From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

The Einstein Intersection

Samuel R. Delany

Start date: January 1, 2014

Finish date: January 31, 2014

Discussion: 2014 Reads

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2014 Reads

AC: TV Show vs Book.
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last updated Jun 12, 2022 03:03PM

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What Members Thought

Dec 12, 2008 Jon added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, read-in-my-40s, science-fiction, apocalyptic, liked-it

3 stars ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2014 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, read2014, reading-envy-podcast, sword-and-laser

When this was the first Sword and Laser pick of the year, I was thrilled. After all, one of my 2014 reading goals was to finally read Delany. I'm not sure what to think of this particular book as an introduction to his work!

I think I need this book to be a graphic novel. It is brief, just over 150 pages in my edition, but is chock full of ideas. At first they seemed random but as the parts of the story filled in toward the end, they became more obviously intentional. I'm certain Delany knows mor When this was the first Sword and Laser pick of the year, I was thrilled. After all, one of my 2014 reading goals was to finally read Delany. I'm not sure what to think of this particular book as an introduction to his work!

I think I need this book to be a graphic novel. It is brief, just over 150 pages in my edition, but is chock full of ideas. At first they seemed random but as the parts of the story filled in toward the end, they became more obviously intentional. I'm certain Delany knows more than I do, and that it would take me months to untangle all the references, both named and unnamed, in what is really more of a novella. Genetic mutation, alien invasion, ancient history of western 1960s culture, Einstein and Gödel, the limitations of humanity, the future of the universe.... this isn't even scratching the surface.

If this were a graphic novel, I could try to grasp the human mutations created by an alien race millennia after humans have destroyed themselves. Lobey, the hero (Orpheus, yes. Jesus? Maybe not. And other things) who hears the music others have in their heads, ends up going on a quest after the ... girl (?) he loves dies. More and more "people" are dying, actually, and he seems to be around for these deaths, and eventually he is warned that this might be a repeat of how humanity died off before.

If there were pictures, I could understand the three accepted genders and the non-accepted creatures kept in kages. I could see the bull, the super computer, and the dragons. Delany seemed to really enjoy writing the fight scenes, and really one ended each of the three major sections of the story.

Some of the writing stuck me, just little bits like:
"Dragons swarmed in sunlight."
"Who wants to take part in an orgy of artificial insemination?"
"A fly bobbed on a branch... and thought a linear, anthropod music. I played it for him, and he turned the red bowl of his eye to me and whispered wondering praise. Dragons threw back their heads, gargling. There is no death. Only music."

Going back to Gödel, here's an interesting quotation from Judy Jones and William Wilson about his incompleteness theorem, which is an important concept in the book:

"And it has been taken to imply that you’ll never entirely understand yourself, since your mind, like any other closed system, can only be sure of what it knows about itself by relying on what it knows about itself."

I think that's how I feel about the book - I will never entirely understand it, because it's relying on Delany's knowledge and what Delany connected together. I'm not Delany, therefore my understanding can never be complete, and he did that on purpose.

Don't despair, fellow readers, just bask in the blissful non-understanding of the book.

"It's still the wrong maze, baby."

This book was also discussed on the Reading Envy Podcast Episode 01. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2014 Jlawrence rated it really liked it

Shelves: sword-and-laser, hugo-winners-and-nominees

Delany's off-kilter semi-poetic examination of myth and its uses, using Orpheus as the main pattern, set in a post-apocalyptic (view spoiler) Earth. Delany's fascination with the subject is clear, the atmosphere is unique, and some passages are beautiful, but sometimes it wavers between too slipperly allusive and too on-the-nose here's-what-this-symbolizes. For instance, (view spoiler) ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jul 16, 2019 Ed rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf-fantasy, quendi

Delany has a way of writing that is very thought-provoking to me. While this novel didn't resonate with me as much as Dhalgren, I enjoyed it and the discussions it engendered very much. The mythology motif is a clear harbinger of Dhalgren to come. My only complaint is that it is too short. I feel the ending was a bit too abrupt and some of the side characters needed to be fleshed out some more, but those are relatively minor quibbles to an otherwise fascinating novel. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2014 Oliver rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, speculative-fiction, read-in-2014, nebula-award

Probably the best book I've read in quite a long while.

Shot through with a musicality of words (which is also theme) which makes it a joy to read, this book is just beautiful. And weaving through it, warp and weft, is a playful handling of mythology (most notably the myth of Orpheus, but also the more contemporary myth/genre of the "western") while at the same time fielding complex themes of identity, belonging and being. The science fiction part of the book is very much a secondary layer, provi ...more

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Jan 22, 2014 kvon rated it really liked it

Unfolding oddity, mixes in greek, christian, and north american mythology. Interpolations from the journal of the author from while he was writing this book. Post human mutants living in a Godelian universe (things inexplicable within the system). Titles for male, female, hermaphrodites. The power of music. A rather unfinished ending, which I believe was the author's intent, from his journal entries. 'Endings to be useful must be inconclusive.' ...more

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Oct 20, 2014 Tensy (bookdoyen) rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

I can't review this because I'm still thinking about what I just read. I can't decide if it was a genius work of art, or a disjointed psychedelic novella of its time (the 60s), or like many other books I've read, it requires a rereading to see what I missed. Here is a link to a review that I think gets it just right: http://yellowedandcreased.wordpress.c.... ...more

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