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PM's Outspoken Authors #20
The Atheist in the Attic
Appearing in book form for the first time, The Atheist in the Attic is a suspenseful and vivid historical narrative, recreating the top-secret meeting between the mathematical genius Leibniz and the philosopher Spinoza caught between the horrors of the cannibalistic Dutch Rampjaar and the brilliant “big bang” of the Enlightenment. Also Delany’s “Racism and Science Fiction” combines scholarly research and personal experience in the unique true story of the first major African-American author in the genre. This collection features a bibliography, an author biography, and the candid and uncompromising Outspoken Interview.
111 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2018
11 people are currently reading
333 people want to read
About the author
Samuel R. Delany
306 books2,250 followersSamuel Ray Delany, also known as "Chip," is an award-winning American science fiction author. He was born to a prominent black family on April 1, 1942, and raised in Harlem. His mother, Margaret Carey Boyd Delany, was a library clerk in the New York Public Library system. His father, Samuel Ray Delany, Senior, ran a successful Harlem undertaking establishment, Levy & Delany Funeral Home, on 7th Avenue, between 1938 and his death in 1960. The family lived in the top two floors of the three-story private house between five- and six-story Harlem apartment buildings. Delany's aunts were Sadie and Bessie Delany; Delany used some of their adventures as the basis for the adventures of his characters Elsie and Corry in the opening novella Atlantis: Model 1924 in his book of largely autobiographical stories Atlantis: Three Tales.
Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nevèrÿon series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nevèrÿon series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
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December 14, 2018
The title story, which is historical fiction, was pretty uninteresting to me. It's about Leibniz in Amsterdam, the visit where he spoke with Spinoza. Very philosophical. However, the essay "Racism and Science Fiction" was great, and essential reading (IMO). It's from 1998 and I was stunned I'd never heard of it before, as it's still very, very relevant.
February 20, 2018
PM Press’ latest offering in its Outspoken Authors series features work from the undeniably, gloriously outspoken author Samuel R. Delany. In addition to the title novella, The Atheist in the Attic includes Delany’s classic critique of racism in science fiction, and an interview with the author. Delany being one of my literary heroes from a very early age - I fell in love with his writing when I read Babel-17 and never wavered afterward - I had to get the book.
Delany is an author of ideas, which he wraps in polished, precise, gorgeous prose. “The Atheist in the Attic” is a perfect example of the master at work, examining and interrogating the intellectual underpinnings of the Enlightenment. The publisher’s blurb says:
“The title novella, "The Atheist in the Attic," appearing here in book form for the first time, is a suspenseful and vivid historical narrative, recreating the top-secret meeting between the mathematical genius Leibniz and the philosopher Spinoza caught between the horrors of the cannibalistic Dutch Rampjaar and the brilliant "big bang" of the Enlightenment.”
Delany’s Leibnitz is an old man recollecting, and commenting on, a trip to Amsterdam he made when much younger, part if his purpose being to visit the old and reclusive Spinoza. The visits are secretive, because Leibnitz is a young man with a noble patron and a career still to be made among the the intelligentsia of Europe, and Spinoza is an outcast and a pariah, both Jew and alleged atheist, a man whose work caused riots in the street and the brutal deaths of some of those who championed his work.
Leibnitz and Spinoza talk. About their work, and their thoughts about each other’s work. About that terrible and violent reaction of the people to his anti-clerical, anti-theistic treatise. About the great Greek philosophers. About the relation of language and thought. About the meaning, the essence of what Spinoza calls Deus sive Natura - God, or otherwise Nature.
Leibnitz, as he recounts his visit to Spinoza, also contemplates issues of race - specifically anti-Semitism - and class antipathy, the latter brought on by the eagerness of a young manservant at the home he is staying in to do him personal services, and the stories of cannibalism among the peasants during a recent famine that he has heard, most recently from Spinoza.
As always, Delany leaves one thinking, wondering, speculating.
I had read the other work collected here, Delany’s essay on racism in science fiction, before, but it was worthwhile to read it again. So much has happened since it was first written in 1998. There are now many more visible writers of colour in the genre, and, as Delany predicted, there has been pushback.
In his essay, he said “As long as there are only one, two, or a handful of us, however, I presume in a field such as science fiction, where many of its writers come out of the liberal-Jewish tradition, prejudice will most likely remain a slight force—until, say, black writers start to number 13, 15, 20 percent of the total. At that point, where the competition might be perceived as having some economic heft, chances are we will have as much racism and prejudice here as in any other field.”
And lo and behold now that there are more than a handful of sff writers of colour, along comes RaceFail (Google it) and the Sadly Rabid Puppies and ComicGate and all the whiney (mostly) white boys of all ages who want stories with white boy heroes doing white boy hero things like conquering other planets and winning space battles against bug-eyed monsters.
Sadly, Delany knew whereof he spoke.
The volume closes with a pleasant interview by Terry Bisson, the editor of the series, which does not illuminate the author so much as give a hint at how vey much there is to learn about him and his work.
Delany is an author of ideas, which he wraps in polished, precise, gorgeous prose. “The Atheist in the Attic” is a perfect example of the master at work, examining and interrogating the intellectual underpinnings of the Enlightenment. The publisher’s blurb says:
“The title novella, "The Atheist in the Attic," appearing here in book form for the first time, is a suspenseful and vivid historical narrative, recreating the top-secret meeting between the mathematical genius Leibniz and the philosopher Spinoza caught between the horrors of the cannibalistic Dutch Rampjaar and the brilliant "big bang" of the Enlightenment.”
Delany’s Leibnitz is an old man recollecting, and commenting on, a trip to Amsterdam he made when much younger, part if his purpose being to visit the old and reclusive Spinoza. The visits are secretive, because Leibnitz is a young man with a noble patron and a career still to be made among the the intelligentsia of Europe, and Spinoza is an outcast and a pariah, both Jew and alleged atheist, a man whose work caused riots in the street and the brutal deaths of some of those who championed his work.
Leibnitz and Spinoza talk. About their work, and their thoughts about each other’s work. About that terrible and violent reaction of the people to his anti-clerical, anti-theistic treatise. About the great Greek philosophers. About the relation of language and thought. About the meaning, the essence of what Spinoza calls Deus sive Natura - God, or otherwise Nature.
Leibnitz, as he recounts his visit to Spinoza, also contemplates issues of race - specifically anti-Semitism - and class antipathy, the latter brought on by the eagerness of a young manservant at the home he is staying in to do him personal services, and the stories of cannibalism among the peasants during a recent famine that he has heard, most recently from Spinoza.
As always, Delany leaves one thinking, wondering, speculating.
I had read the other work collected here, Delany’s essay on racism in science fiction, before, but it was worthwhile to read it again. So much has happened since it was first written in 1998. There are now many more visible writers of colour in the genre, and, as Delany predicted, there has been pushback.
In his essay, he said “As long as there are only one, two, or a handful of us, however, I presume in a field such as science fiction, where many of its writers come out of the liberal-Jewish tradition, prejudice will most likely remain a slight force—until, say, black writers start to number 13, 15, 20 percent of the total. At that point, where the competition might be perceived as having some economic heft, chances are we will have as much racism and prejudice here as in any other field.”
And lo and behold now that there are more than a handful of sff writers of colour, along comes RaceFail (Google it) and the Sadly Rabid Puppies and ComicGate and all the whiney (mostly) white boys of all ages who want stories with white boy heroes doing white boy hero things like conquering other planets and winning space battles against bug-eyed monsters.
Sadly, Delany knew whereof he spoke.
The volume closes with a pleasant interview by Terry Bisson, the editor of the series, which does not illuminate the author so much as give a hint at how vey much there is to learn about him and his work.
March 20, 2019
A story of a short historical fiction about a meeting between Leibniz and Spinoza around 1676, not long before Leibniz death. (A new story by Samuel Delany that isn't porn. Yay!)
This being Delany, it is subtle and ambiguous. We are reading what Leibniz writes in his journal after the fact, and what he is thinking while he writes it, with a possibly faulty memory of what each other said when they were talking in Hebrew (not his native language) and carefully avoiding explicitly saying some things, because they were both risking their lives by speaking about things the church condemned. So there are many layers and hints that you may need to read more than once to understand. And there are a few untranslated words and phrases, and you are expected to know, or be willing to research, what was going on in Holland at the time. (Hint: Rampjaar.)
So, this needs a careful and attentive reader. I failed on my first attempt, but enjoyed it on the second.
It spends lots of time talking about transportation and food and washing clothes (once per year!) and wig powder and sending letters and cleaning toilets, with only about one third dealing with the substance of their conversation. That stuff was actually very interesting. It does a really good job of making me feel what it would be like to be in that place at that time.
Another favorite Delany topic comes in: who is really in charge? master or servant? After the conversation, Leibniz gets paranoid about what the boy assigned to help him is really trying to do. Does he want sex? or does he want to kill (and possibly eat) him?
One quibble: it feels very much like the voice of Delany, not Leibniz, in what is supposed to be Leibniz' journal.
--
Also included: a reprint of an article on Racism in Science Fiction. That is easily available online and is very much recommended.
And: a short new interview which is good enough, but adds nothing new if you've read Delany's essays and memoirs.
This being Delany, it is subtle and ambiguous. We are reading what Leibniz writes in his journal after the fact, and what he is thinking while he writes it, with a possibly faulty memory of what each other said when they were talking in Hebrew (not his native language) and carefully avoiding explicitly saying some things, because they were both risking their lives by speaking about things the church condemned. So there are many layers and hints that you may need to read more than once to understand. And there are a few untranslated words and phrases, and you are expected to know, or be willing to research, what was going on in Holland at the time. (Hint: Rampjaar.)
“I said it in Hebrew—I said it in Dutch—
I said it in German and Greek;
But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much)
That English is what you speak!”
from The Hunting of the Snark
So, this needs a careful and attentive reader. I failed on my first attempt, but enjoyed it on the second.
