Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

Samuel R. Delany, author of multiple award-winning works, literary critic, SFWA Grand Master and one of the founding fathers of the New Wave sci-fi genre.

Born on April 1, 1942 in Harlem, into a family with an already rich heritage. His grandfather was the first black bishop of the Episcopal Church and both his aunts (Sadie and Bessie Delany) were civil rights pioneers. Throughout his childhood he struggled with dyslexia, a term virtually unknown to the general public at the time. That contributed to his constant writing, filling pages after pages with poems, sexual fantasies and diary entries.

Delaney attended an Ivy League preparatory private middle school and an academically exclusive high school specialized in sciences. He remained in Harlem until the death of his father in 1960. Even though he identified himself as gay since adolescence, in 1961 he married an American poet Marilyn Hacker, who he was friends with since high school andwho later identified herself as lesbian after their divorce. They married in Detroit, because it was the nearest city where state laws permitted an interracial marriage. With Hacker's help he was able to publish his first novel (The Jewels of Aptor) at 20, even though he already finished writing it when he was 19. Between 1962 and 1966 he published multiple well-regarded works of sci-fi, including the award-winning Babel-17. And while on a five-month to Europe he started working on The Einstein Intersection, the novel that would land him yet another Nebula. Upon his return Delany and Hacker began living separately, he started playing in a rock band before moving to San Francisco and publishing Nova in 1968.

His next work would only be published in 1975 (Dhalgren), though throughout the years he kept exploring the limits of his artistic abilities. He directed a short film "The Orchid" while back in NYC in 1971, he wrote two issues of the Wonder Woman comics in 1972. While living in London from 1972 to 1974 he wrote two pornographic works (one of which is Hogg) that would take twenty years to get published. In the '70s and '80s his main project would be Return to Nevèrÿon, a four-volume series and in establishing himself as a literary critic.

In 1988 he became a professor of English and Comparative Literature, his experience and expertise allowing him to publish multiple important works on literary theory, criticism, interviews and essays.

Throughout his life he was awarded a myriad of awards, leaving a unique footprint in three history of sci-fi and fantasy. Recurring themes in Delany's work include mythology, memory, language, sexuality, and perception.

Delany's disability, race, and sexuality presented challenges for him, but they were also the conditions for developing his consciousness as a writer and critic.

Quoting his own words:

"I was a young black man, light-skinned enough so that four out of five people who met me, of whatever race, assumed I was white.... I was a homosexual who now knew he could function heterosexually.

And I was a young writer whose early attempts had already gotten him a handful of prizes....

So, I thought, you are neither black nor white.

You are neither male nor female.

And you are that most ambiguous of citizens, the writer.

There was something at once very satisfying and very sad, placing myself at this pivotal suspension. It seemed, in the park at dawn, a kind of revelation--a kind of center, formed of a play of ambiguities, from which I might move in any direction."

Delany's works on our list:

Babel-17
The Einstein Intersection
Nova
Dhalgren
Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia

When I saw this post I shuddered for a moment: He's not dead is he? I checked, and no, he is not!

I love the Neveryon books. (Well, 2 or 3 of them at least.) Plan to re-read Triton someday when I find time.

Thanks for this post, Art. It very much enriches my reading of Delaney's work and makes me want to read more.

To me it is conflicting writing these posts. Knowing that I am nowhere near to doing them justice writing a 500 word post, trying to cram as many facts as possible, doesn't stop me from wanting to spread the word about the great authors off our list.

Anyway, I will probably try looking for a copy of The Motion Of Light In Water: Sex And Science Fiction Writing In The East Village, a very interesting read from what I gathered while researching.

I've read "Motion of Light...." Like his other works of criticism, it mostly goes over my head.

There are selections from Motion of Light... in The Stonewall Reader, available from my library. I've requested it!

I've read about his background before - a unique, admirable individual for sure. But I've read the first three in the list and they go over my head too. I liked Nova better but found the others incomprehensible. I'll take on Dhalgren someday but I'm deeply afraid of it.

I believe it was Ed who posted either a similar or the same exact post about a year ago, in case you missed it, it's worth reading:

https://www.nyrsf.com/racism-and-scie...

https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/15...

Another interesting article about Delany, his novel Nova got republished by the Library of America.

Thanks for that. Nova is probably the only non-porn Delany novel that I haven't read. I should fix that someday.