Dark Reflections

I've followed Samuel R. Delany's career across galaxies for thirty years. Between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five, Delany had written and published nine novels, two of them winning Nebulas for best science fiction. I've read most of his early work, including Dhalgren, considered by many to be the finest science fiction novel ever written, and, from later in his career, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, as well as the Neveryon series, his foray into the fantasy genre. As a boy I read Nova, Delany's tribute to the space opera genre and a forerunner to today's cyberpunk, which even now remains one of my favorite science fiction novels. As a heterosexual, I didn't always relate to some of Delany's gay protagonists and storylines, but I always thrilled, even as a boy, to his use of language, his dense prose, descriptive narrative, and vivid imagination. When I began writing seriously it was Delany I endeavored to emulate. In Dark Reflections, Delany, now a professor of English and creative writing at Temple University, steps away from the science fiction genre to give us a glimpse into the lonely life of Arnold Hawley, a black, gay poet living in Manhattan's East Village. Gone is the dense language that usually accompanies Delany's prose; but the story itself, related with simple honesty, is rife with complexities. A poet himself before turning to fiction, perhaps only Delany knows how much of Arnold's story is autobiographical, although his real life marriage to Marilyn Hacker, also a poet, ended much less tragically than Arnold's. Perhaps it is the alternate autobiography Delany would have written had he not turned to fiction writing. One of the fascinating aspects of Dark Reflections (and there are many) is that it is told in three parts in reverse chronological order, perhaps to reflect what we see when we glance into the looking glass -- a reverse image of how others perceive us. In part one, The Prize, Arnold, in his fifties, has just won the Alfred Proctor Award for his sixth book of collected poems. Arnold is the poster child for the starving artist, holding onto the $3,000 stipend the award pays out over three years as a financial godsend to his existence. Emerging writers who read Dark Reflections will take comfort from Arnold's insecurities and envy of others, while non-writers will be afforded a glimpse into the soul of a creative spirit -- its innocence and sensitivity, its desire for recognition. In response to praise for one of his collected works as "one of my favorite books of the last... well, thirty years! In any genre! Really! It's just an... an amazing performance!" Arnold later reflects: "The fact is, there is no praise as great as the praise I want." He'd said it with tears welling. "That sort of praise doesn't exist -- I know that," Arnold had told Dr. Engles, on his side of the chipped table in the small blue room at Mount Sinai. "It doesn't stop me from wanting it, though -- wanting it so much!" Couldn't he ha

I'm not going to reiterate the plot, you can get that from the capsule reviews above. Mainly I just wanted to say this book contains many examples of SRD's superfine descriptive powers. Almost every sentence is a pleasure to read, and as one follows another you find yourself there, sometimes in the character's mind, sometimes in the vivid settings among the people and events that surround him. All of SRD's books are worthwhile, but some are more work than others. This one is "easy." Fans will gulp it down and immediately start over, and even new readers will be able to tap into much of what is exciting about SRD's writing: precise observation, emotional immediacy, and a sheer joy in the use of language that makes you want to, well, run out and write a book, or a poem, or at least read another and another one and then talk about it with someone! For triangulation purposes, my (current) top 5 SRD books are, in no particular order, Dhalgren, Trouble on Triton, Times Square Red/Blue, About Writing, and his book of letters, 1984. If you have read and liked any of these I suspect you will enjoy this new book as well. Enjoy!

Even as a long-time fan of Samuel Delany's work (both fiction and non-fiction), I confess to finding it sometimes hard going (I still haven't finished Dhalgren!). But Dark Reflections is his most accessible book in a long time. Even though it's written "in reverse", starting with old age and progressing to youth, there's no difficulty following the narrative, and this would be a good book to start with if you've never read anything by Delany. But the book takes on an added dimension for those of us who are Delany junkies, since in some way it is (and is not) autobiographical. Arnold Hawley, the central character, is a black gay writer only a little older than Delany, whose books have Delanyesque titles (one of them is actually the title of a Delany book). But his life is the opposite of Delany's... his books are unread (and not even in the New York Public Library!); his sole claim to success is having won one rather questionable prize (is it a coincidence that the author's bio on the back of the book mentions Delany's prizes?); his old age is utterly lonely and his emotional life completely unfulfilled. Even though, like Delany, he married, his marriage (which culminates in the most horrifyingly vivid events that I've ever read) surely did not, let us hope, resemble that of the author! So what's going on? Is this a "what if" account (as the Publisher's Weekly review, cited above implies)? Rather, I think the title, which is at least triply ambiguous, gives the clue. These are dark reflections (thoughts) about a life, looked at as if reflected in a dark mirror (and, of course, narrated in reflected order). It's time to go reread it and see what I missed reading it the first time.

Take a trip back through the life of a gay African American poet as he puts his life in rewind mode and examines it all.

Delany, Samuel. "Dark Reflections", Carroll & Graf. 2007. Beautifully Crafted Amos Lassen and Literary Pride Due out on May 15 is an exceptional novel by Samuel Delany ("Dhalgren", "The Mad Man") which is sure to be a ht. It is so beautifully written and crafted that I had to sit up and take notice several times. "Dark Reflections" is the story of Arnold Hawley, a gay African-American New Yorker who is a poet. The book looks at Hawley's life in reverse. It is divided into three parts, "The Prize", "Vashti in the Dark" and "The Book of Pictures". The sheer honesty of the book is what makes it so special. Book One begins when Hawley is fifty and he wins the Alfred Proctor Award for his sixth book of poetry. He has now risen to the height of his profession and has achieved a degree of literary success, Exactly eighteen years afterwards, Hawley published a new book which because of its lack of success causes him to be lonely and afraid to get any older. He breaks down when his aunt dies and he feels he cannot go to the funeral. Part One really deals with his fears, his mental condition, and his loneliness. Part Two goes back to 1974 and Hawley's unhappy marriage to Judy Haindel. It seems that his wife has problems which bring about emotional and physical catastrophic consequences. It is in this section that Hawley writes his third book. In "The Book of Pictures", Part Three of the novel we return to Brown And Hawley's college days and his first sexual experience with a male. The three parts taken together give a beautiful look at the life of a successful gay African-American in a way that I do not think it has been portrayed before. We look at social attitudes, loneliness and a sense of triumph. The book also has something to say about Delany himself. Interestingly enough the name of Hawley's prize winning book of poems is the same as the author's most famous novel. Delaney, himself, wrote poetry until he gave it up for the financial rewards of writing science fiction and memoirs. Hawley and Delany are both African American gay men and I can only question that if "Dark Reflections" is a fictionalized look at the author's own life. Many different questions can be asked if this supposition is correct but the one thing above all else is deal with questions of loneliness and despair as one ages. The book is beautifully written and the story is complex. It is powerful in the way it deals with the issues it confronts and we can all be so much better off because of that. The honesty and truthfulness of the book makes this a sad story and is in opposition to what Delany usually gives us--fantasy. But it is the out and on the button honesty of the book that makes it so rewarding.