It spends lots of time talking about transportation and food and washing clothes (once per year!) and wig powder and sending letters and cleaning toilets, with only about one third dealing with the substance of their conversation. That stuff was actually very interesting. It does a really good job of making me feel what it would be like to be in that place at that time.
Another favorite Delany topic comes in: who is really in charge? master or servant? After the conversation, Leibniz gets paranoid about what the boy assigned to help him is really trying to do. Does he want sex? or does he want to kill (and possibly eat) him?
One quibble: it feels very much like the voice of Delany, not Leibniz, in what is supposed to be Leibniz' journal.
--
Also included: a reprint of an article on Racism in Science Fiction. That is easily available online and is very much recommended.
And: a short new interview which is good enough, but adds nothing new if you've read Delany's essays and memoirs.
September 16, 2019
Samuel R. Delany is one of the great Grand Masters of science fiction—full stop. He has been for decades, since long before his formal induction into those ranks in 2013. While some SF authors much younger than he have slid—nay, galloped—into irrelevance, Delany is still writing engaging fiction that pushes the boundaries of whatever genre he chooses. The titular novella that makes up the first part of The Atheist in the Attic, for example, is historical fiction: still speculative, but in a far different mode from Delany's landmark SF novels, like Nova or Dhalgren.
"The Atheist in the Attic" gives us what happened during a meeting—one which could actually have taken place (at least according to Wikipedia)—between the 17th-Century philosophers Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. What went on during their conversation is, necessarily, speculation—but Delany does an excellent job of evoking a lively and plausible exchange of ideas between these two giants of Western thought.
I haven't read any Spinoza or Leibniz myself, but I found this part of their discussion compelling:
The works that "The Atheist in the Attic" reminded me of most strongly were all novel-length: Jack Dann's The Memory Cathedral, David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, and the gritty historical sections of Kim Stanley Robinson's sf novel Galileo's Dream.
Ultimately, though, "The Atheist in the Attic" is but a brief episode, with a relatively inconclusive ending—but wait! There's more!
A lot more, in fact—despite its relatively minuscule page count (only 111 pages, about a tenth as long as the last book I read), The Atheist in the Attic manages to include an essay, an interview, and a bibliography of Delany's work to date.
The essay is called "Racism in Science Fiction," which Delany knows a lot about, since he's African-American (the term he uses in the essay is "black"—with the lower-case 'b'). Delany is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the first African-American science fiction writer, a notion he debunks easily early in this essay, before going on to address systemic racism (in the U.S. and in the realm of sf) through personal examples, and to provide something of a roadmap for systematically resisting such endemic racism rather than focusing on individual flawed personalities.
Delany's essay is followed by an interview with series editor Terry Bisson, "Discourse in an Older Sense," which illuminates some of the reasons why Delany ventured into historical fiction to begin with. Comparing historical fiction to science fiction and fantasy, Delany observes,
The Atheist in the Attic is part of a series called "Outspoken Authors" from PM Press—which, according to this volume's back-cover copy,
Now that's a project I can endorse wholeheartedly, especially given this example, and you can be sure I'll be looking for more in this series.
"The Atheist in the Attic" gives us what happened during a meeting—one which could actually have taken place (at least according to Wikipedia)—between the 17th-Century philosophers Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. What went on during their conversation is, necessarily, speculation—but Delany does an excellent job of evoking a lively and plausible exchange of ideas between these two giants of Western thought.
I haven't read any Spinoza or Leibniz myself, but I found this part of their discussion compelling:
"And if," I said, "that self-delusion takes place without the help of any demons or devils...?"
He nodded. "It's all a set of rational errors. It suggests that rationality can fix them."
"You, sir," I said, "are a dangerous man. That's a dangerous idea and a great responsibility."
"So they are always telling me." He gave the most modest of shrugs. "Thank you, I suppose."
—p.37
The works that "The Atheist in the Attic" reminded me of most strongly were all novel-length: Jack Dann's The Memory Cathedral, David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, and the gritty historical sections of Kim Stanley Robinson's sf novel Galileo's Dream.
Ultimately, though, "The Atheist in the Attic" is but a brief episode, with a relatively inconclusive ending—but wait! There's more!
A lot more, in fact—despite its relatively minuscule page count (only 111 pages, about a tenth as long as the last book I read), The Atheist in the Attic manages to include an essay, an interview, and a bibliography of Delany's work to date.
The essay is called "Racism in Science Fiction," which Delany knows a lot about, since he's African-American (the term he uses in the essay is "black"—with the lower-case 'b'). Delany is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the first African-American science fiction writer, a notion he debunks easily early in this essay, before going on to address systemic racism (in the U.S. and in the realm of sf) through personal examples, and to provide something of a roadmap for systematically resisting such endemic racism rather than focusing on individual flawed personalities.
Delany's essay is followed by an interview with series editor Terry Bisson, "Discourse in an Older Sense," which illuminates some of the reasons why Delany ventured into historical fiction to begin with. Comparing historical fiction to science fiction and fantasy, Delany observes,
"These are genres in which nothing can be real except by accident, though reality it (sic; s/b is) still the aesthetic effect you are trying for."
