--- Kendall Clark <kendall at monkeyfist.com> wrote: >
>>>>> "cian" == Cian O'Connor
> <cian_oconnor at yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>
> cian> --- Kendall Clark <kendall at monkeyfist.com>
> wrote:
> >> You haven't read any Samuel R. Delany,
> apparently. Rather a
> >> careful marxist (at least, compared to the, in
> my view,
> >> clumsiness of Asimov on that count), he's
> written space opera,
> >> sword & sorcery, tons of engaging non-fiction,
> much of which
> >> handles human sexual relations with amazing
> sensitivity and grace
> >> and wit. Highly recommended.
>
> cian> He's gay and black (or bi maybe), which may
> have something to
> cian> do with it.
>
> What does his race or sexual orientation have to do
> with it? Really,
> that seems rather an odd response if it's meant to
> be explanatory of
> my claim, and not simply offering further
> information about Delany. I
> avoid putting the 'black gay' thing upfront when I
> talk about him
> because I think it tends to distract people from the
> quality of his
> gifts and accomplishments, which are considerable.
His earlier stuff is good, I got rather bored of his later stuff. I've always been very fond of his novella about the criminal who builds an empire. As good a take on the "legitimacy" of organised crime as one's likely to find outside Brecht.
I didn't offer that much more information, as I don't know that much about the guy. I knew he was married to a women, and that he had a long relationship with a guy. Beyond that nothing. I find the cult of biography a little annoying to be honest. However, the fact that he's an outsider both sexually and racially does inform his books in various ways. It's hard to imagine him writing the same books if he was a white rich kid. Just as it's hard to imagine Phillip K. Dick writing the same books if he hadn't been knocking out one book every month while whacked on sulphate while cursing his ex-wives (though judging by his one masterpiece, Valis, he might have written better books).
> Are gay black men renowned for being incredibly
> smart about human
> sexuality?
Not that I know of. However they're unlikely to write SF with the smug white-hetero stance of Heinlein et al. Just as female SF writers tend not to. Mind you these days SF books seem to compete over who can write about the wierdest sex, which is as annoying as Heinlein's adolescent spurtings.
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com