What does lit think of Dhalgren?
inb4 written by a gay nigger
>>7469919
Conflicting read for me. Parts of it I loved (especially when Kid starts to mingle with the Bellonan intelligentsia), though the whole story-arch, albeit cyclical and therefore interesting in its own right, lacked sufficient structure to keep my reading (I stopped after about 650 pages, a few dozen pages into that famous final section 'Palimpsest' that contains bits and pieces of disjunct ramblings of a mad-man (I heard Delany would just compulsively write whatever came to his mind, then he'd just pare down the non-nonsense)). Anyway, overall, the book functions as a cultural mule or compactor; that is, it does a great job of capturing, supporting on its back, and most importantly, encapsulating 70's (counter-)culture, what with all the anti-capitalist bands of hooligans, the consistent threat of cataclysm, sexual exploration, tinges of the beat gen., etc. But it also is a great portraiture of insanity, that whole unreliable narrator thing, which actually ties in nicely with the phantasmagorically hallucinogenic anarchical mist that shrouds not only the city in the story and the tides of the times, but Kid's mind as well.
>>7469919
Iiit's the prettiest book on my tbr
>>7469919
it was written by a pedophile.
>>7470029
Let's not confuse the artist and his art, now. Joyce ate farts, Hemingway molested little boys, and Shakespeare was a tranny: who cares–! If the works good, the source is irrelevant.
>>7469919
I am re-reading it in this edition right now and I am really comforted by Gibson stating that its not intended to make total sense in the foreword. I liked it the first time around but had a nagging feel i was missing important connections, like significance of scratched calves, flashing red eyes in the warehouse, etc.
>>7470105
This to the nth power.
>>7470029
Cool lol
>>7470022
>Conflicting read for me.
Absolutely this.
It took me far longer to finish this than any other book I've read so far. Length playing next to no role in that.
It starts out so slow that reading it can seam like a crawl.
The first time I read it I got to about 300 pages before dropping out. The Peripheral had just came out and so I read that instead so I could keep my Gibson collection complete.
On the second go, the first 300 or so pages were still quite bothersome to go through, however this time I went on to readthe part where the boy dies in the elevator shaftand from there on out I was hooked to it.
Read it whenever I had a free moment and I found that keeping pauses in between sessions short for this book were the key to getting into it.
The story itself is a great reflection w bits of commentary from a magnificent era as the first post of this thread already states---but beyond that it's such a beautiful book. I love a good stylist and having read most of McCarthy's work before I read this, I could really appreciate the way Delany had gone about structuring his book.
Kidd is a fantastic protag despite/because never getting to know him even though you're constantly inside his head.
Absolutely the sort of book that benefits from being read twice.
>>7470906
Pardon the grammatical mistakes.
It is late and I am enjoying my high
>>7470105
Literally this. Joyce, Hemingway and DeSade had little quirks but that doesn't mean their art is bad.
>>7470906
Concurrence, dear pater–!
Yeah, I really enjoy the semi-random first person asides; Kid(d)'s poetic waxing definitely helps bring the novel into the realm of serious art.
Thinking of it more now: the fringy characters, the inevitably known but entirely elusive ending, the disparate word collages in the final section, the fact that it transformed the sci-fi genre by setting the 900 page 'Joycean' precedent. Shieeetttt. I'm finishing it this break.
You've convinced me, anon. Cheers–!
the sf facade that covers delany's urges to write about young men sucking biker cock is particularly thin in this one.
>>7472168
I've heard that the sex in Dhalgren wasn't all that gratuitous.
Wikipedia says that even Norman Mailer of all people didn't think Hogg was without serious literary merit.
>>7472431
norman mailer likes to take contrary positions. it's what he does. i don't think he even believes that; he does it instinctively.
also, you "heard"? did you read the book?
>>7472821
Just started.
>>7470105
Too bad his books suck though
>>7473961
Dhalgren is decent, at worst; brilliant, at best. And Babel-17 is a great read. Have you actually finished any of his works?
Almost finished with it. I feel I figured out the "message" Delany was trying to get across much earlier, so now I'm just enjoying the ride. Kid's interactions with the Scorpions I found surprisingly grounded and pragmatic, a much better examination on human behavior than the warped sci-fi trip I was expecting, and the Kid's relation with Denny (though, like someone else in this thread already said, appears kind of iffy) is also particularly touching at moments. Just waiting now to get to the end and see if there's anything as shocking as the elevator scene in wait.
all the nonsense of pomo without anything interesting or of worth
>>7475127
you seem to be implying that somewhere, there IS pomo with interest or worth. let us know if you find any.
