hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA (08/02/85)
From: Jim Hofmann <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA> Rick Schieve writes: > Dhalgren was mentioned in another posting. It is one of the few Sci-Fi books I gave up half way through in disgust. Has anyone read it all the way through? Is the ending any better? Or does it just keep rambling on and on...? Well, yeh, Rick. I've read this book twice now and found it very enjoyable. It takes a clear an open mind to get into this one. The second time I read it, I tried to visualize what a movie would look like if one was ever made. I kept on thinking of a cross between Jim Morrison and Arnol Scwarzenegger to play the lead. From the beginning scene where the Kid(d) stumbles into the city of Belona to the end when he leaves and passes someone just like him entering this book touches on alot of subjects not normally tackled in Science Fiction like gang rape (both male and female), middle-class angst and youth gangs. Delaney also introduces gee-whizzo devices to further his imagery like the Torchlights which project a hologram over the user like Spiders and Dragons. If you read closely enough you'll find this is a modern-day version of Grendal ( get it, Dhalgren/GrenDhal ?) and it is fun trying to figure out who corresponds to who. Delaney divorces himself from standard literary style and I assume this is what you mean by 'rambling'? At one point he breaks the writing into two columns when action is going on in parallel. If you still have the book try tackling it again. I haven't met many sci-fi readers who don't hold this book with anything less than awe. Jim Hofmann