Three marvelously structured stories trace the intricate interdependencies of memory, experience, and the self.
Wesleyan University Press has made a significant commitment to the publication of the work of Samuel R. Delany, including this recent fiction, now available in paperback. The three long stories collected in Atlantis: three tales -- "Atlantis: Model 1924," "Erik, Gwen, and D. H. Lawrence's Aesthetic of Unrectified Feeling," and "Citre et Trans" -- explore problems of memory, history, and transgression.
Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and Guest of Honor at the 1995 World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, Delany was won a broad audience among fans of postmodern fiction with his theoretically sophisticated science fiction and fantasy. The stories of Atlantis: three tales are not SF, yet Locus, the trade publication of the science fiction field, notes that the title story "has an odd, unsettling power not usually associated with mainstream fiction."
A writer whose audience extends across and beyond science fiction, black, gay, postmodern, and academic constituencies, Delany is finally beginning to achieve the broader recognition he deserves.
Three marvelously structured stories trace the intricate interdependencies of memory, experience, and the self.
Wesleyan University Press has made a significant commitment to the publication of the work of Samuel R. Delany, including this recent fiction, now available in paperback. The three long stories collected in Atlantis: three tales -- "Atlantis: Model 1924," "Erik, Gwen, and D. H. Lawrence's Aesthetic of Unrectified Feeling," and "Citre et Trans" -- explore problems of memory, history, and transgression.
Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and Guest of Honor at the 1995 World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, Delany was won a broad audience among fans of postmodern fiction with his theoretically sophisticated science fiction and fantasy. The stories of Atlantis: three tales are not SF, yet Locus, the trade publication of the science fiction field, notes that the title story "has an odd, unsettling power not usually associated with mainstream fiction."
A writer whose audience extends across and beyond science fiction, black, gay, postmodern, and academic constituencies, Delany is finally beginning to achieve the broader recognition he deserves.
SAMUEL R. DELANY many prizes include the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature. Wesleyan has published both his fiction and nonfiction, including Atlantis: three tales (1995), Silent Interviews: On Language, Race, Sex, Science Fiction, and Some Comics (1994), Longer Views: Extended Essays (1996), and Shorter Views: Queer Thoughts & the Politics of the Paraliterary. The press has also reissued his classic science fiction and fantasy novels Dhalgren (1996), The Einstein Intersection (1998) and the four-volume Return to Nevèrÿon series.
"[Delany] works real magic in these pages . . . Portions of
'Atlantis: Model 1924' linger, even loom, in my memory, and I
suspect they will long endure there."--Hungry Mind Review
"[Delany] works real magic in these pages . . . Portions of
'Atlantis: Model 1924' linger, even loom, in my memory, and I
suspect they will long endure there.Hungry Mind Review"--Hungry
Mind Review
"Delany, who's best known for his science fiction, takes a variety
of literary turns in these three novellas that chronicle the
experience of the African American writer in the 20th century . . .
Balanced and full of intricate layers of prose, these novellas
present a potpourri literary references, detailed flashbacks and
experimental page layouts. Delany seamlessly meshes graceful prose,
cultural and philosophical depth and a knowledge of different forms
and voices into a truly heady, literate blend."--Publishers
Weekly
"The language is lush and striking. Deftly, Delany uses stream of
consciousness, Surrealism, and typographic innovation to juxtapose
fact, memory, and time."--Boston Phoenix Literary Supplement
"Delany sketches sympathetic portraits of young black men aswim in
the dense, sweet hives of American cities."--New York Times Book
Review
"[Delany] works real magic in these pages . . . Portions of
Atlantis: Model 1924 linger, even loom, in my memory, and I suspect
they will long endure there."--Hungry Mind Review
"Delany, who's best known for his science fiction, takes a variety
of literary turns in these three novellas that chronicle the
experience of the African American writer in the 20th century . . .
Balanced and full of intricate layers of prose, these novellas
present a potpourri literary references, detailed flashbacks and
experimental page layouts. Delany seamlessly meshes graceful prose,
cultural and philosophical depth and a knowledge of different forms
and voices into a truly heady, literate blend."--Publishers
Weekly
"The language is lush and striking. Deftly, Delany uses stream of
consciousness, Surrealism, and typographic innovation to juxtapose
fact, memory, and time."--Boston Phoenix Literary
Supplement
"[Delany] works real magic in these pages . . . Portions of
"Atlantis: Model 1924" linger, even loom, in my memory, and I
suspect they will long endure there."--Hungry Mind
Review
"Delany sketches sympathetic portraits of young black men aswim in
the dense, sweet hives of American cities."--New York Times Book
Review
Delany, who's best known for his science fiction (Nova, Dhalgren) takes a variety of literary turns in these three novellas that chronicle the experience of the African American writer in the 20th century. The longest story, ``Atlantis: Model 1924,'' focuses on the impressions of a 17-year-old African American who travels from North Carolina to New York to join his family. Using a mysterious unnamed character who vanishes from a rowboat beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, Delany draws a variety of parallels between the mythic aspects of the Big Apple and the legendary city under the sea, framing the young man's perspective against the achievements of such early 20th-century black luminaries as Paul Robeson, Hart Crane and Jean Toomer. In ``Erik, Gwen, and D.H. Lawrence's Esthetic of Unrectified Feeling,'' Delany paints a portrait of the black artist as a young man, musing on the use of music lessons, art classes and New York private schools to help instill and sustain the instinct to create. ``Citre et Trans'' leans more heavily on plot and narrative and deals, albeit with more style and seriousness, with some of the themes of the author's recently published Hogg. Here, a bisexual African American writer, living in Greece in the mid-1960s, must confront the emotional effects of rape after his roommate picks up a pair of Greek sailors. Balanced and full of intricate layers of prose, these novellas present a potpourri of literary references, detailed flashbacks and experimental page layouts. Delany seamlessly meshes graceful prose, cultural and philosophical depth and a knowledge of different forms and voices into a truly heady, literate blend. (May)
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