For Bookworms Only

(June 10, 2002)

Adam recommended Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney. Have you read this? It's a mindfuck.

We don't know the name of the protagonist, so everyone just calls him "Kid," or "Kidd." It takes place solely in a town called Bellona, which has undergone some kind of apocolypse. We don't know whether or not the rest of the earth is as charred and decimated as Bellona, because while most of the populace seems to have either died or fled, citing New York and San Francisco as destinations, some have stayed and some (like Kid) have actually come there on purpose. Out of curiosity? Implying that things are different elsewhere. Or not.

Dhalgren has no plot whatsoever. Kid is basically just wandering around Bellona encountering creepy people, getting beat up, and foraging for food and a good fuck. The characters are all preoccupied and have a way of leaving sentences unfinished. Some are living their lives like everything is normal, some acknowledge the post-apocolyptic wasteland by talking about what they did "before," and some have formed into communes or gangs, which, in their own way, help each other survive.

Delaney leaves the weird sci-fi elements unexplained, like two suns appearing in the sky, some chick that turned into a tree, and the origin or purpose of these long glass bead chains which some characters (including Kid) wear wrapped around their bodies. As sci-fi, therefore, it's warped. I'm not going to get into a whole thing about what is and isn't sci-fi because every now and then I edge into that quicksand and nobody cares.

However. Sci-fi is usually centered around some sort of catastrophe that either suddenly happens (a meteor is heading right for us, our spaceship is sucked into a black hole, etc) or it's human folly that causes disaster (nuclear waste created a monster, the robots we made have taken over, etc). Then the story unfolds, showing how the humans have to deal with it, not just with the weaponry of science but also with the heart and soul they were born with*. Sci-fi is really kind of fable-like, if you think about it.

* I just made that part up, but it sounds right, don't you think?

The lack of plot and the sketchy characterization makes for a difficult read at times, and it's compounded by the fact that Delaney switches tense and voice (from third person to first) at will.

Nutty. So how come I'm still reading this book? It's the language. I don't know when I've seen anyone turn a phrase as elegantly. There are whole passages where I have no idea what he's saying, but goddamn he's saying it beautifully.