blueskye@sun.uucp (Tim Ryan) (01/05/86)
What with all this chit-chat about Samuel Delany's _Stars in my
Pocket like Grains of Sand_ (SIMPLGOS), I'd like to offer my own
opinion on the book and some of the questions raised in this
discussion.
I have read SIMPLGOS, as well as almost everything else written
by Sam Delany. It is my observation that most of Delany's works are
studies on a particular theme. For example, "Time considered as a
helix of semi-precious stones" is a study of crime in a homogeneous and
fairly controlled society. _Dhalgren_ is a study of dreams, and living
in an urban ghetto. "The Star Pit" is a study about the ecology that
we all live in; it is a story about enclosure and limits and how we
each respond to our limits. _Tides of Lust_ is a no hol[ed]s barred
study of sexuality and mythos. Similarly, SIMPLGOS has a theme;
several, I think. That the two main characters in SIMPLGOS have "gay"
sex is almost beside the point. I see SIMPLGOS as a study of gender and
the family. Delany is very good--for about the first 100 or so pages,
it seems that most characters (except the protagonist, Rat Korga) are
referred to as "she." Except sometimes they also get referred to as
"he." I admit I was thoroughly confused as to the characters' genders,
and I was delighted that Delany had so confused me. And then he drops
the explanation into our laps like a 100 Watt bulb turned on in the
middle of the night--people are referred to as "she" until they become
the objects of sex, during which they are referred to as "he." All at
once, Delany turns our own world upside down, and gives men a sort of
come-uppance. Brilliant. As for the dealings with "the family," the
background conflict that comes to the forefront as the book progresses,
is that between the Dyeth (pronounced like "death" [sneaky, huh?]) and
the Thant families. The Dyeth's are members of a stream, a loose
association of affectional entities, who, in their case, are not all of
the same species. The Thants are members of a group that seems to be
much more like the "nuclear family," with roles assigned according to
age and physical gender. Delany contrasts these two ideas nicely, and
I sense that the next book in his diptych will explore this "family
feud" much more. He also hints that this difference in style has more
that personal ramifications--it appears to have mass political and
psychological impacts. That, too, will be intersting to follow.
I think that Delany is one of the best contemporary SF
authors. I like his style. He is not afraid to write about the tough
issues of our time, like race, gender, the family, the poor, the
disenfranchised, and sexuality. His characters are very human and far
from perfect. All radical concepts for SF. Only one other
contemporary writer compares--Ursual K. LeGuin.
As to the questions raised by the original poster, they all
strike me as provocative. Others have given the Politically Correct
answers, so I won't reiterate. I did want to contribute to this
discussion, however, since I seem to be one of the few interested
parties who has actually finished the book. I would recommend this
book to any and all readers as a worthwhile venture. It is full of
surprises (like dragon "hunting") and thought provoking. I can't wait
for the second book!
- tim ryan
{...ucbvax, nsc, ihnp4, hplabs, pyramid}!sun!blueskye
"...though many people talked about it, almost no one had
read the *whole* of _The Mantichorio_." [an epic narrative
with a 30K word intro and 137K lines of alternating heptameter
and hexameter]
_Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand_