Samuel R. Delany

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Samuel R. Delany

Samuel Ray Delany (born April 1, 1942 in Harlem , New York City ) is an American science fiction writer.

Life

Delany is the son of undertaker Samuel R. Delany (1906-1960) and library clerk Margaret Carey Boyd Delany. His aunts on his father's side were the authors and civil rights activists Sadie and Bessie Delany , whom Delany later had as Elsie and Corry in his short story Atlantis: Model 1924 (1995). After attending private school, he attended the prestigious Bronx High School of Science and then New York City College . There he began his literary work, but left the college again after a year. Delany has been a freelance writer since 1967 and, along with Norman Spinrad , Harlan Ellison and Roger Zelazny, is considered the most important representative of the American New Wave . Delany has been teaching at universities since 1975, and since 1988 with the rank of professor. From 1961 to 1980 he was married to the poet Marilyn Hacker . He has lived with his partner Dennis Rickett since 1991 . Delany openly identifies as homosexual .

plant

In 1962 Delany's first novel The Jewels of Aptor appeared , which the avowed gay man began to write at the age of 19 and soon sent to a publisher at the insistence of his then-wife Marilyn Hacker . It was followed by the "Tomoron" trilogy ( Captives of the Flame , The Towers of Toron , City of Thousand Suns ), which appeared between 1963 and 1965. But his breakthrough came in 1966 with his work Babel-17 (German 1975), which earned him the Nebula Award and a nomination for the Hugo Award . He received the Hugo Award in 1970 for Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones . The 1973 published Equinox , also known as The Tides of Lust (Eng. "Equinox", 1994), brought him pornography allegations because of its explicit erotic representations. He created his main works with the enigmatic novels Dhalgren (1974, German 1980), which Paul Di Filippo called "Fellini's Satyricon der SF", and with Triton (1976, German 1981). In 1984 Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand was published, the stylistically most radical novel from Delany's pen, an “attempt [...] to push the limits of linguistic and literary communication “( Florian F. Marzin ). Delany's most radical novel - especially with regard to the portrayal of violence and sexuality - Hogg did not appear until 1995, although he was already writing this story while working on Dhalgren .

With the fantasy stories of the "Nimmerya" series, he takes up considerations about the power of language, social and sexual behavior and the influence of wealth in a very young civilization. Delany's works can be assigned to various SF subgenres. Delany is generally regarded as a representative of the New Wave SF, but the eleven "Nevèrÿon" stories published between 1979 and 1987 belong to the genre Sword and Sorcery and his novel Nevèrÿon can be described as space opera . In the last 30 years Delany has turned away from the genre of science fiction and has tried other forms of novel. In 2002 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

subjects

Delany's work deviates radically from “classic” science fiction and has strong influences from experimental and beat literature. With Dhalgren in particular , Delany is considered an important representative of slipstream literature in science fiction. The focus of his work is often on issues such as identity, race and sexuality and, recurring, the relationship between language and being, developed on the basis of outsider protagonists. For example, Delany's novel Babel-17 arose from dealing with the linguistic-philosophical - psycholinguistic Sapir-Whorf hypothesis . Delany's works often also deal with political topics such as ghettoization , slavery and racism. In the third volume of the “Nevèrÿon” volume, Delany also deals with the topic of AIDS for the first time . Furthermore, autobiographical and biographical elements can be found again and again in his works. Atlantis: Model 1924, for example, is based on the story of his father.

Other art forms

In addition to writing novels, Delany tried again and again to other artistic forms of expression. In 1967 he worked with Susan Schweers from The Heavenly Breakfast , to which Delany himself belonged, the radio play The Star-Pit . Together with his wife Marilyn Hacker, among others, he also set up their own theater in which, for example, they performed Jean Genet's The Maids . Delany was also enthusiastic about comics and graphic novels . In 1978 he brought out the comic Empire together with Howard Chaykin and in 1999 the autobiographical graphic novel Bread and Wine in collaboration with Mia Wolff . Delany also tried his hand at filmmaking, making experimental short films such as The Orchid , produced by Barbara Wise in 1972; her 17 year old son David Wise directed the camera.

Awards

  • 1967: Nebula Award for the novel Babel-17
  • 1968: Nebula Award for the short story Aye, and Gomorrah ...
  • 1968: Nebula Award for the novel The Einstein Intersection
  • 1970: Hugo Award for the short story Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones
  • 1970: Nebula Award for the novelette Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones
  • 1978: Prix ​​de la SF de Metz for the French translation of Triton
  • 1985: Pilgrim Award for Lifetime Achievement
  • 1989: Hugo Award for the non-fiction book The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village 1957-1965
  • 1993: Lambda Award for life's work
  • 2001: Gaylactic Spectrum Award for special merits
  • 2002: Science Fiction Hall of Fame
  • 2002: Gaylactic Spectrum Award, Hall of Fame for Dhalgren
  • 2005: Lambda Award, Pioneer Award
  • 2010: Eaton Award for Lifetime Achievement
  • 2014: SFWA Grand Master Award
  • 2018: Locus Award for the novelette The Hermit of Houston

bibliography

The towers of Toron
  • The Towers of Toron , 1985, ISBN 3-404-24072-3 , The Fall of the Towers , 1971 (anthology)
  • Slaves of the Flame , 1971, ISBN 3-548-02828-4 , Captives of the Flame also: Out of the Dead City , 1963
  • The Towers of Toron , 1978, ISBN 3-404-24072-3 , The Towers of Toron , 1964
  • City of a thousand suns , 1979, Pabel , City of a Thousand Suns , 1965
Neveryon
  • Stories from Nimmerya , 1981, ISBN 3-942-39624-6 , Tales of Neveryon , 1975
  • Das Land Nimmerya , 1984, ISBN 3-404-24053-7 , Neveryona: or The Tale of Signs and Cities , 1983
  • Escape from Nimmerya , 1988, ISBN 3-404-24111-8 , Flight from Neveryon , 1978
  • The Bridge of Lost Desire also: Return to Neveryon , 1987
Single novels
  • The Ballad of Beta-2 and Other Legends of the Future , 1985, ISBN 3-404-24076-6 (anthology)
  • The jewels of Aptor , The Jewels of Aptor , 1962
  • The Ballad of Beta-2 , The Ballad of Beta 2 , 1965
  • Empire Star , The Empire Star , 1966

(The German translations were not published individually, only in an anthology)

  • Babel-17 , 1975, ISBN 3-442-25038-2 , Babel-17 , 1966
  • Einstein, Orpheus and others , 1972, ISBN 3-404-22076-5 , The Einstein Intersection , 1967
  • Nova , 1983, ISBN 3-453-05797-X , Nova , 1968
  • Equinox , 1997, ISBN 3-924-95942-0 , The Tides of Lust also: Equinox , 1973
  • Dhalgren , science fiction novel. Bastei-Verlag Lübbe 1980, Bergisch Gladbach, ISBN 3-404-24011-1 .
  • Triton , 1981, ISBN 3-404-24016-2 , Triton also: Trouble on Triton , 1976
  • Empire: A Visual Novel , 1978
  • Stars in My Pocket Like Dust , 1985, ISBN 3-404-22084-6 , Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand , 1984
  • We, in Some Strange Power's Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line , 1990 (novella)
  • They Fly at Ciron , 1992
  • The Mad Man , 1994
  • Hogg , 1995
  • Phallos , 2004 (novella)
  • Dark Reflections , edited by Karlheinz Schlögl, translated by Andy Hahnemann, Golkonda Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-942396-29-5 ( Dark Reflections , 2007)
  • Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders , 2012
Story collections
  • Aye, and Gomorrah: And Other Stories , 1967
  • Treibglas , 1982, ISBN 3-404-24029-4 , Driftglass: Ten Tales of Speculative Fiction , 1971
  • Distant Stars , 1981
  • The Complete Nebula Award-Winning Fiction , 1986
  • Driftglass / Starshards , 1993
  • Atlantis: Three Tales , 1995
Anthologies (as editor)

(with Marilyn Hacker )

  • Quark 1 , 1970
  • Quark 2 , 1971
  • Quark 3 , 1971
  • Quark 4 , 1971

literature

  • Douglas Barbour: Worlds out of words. The sf-novels of Samuel R. Delany . Brain's Head Books, Frome 1979, ISBN 0-905220-13-7 .
  • Christian Hoffmann: Dark reflections , in: Quarber Merkur . Franz Rottensteiner's literary magazine for science fiction and fantasy. Vol. 114, 2013, ISBN 978-3-934273-93-1 , pp. 270-271.
  • Heinrich Keim: New Wave - the avant-garde of modern Anglo-American science fiction? An investigation of the literary phenomenon "New Wave" based on the works of James Graham Ballard , Michael Moorcock , Brian Wilson Aldiss , John Brunner , Norman Spinrad, Thomas M. Disch , John T. Sladek , Roger Zelazny, Samuel R. Delany. Corian-Verlag, Meitingen 1983. ISBN 3-89048-301-1 .
  • Jürgen Joachimsthaler: Dynamization of images, signs and imagines. Samuel R. Delany's intervention into the realm of the imagination (s) . In: Sandra Kersten, Manfred Frank Schenke (Ed.): Spiegelungen. Drafts on Identity and Alterity . Frank & Timme, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-86596-015-4 , pp. 71-120.
  • Jürgen Joachimsthaler: “the spaces between the columns”. The text spaces and space texts of Samuel R. Delany. In: Journal of English and American Studies. Vol. 55 (2007), ISBN 978-3-8260-3824-2 , pp. 395-416.
  • Florian F. Marzin: Mythology and Language. The relationship between language and mythology in the novels of Samuel R. Delany . In: Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): The Science Fiction Year 1992 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-05379-6 , pp. 526–558.
  • Markus Metz, Georg Seeßlen : Fifty years in the spaceship Rimbaud. Samuel R. Delany. In: Spex No. 337 (May / June 2012), pp. 44ff.
  • Franz Rottensteiner : The movement of light in water . In: Quarber Mercury . Franz Rottensteiner's literary magazine for science fiction and fantasy. Vol. 115, pp. 221f., 2014. ISBN 978-3-934273-94-8 .
Lexicons
Movies
  • The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany (2007, directed by Fred Barney Tayloe )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adam Fitzgerald: Don't Romanticize Science Fiction: An Interview with Samuel Delany. In: Literary Hub. December 4, 2017, accessed May 11, 2020 .
  2. ^ Samuel R. Delany. In: Science Fiction Awards Database. Retrieved November 21, 2017 .
  3. ↑ A Working Canon of Slipstream Writings , compiled at Readercon July 18, 2007 (PDF), accessed on October 5, 2018.
  4. ^ K. Leslie Steiner: Samuel R. Delany.
  5. ^ The standing storm of words in FAZ of September 27, 2014, page B5
personal data
SURNAME Delany, Samuel R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Delany, Samuel Ray (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American science fiction writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Harlem , New York City