We never see the actual poems, however, in their final form. Kid soon revises or removes any line that does appear in

6862-461: The novel appeared. Nova (novel) Nоva is a science fiction novel by American writer Samuel R. Delany and published in 1968. The plot concerns the spaceship captain Lorq Von Ray's search for a nova , which will produce the essential power source Illyrion, and his vendetta with the Red family, who seek to kill him. Nominally space opera , it explores the politics and culture of

6956-467: The novel begins, planets much further from the Galactic Center were discovered to possess Illyrion, and corporations in Draco and Pleiades subsidized people "from the lowest population strata" to move there. Economic tensions have created a feud between the "new money" Von Ray family and the "old money" Red family, both of whom have a large stake in intergalactic transportation. Shortly before

7050-416: The novel is one of Nova ' s themes; contemporary Delany works with aesthetic concerns include Empire Star ' s concentration on point of view and Dhalgren ' s emphasis on the relationship between creative writing and criticism. Judith Merril's review goes so far as to call Nova "an experimental approach to literary criticism". By the end of the novel, it is clear that the novel Katin will write

7144-411: The novel the notebook falls to the ground and Kid reads the last page. The reader sees exactly what Kid reads: the last four sentences of the novel, word for word. This happens well before a point in the novel where Kid specifically states that he only wrote the poems, and "all that other stuff" was already in there when he received the notebook. However, those four sentences are part of a longer section at

7238-404: The novel when Kid reads what was already in the notebook—written when he received it. In this chapter rubrics run along beside many sections of the main text, mimicking the writing as it appears in the notebook. (In the middle of this chapter, a rubric running contains the following sentence: I have come to to wound the autumnal city. ) Recalling Kid's entry into the city, the final section contains

7332-424: The novel's events (within the lifetime of Lorq's father), the Pleiades region achieved political autonomy from Draco, and is now an independent federation. At the time of the novel, citizens of the Outer Colonies are beginning to support the idea of independence as well. Illyrion is a fictional superheavy element with an atomic weight above 300, explained as being part of the hypothetical island of stability . It

7426-437: The novel's narrative is intermittently incoherent (particularly at its end), the protagonist has memories of a stay in a mental hospital, and his perception of reality and the passages of time sometimes differ from those of other characters. Over the course of the story he also experiences significant memory loss. In addition, he is dyslexic, confusing left and right and often taking wrong turns at street corners and getting lost in

7520-483: The novel's opening. In Chapter II, "The Ruins of Morning", Kid returns to the commune the next day and receives the notebook from Lanya Colson, one of the two women from the evening before. Shortly they become lovers. Their relationship lasts throughout the book. We meet or learn about several other characters, including George Harrison, a local cult hero and rumoured rapist; Ernest Newboy, a famous poet visiting Bellona by invitation of Roger Calkins, publisher and editor of

7614-476: The novel, he asks Tyÿ for a reading. The two artists in Nova represent different kinds of art: the Mouse's sensory syrynx playing is spontaneous and instinctive, and on the other hand Katin's novel is carefully considered but not begun. However, while talking to the Mouse, Katin equates writing his novel to playing the sensory syrynx. Both create sensory experiences which then summon up memories, thoughts, and emotions related to those sensations. A deeper similarity

7708-481: The opening scene, one character uses it to control a "sweeper" to clean the floor. People using these sockets are called "cyborg studs". The sockets are based on the ideas of a 23rd century philosopher and psychologist, Ashton Clark, and are intended to counteract the alienation caused by the separation between work and life. When the plugs and sockets were invented, work was done directly by people, reducing mental illness and making war impossible. The 20th century

7802-402: The passages shown in earlier chapters appear verbatim in Chapter VII. Yet for Kid to have read those passages earlier, the passages must have been written before he received the notebook. In fact, the last few pages of the novel show Kid leaving Bellona. The last sentence of that departure sequence is the incomplete one that conceivably loops back to the beginning of the book. However, earlier in

7896-446: The same horizon. Street signs and landmarks shift constantly, while time appears to contract and dilate. Buildings burn for days, but are never consumed, while others burn and later show no signs of damage. Gangs roam the nighttime streets, their members hidden within holographic projections of gigantic insects or mythological creatures. The few people left in Bellona struggle with survival, boredom, and each other. The novel's protagonist