—p.98
The Atheist in the Attic is part of a series called "Outspoken Authors" from PM Press—which, according to this volume's back-cover copy,
"invites today's edgiest, most entertaining, and uncompromising writers to present their most provocative work in a format designed to fit your pocket and stretch your mind."
Now that's a project I can endorse wholeheartedly, especially given this example, and you can be sure I'll be looking for more in this series.
March 6, 2018
This compact volume collects three different works: a 2016 novella The Atheist in the Attic originally published in Conjunctions, a 1998 essay on "Racism and Science Fiction," and an original interview between Delany and the editor of the Outspoken Authors series, Terry Bisson. The interview is a bit unfocused but gives a nice overview of Delany's recent and major engagements, projects, etc. and elaborates on biographical trivia. The eponymous novella is a colorful and densely packed historical narrative recalled by an aged Leibniz of a meeting with Spinoza. It meditates on class and ethnic antipathies, the overlapping territories of poetry and philosophy, and much more that re-reading would illuminate further. It is Delany's essay "Racism and Science Fiction" which easily shines the brightest. Combining anecdote and analysis, he gives a well-measured, original, and historically insightful treatment of black authorship and reception in SF and its progenitors. Mandatory reading in whatever collection you can find it!
April 29, 2018
My interest in Delaney has decreased drastically over the last few years despite the fact that his work sort of changed my life as a teenager. Generally, I think he's much more impressive as a thinker than a novelist, as even his better novels have mechanical ticks that make them very difficult to enjoy, and even though his work has evolved so much, each distinct period of his writing also has its own set of weaknesses.
This novella is another interesting change in direction, though I imagine it hints at some new approaches Delaney most likely won't implement in future work. It has a lot of philosophy and an interesting prose style, as well as a switch to historical fiction I think is quite promising. A lot of Delaney familiar themes appear, but they're transformed by being relocated to the Enlightenment. Some passages are sweeping and powerful, even as others are overly meticulous and a bit boring. I'm also really unclear whether the piece as a whole is just the right length or too short.
This novella is another interesting change in direction, though I imagine it hints at some new approaches Delaney most likely won't implement in future work. It has a lot of philosophy and an interesting prose style, as well as a switch to historical fiction I think is quite promising. A lot of Delaney familiar themes appear, but they're transformed by being relocated to the Enlightenment. Some passages are sweeping and powerful, even as others are overly meticulous and a bit boring. I'm also really unclear whether the piece as a whole is just the right length or too short.
July 28, 2023
Samuel Delany is wonderful. That said, I don't know what to make of the title story. Enjoyed reading it anyway, for whatever that is worth.
February 27, 2024
Consensus seems to be the novella is boring just because it’s historical fiction, but it’s essentially science fiction set in the past about cannibalism and coprophilia. Like delany says, “a lesson about reading here: do your share, and you can save yourself and others a lot of embarrassment.” And the essay is ahead of the curve & controversial on current discussions about race and literature 20 years out of date. could stand some more attention. As could all of delanys stuff.
February 22, 2018
Full review to follow. Once I have stopped swooning over the impossible combination of grace and horror encapsulated in this all-too-brief novella.
November 8, 2020
This contains one novella, one essay, and one interview.
I found the novella impenetrable. I barely understood what was going on, and I had little context or compassion for the setting and the characters. At best I got that it was a historical story about science and/or philosophy.
The essay was much more readable, although uncomfortable. Delany has done a good job of giving some historical context of black Americans writing SF, such that Delany is not in fact the first such. Also a quick and pointed commentary on racism in the SF field, over the years between the late 60s and the late 90s. Some of the commentary is frustratingly prescient, about the point at which racism would come to the forefront in the community.
The interview was awkward. I have no idea what the relationship is between interviewer and interviewee, but it did not come across as even slightly friendly -- polite, cordial, maybe.
I found the novella impenetrable. I barely understood what was going on, and I had little context or compassion for the setting and the characters. At best I got that it was a historical story about science and/or philosophy.
The essay was much more readable, although uncomfortable. Delany has done a good job of giving some historical context of black Americans writing SF, such that Delany is not in fact the first such. Also a quick and pointed commentary on racism in the SF field, over the years between the late 60s and the late 90s. Some of the commentary is frustratingly prescient, about the point at which racism would come to the forefront in the community.
The interview was awkward. I have no idea what the relationship is between interviewer and interviewee, but it did not come across as even slightly friendly -- polite, cordial, maybe.
July 9, 2018
I will admit that I could not get into the short story featured here. Delany’s essay Racism and Science Fiction remains as relevant as ever and I enjoyed his interview with Terry Bisson, the editor of this series.
Want to read
December 27, 2018The included essay on racism and science fiction can be read online here:
https://www.nyrsf.com/racism-and-scie...
Many thanks to Rachel and her YouTube channel!
https://youtu.be/LWrAd4v74Mw
https://www.nyrsf.com/racism-and-scie...
