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From: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren
Message-ID: <16089@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Aug-85 14:49:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.16089
Posted: Wed Aug  7 14:49:12 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 7-Aug-85 23:58:48 EDT
References: <662@ihu1g.UUCP> <71@unc.unc.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
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[...]

Dhalgren is a lot easier to understand and appreciate once you
know about a few of Delany's learning disabilities.  First, Delany
is an epileptic who is prone to petit mal fits that wipe out his
memories of the past short while.  Second, Delany has a learning
disability that makes it difficult for him to remember the temporal
order of his experiences: in other words, he often can't remember
what came first in a sequence of events.  Third, he has a form of
dyslexia that slows his reading considerably.  Fourth, he has a
poor spatial memory, which means that he often can't remember
exactly where things were.

Dhalgren is his attempt to convey his experiences to the reader.
The hero has significant memory problems.  For example, he constantly
finds material in his notebook that he can't remember writing.
He occasionally thinks the buildings have moved closer or further
away from the river.  The order of events is constantly confused.
The hero frequently has a good deal of difficulty reading.

Many people feel that Dhalgren goes on too long without clarifying
anything.  On the other hand, if you see it as an attempt to give
the reader an experience of the author's world, you _have_ to take
a fair amount of time so you can adjust and begin to feel at home.
By the end of Dhalgren, I more or less understood what had happened
and the order in which it happened.  If you can accept the total
mental disorientation, I think the vividness of the imagery is well
worth the read.  One warning though: it is hard to say that Dhalgren
has a story as such.  A general requirement of a "story" is that a
sequence of events changes a character or set of characters in some
way.  I'm not sure that anyone is changed by the events in Dhalgren
(which may be Delany's point).  Therefore you get the feeling that
nothing has been accomplished.  A better way to approach the book is
to regard it as a form of poetry (odd concept though that is).

Most people don't find Dhalgren their cup of tea, and I can certainly
understand that.  However, Delany can write the socks off practically
any other modern writer, even when you hate his material.  It's well
worth anyone's while to go to the library and take out Dhalgren to
see if you like it.

				Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo