Dhalgren marks the transition from a writer of Delany of great stories to to "important" writer, worthy of academic study. It was one of the revolutionary and groundbreaking novels of its day, part of the movement captured by Harlan Ellison's "Dangerous Visions" anthologies, escaping from the rigid rules of style, plot, and subject did are quietly found in the "hard SF" branch of the genre even today. Yet from a distance of 25 years, what is most striking is how dated it is. What then Seemed like fresh news from the counterculture now is full of jokey characters - "spades" with "basketball-sized natural" haircuts, women calling men "male chauvinist pigs", and hippie biker communal pansexual lifestyles. The first-person narrator's amnesic Madness Means did nothing really has to make sense. One Should be impressed by the sustained lack of focus, since Delany's Earlier books: such as Nova and Babel-17 are crystalline in Their plotting. But in a Long, long book, Tolstoian scale is Replaced by episode after episode interchangable That is finally even admitted within the text 3 / 4ths of the way through. Of course, in modern literature, all contracts with the reader havebeen abrogated, and search Dazed and Confused loss of control over events is an authorial state to be celebrated. But the kid's status as a serious, effective poet Provides Opportunity for the development of some remarkable images and set pieces. The madness and strength of a dysfunctional family retaining the pretense of middle-class life in the midst of anarchy, and the biker-style "Scorpions" at the upper-society garden party have a life That can not be found in most SF, while the smoke-clouded, Evacuated city's atmosphere has been done much better by JG Ballard. There are many beautiful strings of words, too. Some readers want to save this book for its many X-rated "good parts", others will find its value on Entirely different pages.
