Pros: interesting concept and admirable attempts at cross-social blends
Cons: verbose and at times, hard to follow
The Bottom Line: I'd put Dhalgren in the realm of atonal Bebop (Yusef Lateef, John Coltrane, or some of Charlie Parker's stuff) or as the verbal equivalent of Coltrane's "OM".
ceciltheme's Full Review: Samuel R. Delany - Dhalgren
On the one hand, it is tempting to reject it outright because of the cacaphony of story lines and blending of cultural prospectives, but if I were to do that, I would deter you from a work that has an excellent use of imagery and character development. Also, Delaney's work does a good job of showing how external cultural/racial differences color the interractions of people at all levels of society.
If you know anything about Jazz Music, I would say that if Dhalgren were a song, it would be in the realm of atonal Bebop (Yusef Lateef, John Coltrane, or some of Charlie Parker's stuff). I'd also say that if Dhalgren were a Jazz song, it would remind me of "OM".
One of Dhalgren's strengths is its unsual plot line: a young bisexual black-algonkin man comes into a town called Bellona that exists outside of space and time. In the process of his living in Bellona he comes to terms with both his sexuality, his amnesia--since he cannot remember his name or anything about who he is, and his abilities as a poet. He also becomes the leader of The Scorpions--a gang of youth that run through the town, intimidating residents with a hippie-like, Hells Angels lifestyle. "The Kid" as the insane hero is called, ends up bringing together radically different counter-cultures in his lifestyle, find his friendships with gays, straights, blacks, whites, browns, yellows, pinks, bi's, old, young, trans---you name it.
Another good point about the story is the imagery. The best metaphor that Delaney tends to use is that of the female as a tree. In the opening scene, one does not know if "The Kid" is copulating with a woman, a tree, a tree who becomes a woman or a woman who becomes a tree. It is not clear whether or not this is a real situation or a dream. This makes more sense one you realize that Kid often fades in and out of consciousness and has a mental illness that causes him to lose days, even weeks at a time. For the more prurient reader, the detailed descriptions of interracial coupling, homosexual acts, heterosexual mating and menage-a-trois should leave your appetite well satiated. Delaney is a master at capturing the feelings and perspectives of the characters as they share their bodies with one another.
The downside of the book is in the plot structure and lack of momentum. If one wants to get a feel for the overall resolution of the story, I would recommend reading the last chapter first. In the last chapter, Kid has to recount his entire stay in Bellona with a therapist and has to decide whether he should stay in the city or leave when an angry mob of whites are upset over a situation involving a black man and a young white girl. In doing this, the reader is presented with a more even flow of events that ultimate end in a decisive move. In Delaney's defense, I think that the reason why there are lulls in the plot is so that he can examine certain issues of class/race conflict in terms of Kid's life as a young black man dealing with whites in various positions in society, and with Kid exploring his sexuality. Perhaps the reason why I found these to be "lulls" is because one, I am a young black man at the time of this writing, so I already know about that aspect of society and two, I am comfortable and well entrenched in my heterosexuality and do not have much of an interest in his character's bisexuality.
I will say this: I could completely relate to the Kid as a poet and writer. This aspect of the story will hold the attention of anyone who as ever been an artist that tries to find out what his or her audience is really thinking.
Bottom line is this: if you are already open-minded about race, sex and counterculture you should be in no rush to buy this book. On the other hand, if you need to open your mind about seeing people outside of the mainstream as human, than this is definitely the book for you. One word of caution, though: there are times when the book gets to be a bit discordant because Delaney's poetic ability tends to spill over into his fiction.
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