Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Dhalgren- Samuel R Delany

Page: 1(2)

Queer Pirate

15:27 / 19.10.06

Even there, I'm not sure he does. He most certainly has a greater insight on the matter, but when you write, the beast sometimes escapes your control. A lot of Dhalgren feels like it was written in stream-of-consciousness style and I'm sure that Delany himself wonders about the full implications of a lot of the stuff he wrote there.

matthew.

19:54 / 19.10.06

I think the exact opposite. I think Delany knew exactly what he was doing with everything. Every word is so meticulously chosen that it seems bizarre to say his creation got loose from him. I'd rather imagine that he wrote this novel mad-scientist-style, pain-stakingly imagining every detail so that we could look at every detail and get fucking confused.

Queer Pirate

04:11 / 20.10.06

I never adhered to the theory that writers think about the implication of every word they put down. Sure, they stop to think of the best way of putting down a sentence on paper, they read and re-read and tweak until everything is to their satisfaction, but I find that writing is an intensely intuitive endeavor. I think he knew what he was doing for the most part, but... it always escapes the creator's control at some point.

I find writing to be more akin to exorcising possession than a delibarate, intellectual endeavour.

Dusto

13:08 / 31.10.06

I read Dhalgren a few years ago. While I prefer Gravity's Rainbow, it is quite an impressive, immersive read. Interesting fact I heard about it: Delany had written the first 200 pages or so and then lost them when his bags were lost on an airplane. He had to start over from scratch. I'm hoping that some day those 200 pages turn up so we can compare them to the remade versions.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:47 / 31.10.06

I'd never heard that- yeah, you're right, those 200 pages could be one of the mythical Great Lost Books!

(Welcome to the board, anyway! People who like Dhalgren are always welcome).

Dusto

14:53 / 31.10.06

I'd heard that story from the owner of The Other Change of Hobbit (a fantasy/sci-fi bookstore in Berkeley, CA) who claims to have attended a reading where Delany read some of his work in progress, which was Dhalgren, and that he found out later that immediately after the reading, Delany lost the pages. I'm not 100 percent sure it's true as it's just word of mouth, but that's the story I heard.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

15:45 / 31.10.06

Not knowing whether it's true or not makes it more Dhalgrenny, though. I like the story.

Page: 1(2)

Add Your Reply