Samuel R. Delany
Paperback | Pages: 356 pages Rating: 3.88 | 2405 Users | 238 Reviews
Itemize Out Of Books Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
| Title | : | Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand |
| Author | : | Samuel R. Delany |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | 20th Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 356 pages |
| Published | : | December 15th 2004 by Wesleyan University Press (first published 1984) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. GLBT. Queer |
Commentary To Books Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is a science fiction masterpiece, an essay on the inexplicability of sexual attractiveness, and an examination of interstellar politics among far-flung worlds. First published in 1984, the novel's central issues--technology, globalization, gender, sexuality, and multiculturalism--have only become more pressing with the passage of time. The novel's topic is information itself: What are the repercussions, once it has been made public, that two individuals have been found to be each other's perfect erotic object out to "point nine-nine-nine and several nines percent more"? What will it do to the individuals involved, to the city they inhabit, to their geosector, to their entire world society, especially when one is an illiterate worker, the sole survivor of a world destroyed by "cultural fugue," and the other is--you!List Books In Favor Of Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
| Original Title: | Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand |
| ISBN: | 0819567140 (ISBN13: 9780819567147) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.pseudopodium.org/repress/KLeslieSteiner-SamuelRDelany.html |
| Literary Awards: | Arthur C. Clarke Award Nominee for Best Novel (1987), James Tiptree Jr. Award Nominee for Special Mention - 20th Anniversary Republication (2004) |
Rating Out Of Books Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
Ratings: 3.88 From 2405 Users | 238 ReviewsRate Out Of Books Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
I had long wanted to read this famous book a space fantasy far from my usual choices of fiction reading; it's good to break routine once in a while, as industrial diplomat and star traveler Marq Hyeth (the narrator of most of this book) might say. And it was not at all what I expected. Which is good, I guess. I wanted surprises and got them.As I did expect, it is fantastical and ironic. But it is not light comedy. It is a story contrived to reflect on complicated, unresolved philosophicalWow. This book was amazing. Delany has created a masterpiece here. The prose, the narration, the emotion, the imagery. This book is a work of art. This is a book about becoming human, and a book about being human. Some look for a deeper meaning, I don't think you should. That's all there needs to be. The plot isn't the point. The setting isn't the point. The people are the point. Don't read this looking for an Earth shattering story. Or a truly unique setting. Or a prediction of humanity's
This was a tasty piece of writing, post-modernist to the core, but like the universal flows of information that permeate its (and our) W(w)eb, it wasnt always accessible. Reading about the shapes of bodies and the forms of cities that are so unfamiliar, yet so thoroughly connected to the signs and symbols that define our own bodies and our own cities reminded me of what it is like to try an exotic new delicacy and then eventually grow to enjoy it. Initial apprehension, even revulsion, slowly
Most of this book was just in the good, not great category for me at least when compared to Delanys classics, like Triton and Dhalgren. It seems to be a return to more standard science fiction, in that it takes place in the context of a vast, Galactic society with faster-than-light travel and alliances with multiple alien species. Theres even an enigmatic enemy species, the xlv, about which little is known and much imagined. All is not as it seems, as one might expect from Delany, however. He
Delany's prose takes some getting used to and I have even read reviews of his work that sang to the tune of, "Does he have to be so high and mighty in his verbiage?"The answer is, yes! He does. Someone has to. Get off your lackadaisical bum, you shoddy reader you, and expect something more from yourself and the writer. Stop kowtowing to the school of thought that indicates, "a simple word instead of an esoteric one." What the hell are all the rest of the words in the dictionary for? Why have
Hailed as a "masterpiece," I dove in not knowing what to expect. What I found was a book with enough inventiveness for dozens of novels and lacking sufficient plot for even one. I don't require the proverbial "page turner," but if whole sections could be removed without making a difference then this isn't a work of fiction, it's a literary exercise. It is highly regarded by many, but it was a long hard slog for me, and I won't be returning to his work any time soon, if ever.
This was a favorite read of mine back in my twenties. I used it as proof that SF wasn't a literary wasteland, that innovative stuff was being done in the field and there were voices that the most exacting style-snob couldn't scruple to include in hifalutin' conversations.Boy, was I wrong.It's turgid, it's obfuscatory, and it's mutton dressed up as lamb. "Cut through the galaxy's glitter; slice away all night. What thoughts did I dole out to that world (out of the six thousand, which, according
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