Many thanks to Rachel and her YouTube channel!
https://youtu.be/LWrAd4v74Mw
July 19, 2018
In Delany's most recent novel, _Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders_, one of the two protagonists has a life-long fascination with Spinoza's _Ethics_. In this novella, Benedict, né Baruch, Spinoza is a character.
It consists of a (long) journal entry by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, visiting Amsterdam at the behest of his patron, an unnamed Duke. On his own time, he visits Spinoza. (I know very little about the life of either Leibniz or Spinoza; I presume Delany does and that this is possible.) They converse for a while, and agree with each other well enough that a second visit is planned -- though not narrated. Leibniz mentions a number of his own peculiarities, of which the most interesting to a science fictional audient will be his invention of a brass calculating machine. Spinoza mentions that he grinds lenses for van Leeuwenhoek, which which he has discovered his famous "animalcules."
It _was_ an interesting moment in history. One of the things discussed, almost in passing, is the Netherlands' "_rampjaar_" of 1672, a year in which they were attacked by the forces of France, England, and some German states, and things became very dark indeed. (Some friends of Spinoza's were, apparently, killed and eaten.)
Yet their discussion is only the middle of the novella. The opening and closing take place in and around the home of Leibniz's host, named only Gunther in the book. Gunther's visit to a Jewish moneylender at the beginning of the book casts dark reflections on the visit with Spinoza, a Jew whose people have cast him out for blasphemy. (Spinoza mentions being 40 years old; a little calculation puts this meeting about 1672 or 3, and makes Leibniz about 26 years of age; the _rampjaar_ would thus be fresh in the Dutch peoples' minds.)
The writing is - as always with Delany - beautiful, clear, and self-intensifying. Delany has a way of mentioning things at carefully spaced intervals that increases their significance. (Outdoor toilets. Smallclothes. Servants. Wigs. Jews.) The story is slight on the surface, but deep in its implications.
Delany still rocks it.
It consists of a (long) journal entry by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, visiting Amsterdam at the behest of his patron, an unnamed Duke. On his own time, he visits Spinoza. (I know very little about the life of either Leibniz or Spinoza; I presume Delany does and that this is possible.) They converse for a while, and agree with each other well enough that a second visit is planned -- though not narrated. Leibniz mentions a number of his own peculiarities, of which the most interesting to a science fictional audient will be his invention of a brass calculating machine. Spinoza mentions that he grinds lenses for van Leeuwenhoek, which which he has discovered his famous "animalcules."
It _was_ an interesting moment in history. One of the things discussed, almost in passing, is the Netherlands' "_rampjaar_" of 1672, a year in which they were attacked by the forces of France, England, and some German states, and things became very dark indeed. (Some friends of Spinoza's were, apparently, killed and eaten.)
Yet their discussion is only the middle of the novella. The opening and closing take place in and around the home of Leibniz's host, named only Gunther in the book. Gunther's visit to a Jewish moneylender at the beginning of the book casts dark reflections on the visit with Spinoza, a Jew whose people have cast him out for blasphemy. (Spinoza mentions being 40 years old; a little calculation puts this meeting about 1672 or 3, and makes Leibniz about 26 years of age; the _rampjaar_ would thus be fresh in the Dutch peoples' minds.)
The writing is - as always with Delany - beautiful, clear, and self-intensifying. Delany has a way of mentioning things at carefully spaced intervals that increases their significance. (Outdoor toilets. Smallclothes. Servants. Wigs. Jews.) The story is slight on the surface, but deep in its implications.
Delany still rocks it.
August 28, 2018
It is, on some occasions, a good thing that I resolve to finish every book I start.
And reading this book is one of them.
Although I found the title story, "The Atheist in the Attic," well-written and occasionally insightful, it left me a bit cold. It just wasn't my type of story. Maybe it was that after having long resolved to read Samuel R. Delany, knowing his place in the speculative fiction firmament, I picked up a book at WorldCon where the story was set in this world (albeit several centuries past) rather than in an imaginary other.
Expectations may have played a part in my response to that story.
But, I read it through and very much appreciated the essay "Racism and Science Fiction" and the interview "Discourse in an Older Sense" at the end. Delaney offered a point of view different from those I frequently encounter--and so got me thinking. I kept flagging his comments in those two pieces, marking some as "to ponder."
For example, he writes that "racism as a system" isolates and segregates "the people of one race, or group, or ethos from another."
Prejudice, he reminds us later, "is prejudgement."
As I was finishing the book this morning, after spending an evening with a high school classmate I hadn't seen in several decades, this struck me:
How much better my classmate and I understood our shared experiences, our relationships to our classmates and teachers, and our own adolesence after the the fact of those difficult teenage years. As it was with us, so it was with Delaney and his relationship with the poet Marilyn Hacker. (He was responding to a question about her when he offered those words quoted above.)
Maybe you will have a different reaction to the title story than I did. Such is the nature of fiction. The same work can often affect people in different ways. But, I do believe the last two pieces will move you to think with greater consideration about writing and race.
As they did me.
And reading this book is one of them.
Although I found the title story, "The Atheist in the Attic," well-written and occasionally insightful, it left me a bit cold. It just wasn't my type of story. Maybe it was that after having long resolved to read Samuel R. Delany, knowing his place in the speculative fiction firmament, I picked up a book at WorldCon where the story was set in this world (albeit several centuries past) rather than in an imaginary other.
Expectations may have played a part in my response to that story.
But, I read it through and very much appreciated the essay "Racism and Science Fiction" and the interview "Discourse in an Older Sense" at the end. Delaney offered a point of view different from those I frequently encounter--and so got me thinking. I kept flagging his comments in those two pieces, marking some as "to ponder."
For example, he writes that "racism as a system" isolates and segregates "the people of one race, or group, or ethos from another."
Prejudice, he reminds us later, "is prejudgement."
As I was finishing the book this morning, after spending an evening with a high school classmate I hadn't seen in several decades, this struck me:
Like any other life, it was a combination of personal forces, neighborhood forces, and larger forces that are always easier to read after the fact than before.
How much better my classmate and I understood our shared experiences, our relationships to our classmates and teachers, and our own adolesence after the the fact of those difficult teenage years. As it was with us, so it was with Delaney and his relationship with the poet Marilyn Hacker. (He was responding to a question about her when he offered those words quoted above.)
Maybe you will have a different reaction to the title story than I did. Such is the nature of fiction. The same work can often affect people in different ways. But, I do believe the last two pieces will move you to think with greater consideration about writing and race.
As they did me.
November 17, 2019
Samuel R. Delany is one of the titans of science fiction whose work I had not previously read. The Atheist in the Attic is a strange work to choose to rectify this absence. For one thing, the eponymous story is not science fiction but historical fiction, chronicling the meeting between Leibniz and Spinoza in The Hague in 1672. I suspect it's a story that I will need to re-read in order to understand fully; or perhaps one in which the historical or philosophical foundations need more basis than I have. Nevertheless there was much of interest in the story, about sexuality and religious belief in the seventeenth century in particular, and when I say I should re-read it, I feel happy to do so.
Then comes Delany's spectacular essay, "Racism and Science Fiction", originally published in 1998. There is so much that is good about this essay. First of all, Delany emphasises that racism is a system rather than an attribute of individuals, but he does not just assert it, he explains what that means and how it manifests through concrete examples from his life as a science fiction writer. He also gives the very simple answer as to how to tackle systematic racism in our lives: be anti-racist (in more detail than that). The essay is also carried on great prose. All in all, this essay is worth the cost of the book and should be read by all science fiction fans - especially given its remarkable prescience.
The interview is interesting, but unfocused. There are a few general questions about Delany's life, a few about The Atheist in the Attic itself, and a few that seem to have no connection to either of these things. I'm not sure exactly what the reader of this volume was really supposed to get out of it.
I ought to add that I read a paperback copy of this book, which does not appear to exist on Goodreads.
Then comes Delany's spectacular essay, "Racism and Science Fiction", originally published in 1998. There is so much that is good about this essay. First of all, Delany emphasises that racism is a system rather than an attribute of individuals, but he does not just assert it, he explains what that means and how it manifests through concrete examples from his life as a science fiction writer. He also gives the very simple answer as to how to tackle systematic racism in our lives: be anti-racist (in more detail than that). The essay is also carried on great prose. All in all, this essay is worth the cost of the book and should be read by all science fiction fans - especially given its remarkable prescience.
The interview is interesting, but unfocused. There are a few general questions about Delany's life, a few about The Atheist in the Attic itself, and a few that seem to have no connection to either of these things. I'm not sure exactly what the reader of this volume was really supposed to get out of it.
I ought to add that I read a paperback copy of this book, which does not appear to exist on Goodreads.
July 29, 2021
The first two-thirds of this book is the titular novella. It’s a cerebral work of historical fiction that will be loved by readers interested in philosophy and history, but which will be dry and claustrophobic to those expecting a gripping tale. It’s not that there are no stakes. The story is about a clandestine meeting between Leibniz and Spinoza during a turbulent time in the Dutch Republic. That said, the bulk of the story is discussion and internal monologuing about philosophic ideas. Leibniz speaks with Spinoza, but also with household staff – offering insight into his psychology. In short, for perspective into the psychology and philosophy of the time, it’s intriguing, but it’s no thriller.
The last one-third of the book consists of two nonfiction pieces. The first, there’s an essay that Delany wrote on racism in science fiction. In it, he discusses some hostility he was subjected to at a Hugo Award ceremony early in his career. He also describes how he is repeatedly put on panels with other black writers (whose work is different from his own) rather than with those whose work is most closely related to his. It’s an interesting look at the varied faces of racism from blatant through well-intentioned to accidental. The last piece is an interview that rambles over a wide expanse of topics touching on Delany’s career.
I enjoyed this book a great deal. That said, I’m an admitted philosophy nerd. I think someone who only read the cover blurb might expect the novella to be more story driven and less character- and philosophy-centric. The essay on race features both stories from Delany’s career and his views on racism as a system. If you like cerebrally-engaging reading, check it out.
