macroscopicentric's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
From anyone else, in all honesty, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the sheer level of navel-gazing we get from Delany here. Delany is absolutely obsessed with trying to make himself understood to the reader, which is part of why the book is so long, and is also equally obsessed with his own reflections on the limits of memory, semantics, and communicating his experiences to another person through writing. But for some reason from Delany these things felt charming to me rather than annoying or grandiose or self-obsessive. I think part of it is the kindness with which he treats others, even when they’ve perhaps misused him. His reflections on his relationship with Marilyn, especially, are stupendously generous in a way I wouldn’t necessarily have expected from someone in that situation (even though he didn’t find it unpleasant). I think another part of it is that he turns the obsession with the failures of memory on himself, and openly and enthusiastically interrogates the failures of his own memory. In the end I really enjoyed this, and it didn’t necessarily make me more inclined to read his science fiction but it did make me want to read his other nonfiction. Delany has permanently endeared himself to me as a self-conscious and highly verbal (sometimes excessively so) optimistic documenter of human behavior, which is just extremely relatable all around.
raulbime's review against another edition
5.0
Well this was a wonderful introduction to a writer. Some days have passed since I finished reading this and I think now is the perfect time to write some words on the book. First, such a beautiful title, I know it might be unimportant to some, but I appreciated the name of this book especially the first part, the second part peaked my interest as well I'll admit.
Samuel R Delany is considered one of the best science fiction writers, has been published and writing since the 1950s so that's seven decades, a quite impressive feat and of course has won lots of awards and acclaim for his work. Introducing yourself to a writer via a memoir can be a risk I think, what happens if I hate the person or find them annoying and never read the books? It can also be cautionary and good if the person turns out to be a self-professed bigot/racist/sexist/transphobe/homophobe. This book however, was a great meeting point.
From New York city, Delany narrates of the city and his childhood. An intelligent, dyslexic (a condition that what wasn't commonly known then and the writer would only find out later in his adulthood), gifted and sociable child. Delany recounts his inventive worlds and people and the wonders of a rich imagination, his relations with his family and friends, school and later youth and Black and queer life in the fifties and early sixties.
One of the things I've learnt from this book is that very very few things are really new, and true to its promise in the title there's quite a number of passages filled with sex. So a warning for those that do not like reading explicitly sexual material.
It's always fascinating to me when I read books set in western countries prior Stonewall and during a time when there were few to none legal frameworks to protect queer individuals in these countries against violence and abuse driven by intolerance and hatred. I recognize the familiarity in the risk, uncertainty, vulnerability and exposure and it was incredible reading Delany tell of this world that existed prior to the great sweeping revolutionary change that was Stonewall and the setbacks they would encounter later. That isn't to say no violence or abuse exists today, but it was great reading that place and time very well written and described, as well as the way such a state shapes not only queer people but a society in general.
"Whether male, female, working or middle class, the first direct sense of political power comes from apprehension of massed bodies. That I'd felt it and was frightened by it means that others had felt it too. The myth said we, as isolated perverts, were only beings of desire, manifestations of the subject (yes, gone awry, turned from it's true object, but for all that, even more purely subjective)"
This book definitely informed, and put in words half formed thoughts in a voice that was intimate, almost fraternal, not condescending or attempting to be instructive that gave the reading experience a feeling of communion. Of course Delany also writes of his writing and the process and I was awed by his talent and the work he put, and this book covers a whole range of subjects and cannot be condensed, but what a wonderful gift it was.
Samuel R Delany is considered one of the best science fiction writers, has been published and writing since the 1950s so that's seven decades, a quite impressive feat and of course has won lots of awards and acclaim for his work. Introducing yourself to a writer via a memoir can be a risk I think, what happens if I hate the person or find them annoying and never read the books? It can also be cautionary and good if the person turns out to be a self-professed bigot/racist/sexist/transphobe/homophobe. This book however, was a great meeting point.
From New York city, Delany narrates of the city and his childhood. An intelligent, dyslexic (a condition that what wasn't commonly known then and the writer would only find out later in his adulthood), gifted and sociable child. Delany recounts his inventive worlds and people and the wonders of a rich imagination, his relations with his family and friends, school and later youth and Black and queer life in the fifties and early sixties.
One of the things I've learnt from this book is that very very few things are really new, and true to its promise in the title there's quite a number of passages filled with sex. So a warning for those that do not like reading explicitly sexual material.
It's always fascinating to me when I read books set in western countries prior Stonewall and during a time when there were few to none legal frameworks to protect queer individuals in these countries against violence and abuse driven by intolerance and hatred. I recognize the familiarity in the risk, uncertainty, vulnerability and exposure and it was incredible reading Delany tell of this world that existed prior to the great sweeping revolutionary change that was Stonewall and the setbacks they would encounter later. That isn't to say no violence or abuse exists today, but it was great reading that place and time very well written and described, as well as the way such a state shapes not only queer people but a society in general.
"Whether male, female, working or middle class, the first direct sense of political power comes from apprehension of massed bodies. That I'd felt it and was frightened by it means that others had felt it too. The myth said we, as isolated perverts, were only beings of desire, manifestations of the subject (yes, gone awry, turned from it's true object, but for all that, even more purely subjective)"
This book definitely informed, and put in words half formed thoughts in a voice that was intimate, almost fraternal, not condescending or attempting to be instructive that gave the reading experience a feeling of communion. Of course Delany also writes of his writing and the process and I was awed by his talent and the work he put, and this book covers a whole range of subjects and cannot be condensed, but what a wonderful gift it was.
lamusadelils's review against another edition
4.0
Ay pinshi tío Sam, que persona más interesante y qué gracia al contar su vida. Solo recuerdo haber leído Dhalgren de él (un rompecabezas igualmente ingenioso que chocante) y con esto me dieron ganas de ir a leer toda su ficción, excepto quizá Hogg porque la vida tiene sus límites.
glassglassmadeof's review against another edition
5.0
Lovely and enlightening to a fan of Delany's oeuvre or anyone looking for an introduction to his work and life in a Wittgenstein-ian mode