Wednesday, June 08, 2005
book twenty-six
Tales of Nevèrÿon
by Samuel R. Delany
I checked this out based on Elizabeth's recommendation. She mentioned it as one of her desert-island books and I'd never heard of it, so I was intrigued.
The book is a collection of interlocking short stories. The same main characters appear several times. The setting is a nation on the edge of civilization, and I mean that in the sense of time (very early history) rather than space. Rather than having a very developed plot, the stories are basically frames for exploration of cultural mores. Some of the issues explored are slavery, sexuality, creation myths, gender roles, and class. While all of this is pretty interesting, I found myself thinking that I would prefer to read anthropological nonfiction rather than this rather didactic fiction. I got excited when I read the postscript about an ancient text discovered in the Middle East that appeared to be the source material for the stories... but then I read in an Amazon review that the postscript was also fictional. Drat.
The writing is quite beautiful. Another review that I read called it "enigmatic," which is a terrific descriptor. Overall, though, I found it kind of a hard slog and was unable to lose myself in the stories.
by Samuel R. Delany
I checked this out based on Elizabeth's recommendation. She mentioned it as one of her desert-island books and I'd never heard of it, so I was intrigued.
The book is a collection of interlocking short stories. The same main characters appear several times. The setting is a nation on the edge of civilization, and I mean that in the sense of time (very early history) rather than space. Rather than having a very developed plot, the stories are basically frames for exploration of cultural mores. Some of the issues explored are slavery, sexuality, creation myths, gender roles, and class. While all of this is pretty interesting, I found myself thinking that I would prefer to read anthropological nonfiction rather than this rather didactic fiction. I got excited when I read the postscript about an ancient text discovered in the Middle East that appeared to be the source material for the stories... but then I read in an Amazon review that the postscript was also fictional. Drat.
The writing is quite beautiful. Another review that I read called it "enigmatic," which is a terrific descriptor. Overall, though, I found it kind of a hard slog and was unable to lose myself in the stories.
Labels: book reports, science fiction
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