7990-408: The same way that a Necker cube can be viewed. Akin to the hints regarding its circular nature, Dhalgren also contains at least one hint towards the perceptual shifts: Denny's book of M. C. Escher prints. Additionally, Jeffrey Allen Tucker has written that Delany's unpublished notes regarding the writing of Dhalgren contain direct references to the novel itself working as a Möbius Strip , and makes

8084-451: The scene (e.g., "Draco, Earth, Paris, 3162"). This is useful because of the flashbacks in the long journey around the galaxy. The novel's prose style has been called "poetic", with every metaphor serving the larger design. The sensory syrynx is an example of this. The name alludes to the Greek god Pan's pipes ; moreover, early in the novel, the Mouse refers to it as his "ax". This is both

8178-424: The science fiction field". By contrast, Harlan Ellison hated the novel. When the book appeared, Ellison wrote: "I must be honest. I gave up after 361 pages. I could not permit myself to be gulled or bored any further." Delany has speculated that "a good number of Dhalgren 's more incensed readers, the ones bewildered or angered by the book, simply cannot read the proper distinction between sex and society and

8272-470: The sensory syrynx to overwhelm their senses, leaving them seriously injured near a river of lava . The Roc travels to the star, but Prince and Ruby reappear. Lorq boards their ship, and the star begins to erupt. Lorq seizes control and flies toward the star, killing Prince; Ruby dies too and Lorq flies through the nova, collecting the Illyrion but injuring his brain. At the end of the novel, Katin and

8366-484: The story is what has been prefigured by myth, or that the tale of Lorq Von Ray has had other tales attached to it. For instance, Lorq Von Ray has been compared to Prometheus. Idas and Lynceos share names with two of the Argonauts , the brothers Idas and Lynceus of Messene . Katin notes the story's "archetypal patterns" at the close of the story. Much of the story revolves around a tarot reading Tyÿ gives Lorq at

8460-651: The text. The third and longest chapter, "House of the Ax", involves Kid's interactions with the Richards family: Mr. Arthur Richards, his wife Mary Richards, their daughter June (who may or may not have been raped publicly by George Harrison, whom she is now fixated on), and son Bobby. Through Madame Brown they hire Kid to help them move from one apartment to another in the mostly-abandoned Labry Apartments. Led by Mary Richards, they are "keeping up appearances." Mr. Richards leaves every day to go to work—though no office or facility in

8554-485: The universe of the book. In Nova , however, Katin is constantly ridiculed for filling this role and on occasion is used for comic relief. However, although Nova is a full-blooded space opera, it is also a counter to the ideology of expansion into and colonization of space. It is a work of postcolonial science fiction that appropriates the genre's traditions and conventions to open up space to imagine an alternative. Nova also makes heavy use of myth. An author's note at

8648-520: The usual SF readership." William Gibson has referred to Dhalgren as "a riddle that was never meant to be solved." Darrell Schweitzer expressed the opinion, " Dhalgren is, I think, the most disappointing thing to happen to science fiction since Robert Heinlein made a complete fool of himself with I Will Fear No Evil ." In 2015, Elizabeth Hand characterized the novel as "a dense, transgressive, hallucinatory, Joycean tour-de-force". Theodore Sturgeon called it "the very best ever to come out of

8742-433: Was a finalist for the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novel . Algis Budrys , after noting that Delany "has about as little discipline as any writer who has tried his hand" at science fiction and that The Einstein Intersection was a book "whose structure and purpose on its own terms are not realized", declared that the author "simply operates on a plane which Robert Heinlein never dreamed of, nor John W. Campbell , nor – take

8836-579: Was no magazine serialization, however, in its first six months the novel did not get the initially wide exposure to readers that might have helped gain it a Hugo Award. Bantam Books ' 14th and final printing of the novel was in 1990. After this it was out of print until 2001, when Gollancz reissued it as part of their SF Masterworks line. In 2002, Vintage published a new edition with some textual changes. The Library of America included it in their 2019 anthology American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1968-1969 , and in 2022 Centipede Press published

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