My life in books

PM Press’ latest offering in its Outspoken Authors series features work from the undeniably, gloriously outspoken author Samuel R. Delany. In addition to the title novella, The Atheist in the Attic includes Delany’s classic critique of racism in science fiction, and an interview with the author. Delany being one of my literary heroes from a very early age - I fell in love with his writing when I read Babel-17 and never wavered afterward - I had to get the book.

Delany is an author of ideas, which he wraps in polished, precise, gorgeous prose. “The Atheist in the Attic” is a perfect example of the master at work, examining and interrogating the intellectual underpinnings of the Enlightenment. The publisher’s blurb says:

“The title novella, "The Atheist in the Attic," appearing here in book form for the first time, is a suspenseful and vivid historical narrative, recreating the top-secret meeting between the mathematical genius Leibniz and the philosopher Spinoza caught between the horrors of the cannibalistic Dutch Rampjaar and the brilliant "big bang" of the Enlightenment.”

Delany’s Leibnitz is an old man recollecting, and commenting on, a trip to Amsterdam he made when much younger, part if his purpose being to visit the old and reclusive Spinoza. The visits are secretive, because Leibnitz is a young man with a noble patron and a career still to be made among the the intelligentsia of Europe, and Spinoza is an outcast and a pariah, both Jew and alleged atheist, a man whose work caused riots in the street and the brutal deaths of some of those who championed his work.

Leibnitz and Spinoza talk. About their work, and their thoughts about each other’s work. About that terrible and violent reaction of the people to his anti-clerical, anti-theistic treatise. About the great Greek philosophers. About the relation of language and thought. About the meaning, the essence of what Spinoza calls Deus sive Natura - God, or otherwise Nature.

Leibnitz, as he recounts his visit to Spinoza, also contemplates issues of race - specifically anti-Semitism - and class antipathy, the latter brought on by the eagerness of a young manservant at the home he is staying in to do him personal services, and the stories of cannibalism among the peasants during a recent famine that he has heard, most recently from Spinoza.

As always, Delany leaves one thinking, wondering, speculating.

I had read the other work collected here, Delany’s essay on racism in science fiction, before, but it was worthwhile to read it again. So much has happened since it was first written in 1998. There are now many more visible writers of colour in the genre, and, as Delany predicted, there has been pushback.

In his essay, he said “As long as there are only one, two, or a handful of us, however, I presume in a field such as science fiction, where many of its writers come out of the liberal-Jewish tradition, prejudice will most likely remain a slight force—until, say, black writers start to number 13, 15, 20 percent of the total. At that point, where the competition might be perceived as having some economic heft, chances are we will have as much racism and prejudice here as in any other field.”

And lo and behold now that there are more than a handful of sff writers of colour, along comes RaceFail (Google it) and the Sadly Rabid Puppies and ComicGate and all the whiney (mostly) white boys of all ages who want stories with white boy heroes doing white boy hero things like conquering other planets and winning space battles against bug-eyed monsters.

Sadly, Delany knew whereof he spoke.

The volume closes with a pleasant interview by Terry Bisson, the editor of the series, which does not illuminate the author so much as give a hint at how vey much there is to learn about him and his work.

Samuel Delany is best known (at least in the circles I exist in) first, for his science fiction writing and second, for his science fiction criticism. But Delany's writing ranges well beyond these realms in its scope, extending from essays on comparative literature and queer studies, to memoir, to porn.

In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany uses both the approach of personal narrative and that of academic analysis to examine the link between urban development and architecture and vertical social contacts among urban dwellers. The two very different essays in the book were prompted by yet another plan to "clean up" Times Square in New York City, and taken together present a strong argument for the inclusion of places where people of different classes, races, and cultural niches can connect - in this instance, to form a loose community based on engagement in transgressive behaviours.

The first essay, Times Square Blue, is a personal record of Delany's experiences and observations as a participant in the street life in and around "old" Times Square - a neighbourhood of porn theatres and other establishments where gay men (and men who, while not identifying as gay, nonetheless chose to have sex with other men) could find willing casual partners, among other things that the renovators want to root out in the interests of protection of family values. Three Two One Contact: Times Square Red is a more theoretical essay, focusing on the changes in Times Square since the beginning of the urge to refurbish the area, and the resulting loss of an important public space where informal contacts can take place, subverting the modern tendency toward uniform neighbourhoods and sterile work spaces.

And interesting book, and a passionate argument for the importance of an urban environment that is organic, messy, open to a diversity of peoples and their needs, and able to facilitate unstructured contact between people.

For another perspective, read Jo Walton's review on tor.com. (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/07/sex-and-urban-planning-samuel-r-delanys-times-square-red-times-square-blue)