The last one-third of the book consists of two nonfiction pieces. The first, there’s an essay that Delany wrote on racism in science fiction. In it, he discusses some hostility he was subjected to at a Hugo Award ceremony early in his career. He also describes how he is repeatedly put on panels with other black writers (whose work is different from his own) rather than with those whose work is most closely related to his. It’s an interesting look at the varied faces of racism from blatant through well-intentioned to accidental. The last piece is an interview that rambles over a wide expanse of topics touching on Delany’s career.
I enjoyed this book a great deal. That said, I’m an admitted philosophy nerd. I think someone who only read the cover blurb might expect the novella to be more story driven and less character- and philosophy-centric. The essay on race features both stories from Delany’s career and his views on racism as a system. If you like cerebrally-engaging reading, check it out.
July 2, 2023
Spinoza, the consulate philosopher of the relationship between bodies, has long been a natural resource for queer thinkers. It is unsurprising then that Delany, our greatest living writer of the way bodies collide and couple, has taken Spinoza up twice, first in Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders and here in this ambiguous, dense, and richly constructed novella. His own brilliance is on full display here as he summons up the voice and mind of Leibniz. There are echoes here of his earlier Mummer’s Tale, which inverts the logic of the Platonic dialogue, letting Socrates speak back to Plato (in a way). But the central conversation between Spinoza and Leibniz is ultimately secondary to (though it is also probably the condition of) Leibniz’s flirtation with a houseboy.
The late 90s essay “Racism and Science Fiction,” also included here is characteristically astute, and even prophetic in some ways. A bit of good gossip about some of the foundational mid-century figures of the genre, too. The interview that closes out the book is fine, but scattered, and feels more like an effort by the interviewer to satisfy a few lingering questions he’s had for decades than it does like a real conversation. Been there and can’t fault it.
The late 90s essay “Racism and Science Fiction,” also included here is characteristically astute, and even prophetic in some ways. A bit of good gossip about some of the foundational mid-century figures of the genre, too. The interview that closes out the book is fine, but scattered, and feels more like an effort by the interviewer to satisfy a few lingering questions he’s had for decades than it does like a real conversation. Been there and can’t fault it.
August 4, 2019
The titular novella is so convincingly written as though the diaries of a 17th century man that I kept forgetting I was reading a work of fiction. If I was sad that the volume hadn't treated me to speculative fiction, the verisimilitude of the historical setting won me over. Here is the past in all its shit-on-the-privy-wall glory.
And oy does he write sentences that need diagrams to be gotten out of once you've lost yourself in them. Very Enlightenment appropriate.
The interview I didn't find as compelling. It felt like the interviewer knew his subject too well, and so the conversation reached a level of intimacy that left the reader outside.
The essay "On Racism in Science Fiction" however is worth the price of the book just to have on hand for convenient reference.
I continue to be hugely delighted with the Outspoken Authors series and look forward to picking up another the next time I'm at a convention they are sold at. They make excellent airplane reading, so slender you don't feel you are sacrificing your carryon space for a souvenir. :D
And oy does he write sentences that need diagrams to be gotten out of once you've lost yourself in them. Very Enlightenment appropriate.
The interview I didn't find as compelling. It felt like the interviewer knew his subject too well, and so the conversation reached a level of intimacy that left the reader outside.
The essay "On Racism in Science Fiction" however is worth the price of the book just to have on hand for convenient reference.
I continue to be hugely delighted with the Outspoken Authors series and look forward to picking up another the next time I'm at a convention they are sold at. They make excellent airplane reading, so slender you don't feel you are sacrificing your carryon space for a souvenir. :D
May 9, 2019
While I adore Delany, I find his novella Atheist in the Attic to be a bit disappointing. I’m impressed by his ability to write so convincingly from the point of view of Leibniz- the book doesn’t read like it was written in 2018- but the novella doesn’t feel as nearly radical as I mistook it to be based on my previous experience with Delany (Dalghren) and the series that this novella was published in. There are philosophical elements throughout Atheist in the Attic, but nothing seems super transformative about the ideas presented here. (Maybe I need to come across some criticism to see more depth in the novella?)
This stated, the essay “Racism and Science Fiction” in this is phenomenal and is easily five stars by itself. If you find yourself reading this and are not feeling engaged with the novella itself, skip to this essay and you shouldn’t regret it.
This stated, the essay “Racism and Science Fiction” in this is phenomenal and is easily five stars by itself. If you find yourself reading this and are not feeling engaged with the novella itself, skip to this essay and you shouldn’t regret it.
October 28, 2020
This special collection from the Outspoken Authors series has one novella, one essay, and an interview with the author.
I've never read Delany before, and unfortunately, "The Atheist in the Attic" didn't do very much to sell him on me, as it's historical fiction (set in late 17th century Netherlands) that was simply quite boring to me. I didn't skip it, but I did start skimming. I don't really have much else to say about it.
