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Silent Interviews
On Language, Race, Sex, Science Fiction, and Some Comics—A Collection of Written Interviews
Sales Date: 1994-10-14
A collection of substantial written interviews.
Samuel R. Delany, whose theoretically sophisticated science fiction and fantasy has won him a broad audience among academics and fans of postmodernist fiction, offers insights into and explorations of his own experience as writer, critic, theorist, and gay black man in his new collection of written interviews, a form he describes as a type of "guided essay." Gathered from sources as diverse as Diacritics and Comics Journal, these interviews reveal the broad range of his thought and interests.
Introduction: Reading and the Written Interview
Part I: The Semiology of Science: The Science Fiction Studies Interview
Toto, We're Back! The Cottonwood Review Interview
Refractions of Empire: The Comics Journal Interview
Sword & Sorcery, S/M, and the Economics of Inadequation: The Camera Obscura Interview
Some Real Mothers… The SF Eye Interview
Science Fiction and Criticism: The Diacritics Interview
Sex, Race and Science Ficiton: The Callaloo Interview
Part II: The Kenneth James Interview
The Susan Grossman Interview
The K. Leslie Steinier Interview
Appendix: Anthony Davis: A Conversation
Index
Samuel R. Delany's many prizes include the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature. Wesleyan has published both his fiction and nonfiction, including Atlantis: three tales (1995), Longer Views: Extended Essays (1996), and Shorter Views: Queer Thoughts & the Politics of the Paraliterary. The press has also reissued his classic science fiction and fantasy novels Dhalgren (1996), Trouble on Triton (1996, originally published as Triton), The Einstein Intersection (1998) and the four-volume Return to Nevèrÿon series.
"Yevgeny Zamyatin? Stanislaw Lem? Forget it! Delany is both, with a lot of Borges and Bruno Schultz thrown in."
~Village Voice
"Delany has a unique place in late 20th century letters. A lifelong inhabitant of the margins, both social and literary, he has used his marginalized status as a lens to focus his astute observations of American literature and society. From these interviews his voice emerges, provocative, precise, and engaging."
~Kathleen Spencer
""This is a suberb and important book for anyone interested in Delany, SF, or SF criticism . . . engaging, well put together, fun to read, and challenging. As usual, with anything written by Delany, the texts all operate at many levels: personal, historical, critical, theoretical, and metatheoretical.""
~Extrapolation
""Delany is fascinating whether discussing SF, comics, or his experiences as a Black American, and this collection . . . is as entertaining as it is informative.""
~Science Fiction Chronicle
""Yevgeny Zamyatin? Stanislaw Lem? Forget it! Delany is both, with a lot of Borges and Bruno Schultz thrown in.""
~Village Voice
""Samuel R. Delany never shies away from contestable positions or provocative opinions. In his fiction, Delany can write like quicksilver, and in lectures or panel discussions, he is easily SF's most articulate spokesperson in academia . . . There is much here that is not covered in Delany's critical or autiobiographical writings, and much that anyone seriously interested in SF—or many of Delany's other favorite topics—ought to consider.""
~Locus
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