Motion of Light in Water : Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village
Delany, Samuel
Bibliographic Details
Title: Motion of Light in Water : Sex and Science ...
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication Date: 1989
Binding: Soft cover
Book Condition: Good
The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, is the autobiography of the science
fiction author Samuel R. Delany in which he recounts his experiences growing up as a gay African American man, as well as some of his
time in an interracial and open marriage with Marilyn Hacker. It describes encounters with Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Stokely
Carmichael and Stormé DeLarverie, a dinner with W. H. Auden, and a phone call to James Baldwin.
Among many cultural events of the decade that he witnessed, Delany recounts his attendance at the first New York City performance of the
artist Allan Kaprow's 18 Happenings in 6 Parts, the 1959 performance piece that, for many, marked the end of modernism and the
beginning of postmodernism.
[1]
In section 17.4 of the University of Minnesota Press edition, he describes the event and its venue, and
speculates on its artistic significance.
[2]
The introduction puts an emphasis on the idea of the unreliable narrator; Delany's accounts often
contrast his life as it "felt" to ways in which it actually occurred.