His essay, "Racism and Science Fiction," was excellent and still unfortunately quite timely. It's free online, but I liked this form since it included a postscript (the essay was originally written in 1998, and this collection in 2017). The interview with Terry Bisson revealed who the Nebula Awards speaker had been who had been so insulting.
I've never read Delany before, and unfortunately, "The Atheist in the Attic" didn't do very much to sell him on me, as it's historical fiction (set in late 17th century Netherlands) that was simply quite boring to me. I didn't skip it, but I did start skimming. I don't really have much else to say about it.
His essay, "Racism and Science Fiction," was excellent and still unfortunately quite timely. It's free online, but I liked this form since it included a postscript (the essay was originally written in 1998, and this collection in 2017). The interview with Terry Bisson revealed who the Nebula Awards speaker had been who had been so insulting.
June 14, 2025
I love the PM Outspoken Authors series which has re/introduced me to authors I've read and those I haven't. To wit: Samuel R. Delany, Terry Bisson, Ursula K. LeGuin, Randy Rucker, Cory Doctorow, Nalo Hopkinson, Karen Joy Fowler, Paul Krassner, Carter Scholz, Joe R. Lansdale, Elizabeth Hand and Rachel Pollack.
Delany's short novella opens this small book and I found it confounding. I think it's mainly because I know little about Spinoza and Leibniz, their lives and work, and it seemed like Delany was the narrator instead of Leibniz. "Racism and Science Fiction" was more intelligible for me and I suspect that a 2025 version might show some advances. But maybe not.
I am determined to read more Delany and Octavia Butler.
Look for Outspoken Authors books. Well worth your time.
Delany's short novella opens this small book and I found it confounding. I think it's mainly because I know little about Spinoza and Leibniz, their lives and work, and it seemed like Delany was the narrator instead of Leibniz. "Racism and Science Fiction" was more intelligible for me and I suspect that a 2025 version might show some advances. But maybe not.
I am determined to read more Delany and Octavia Butler.
Look for Outspoken Authors books. Well worth your time.
March 31, 2023
Samuel R. Delany is probably the most loquacious writer I've ever read, a quality that will either endear the reader or put them off entirely. Delany's eloquence and his masterful command of the English language lands engenders the former reaction from me, and his enormous attention to detail allows him to guide the reader along through the narrator's stream of consciousness brilliantly. This volume also contains his powerfully written and perceptive essay, "Racism and Science Fiction", which I would encourage anyone to read so that they might experience the brilliance of Delany's deductive thinking.
April 21, 2018
A short book from PM press that collects a novella, an essay and an interview. The novella is a work of historical fiction and philosophy and I think I need to reread it to get all of the implications. But as someone who studied a lot of early modern history and philosophy (and being an Atheist myself) it was a fun if also occasionally challenging (yet also quick) read. And the essay and interview were important and enjoyable.
Worth seeking out and while this was the first of such works by PM Press I have read I suspect it won’t be the last.
Worth seeking out and while this was the first of such works by PM Press I have read I suspect it won’t be the last.
February 28, 2020
The novella that starts this book was a somewhat difficult read for me. I may read again later. The article about Racism and Science Fiction was an easy read and an interesting article, as was the interview by the editor.
I was interested in reading something by Samuel R. Delany after I found out he was the nephew of the Delany sisters in "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years".
I was interested in reading something by Samuel R. Delany after I found out he was the nephew of the Delany sisters in "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years".
June 5, 2018
Always a treat to read anything by Delany, a writer who pretty much changed my chemistry a few decades back, but this tale is too brief and, in its sparse chapters, deals primarily with the subtleties of language, social status, and mannerisms. An essay on racism in science fiction, included in the book, reflects a time when even more old white guys ruled the coop than they do now.
September 6, 2024
This book made me think! I have not read Delany’s SF, and so came to this novella at a disadvantage. It’s incredibly smart and philosophical (and obscure to me). I loved the author’s essay on racism in SF and the interview with the author at the end.
Note: intrigued by the concept of this series. I will look for others.
Note: intrigued by the concept of this series. I will look for others.
November 27, 2019
This is definitely some of Delany's less interesting work.
It was neat to see Spinoza as a character in this book after reading Through The Valley of the Nest of Spiders, where one of the characters rereads Spinoza's Ethics again and again.
The essay "Racism and Science Fiction" is great, but you can find that other places.
It was neat to see Spinoza as a character in this book after reading Through The Valley of the Nest of Spiders, where one of the characters rereads Spinoza's Ethics again and again.
The essay "Racism and Science Fiction" is great, but you can find that other places.
July 4, 2023
A strange, intriguing novella about the history of philosophy; a must-read essay about racism and SF; and an enlightening Q&A with one of the most original American authors ever. Enjoyed this slim volume a lot.
April 5, 2024
Mr. Delany's career began way before I was even born, and the man is still going strong. This slim collection is a good case in point. Massive skills on display, wielded with maturity and great subtlety.
April 5, 2025
I’m a sucker for philosophical woven weird fiction and anything 17th century and Delany delivers. He always weaves solid politics in his stories. The additional essay ‘Racism in science fiction’ is mandatory reading and the interview is also a banger.
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