Questions about Dhalgren (2)

Hallo, here I am again with another problem.
When Kidd and madame Brown leave the Richards' house (apart from the term
*disfocus* which I didn't find in any dictionary, but presume stands for
*out of focus*) the boy makes a sort of reflection and says to himself:
"Does the revelation that, though it cannot be done with words, it might be
accomplished in some lingual gap, giving [i.e. give] me right, i injury,
walking with a woman and her dog, to pain?". But all the paragraph from the
beginning (And what have I invested...) to the ending (This exhaustion
melts what binds, releases what flows) is rather complicated.
Could you help me to understand the exact sense of the phrase?

Thanks 
Maurizio Nati

Re: An uneducated look at Dhalgren

At 5:05 PM -0400 5/31/2002, Johnwlsh6 <at> aol.com wrote:
>Hi maxx--
>
>I don't miss Newboy's/Delany's points about the author's p.o.v. being
>no more priviledged than a reader's--I even caught that when I was a
>young kid on my first reading, as a budding writer--I just don't
>agree with the opinion.  Apparently, Delany doesn't either--he wrote
>a book of self-critiques!

I don't think this invalidates the point. I think Delany would argue 
that his opinions and perspectives and analysis as writer are no more 
nor less useful than any other critics. They certainly are not 
privileged *because* he is the writer. If they help illuminate 
aspects of the work for the reader, if they help passages that seemed 
opaque on a first reading start to make more sense, then such essays 
are valuable, no matter who writes them. If not, then they are not, 
no matter who writes them.

>Re:Delany on the meaning of Dhalgren.  I completely agree with the
>writer who, when asked about the meaning of his book, said, "If I
>could have explained the meaning without writing the whole damned
>book, I would have."  If you believe the same--I think you do--then I
>'m wondering if we fall on opposite camps: one that finds critical
>dissection an art in itself that can heighten the impact of a book,
>and one that sees it as an interesting parlor game that in the end is
>much less meaningful--if meaningful at all--than an author's views of
>his work.  (I'm not putting words in your mouth, I'm just asking.)

I think it can be either, depending on the critical work in question. 
If a critical essay on a work helps illuminate a manuscript for a 

Test

This is a test.
I receive, but I don't see my messages in the list. Do you?

bye
Maurizio Nati

Re: Test

At 12:12 PM +0200 6/1/2002, Biblioteca Nazionale di Macerata wrote:
>This is a test.
>I receive, but I don't see my messages in the list. Do you?
>
>bye
>Maurizio Nati
>

I saw your earlier message (Questions 2). haven't had a chance to 
search my copies of Dhalgren for the scene described. And it's a 
lovely day out, so I may not get around to it for a while. For this 
and future messages, could you provide a page number and indicate 
what edition you're working from? It would make the process a lot 
easier.

Re: An uneducated look at Dhalgren

Re: Test

Re: An uneducated look at Dhalgren

Triton

I am enjoying the talk about Dhalgren immensely.  I could read about 
this book forever.

I was wondering if anyone would like to share their thoughts about 
Triton.  I have been binging on Delany lately and have finally 
started this one.  The details are very nicely done, but...

This one is slow going for me.  Very slow.  The writing is dense, but 
I can't get a "visual" hook--I'm uncomfortable getting into the 
book.  I keep starting, stopping, then have to start again.

I guess I'm looking for broad views of the book, to give me a sense 
of what I'm in for--where do you place it in terms of importance?  
Literary merit?

Delany's characters have a sameness about them, I'm starting to 
think.  Somber rough boys, artist/thugs.  A cool idea, bringing much-
needed street-cred to sf.  But it gets tiring.

John W 

Re: Triton

At 7:27 PM +0000 6/1/2002, jswalsh65 wrote:
>I am enjoying the talk about Dhalgren immensely.  I could read about
>this book forever.
>
>I was wondering if anyone would like to share their thoughts about
>Triton.  I have been binging on Delany lately and have finally
>started this one.  The details are very nicely done, but...
>
>This one is slow going for me.  Very slow.  The writing is dense, but
>I can't get a "visual" hook--I'm uncomfortable getting into the
>book.  I keep starting, stopping, then have to start again.
>
>I guess I'm looking for broad views of the book, to give me a sense
>of what I'm in for--where do you place it in terms of importance?
>Literary merit?
>
>Delany's characters have a sameness about them, I'm starting to
>think.  Somber rough boys, artist/thugs.  A cool idea, bringing much-
>needed street-cred to sf.  But it gets tiring.
>
>John W

There was a lot of discussion of Triton on the list back in February 
(pretty much the whole month), much of it very intense. You may want 
to go through the list archives to start out, so we don't just rehash 
all the stuff that was written then.

Triton

Thanks for the ref. to old Triton discussion.  This is what ahppens 
when you go away for a mere 7 months.

best,

John W

P.S. Anyone wanna suggest another novel for discussion?  Or know what 
SRD is writing now?