Recall This Book

111* Samuel R. Delany, Neveryon and Beyond (JP)


Listen Later

John Plotz talked with Samuel Delany, living legend of science fiction and fantasy back in 2019. You probably know him best for breakthrough novels like Dhalgren and Trouble on Triton, which went beyond “New Wave” SF to introduce an intense and utterly idiosyncratic form of theory-rich and avant-garde stylistics to the genre. Reading him means leaving Earth, but also returning to the heady days when Greenwich Village was as caught up in the arrival of Levi-Strauss and Derrida to America as it was in a gender and sexuality revolution.

Recall This Book loves him especially for his mind-bending Neveryon series: did you know that many consider his 1984 novella from that series, “The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals,” (set both inside the world of Neveryon and along Bleecker Street in NY) the first piece of fiction about AIDS in America?

He came to Wellesley’s Newhouse Center for the Humanities to talk about Afrofuturism, but also carved out two little chunks of time for this conversation.

On August 6, 2019, an article based on this podcast interview appeared in our partner publication, Public Books

Discussed in this episode:

  • The Neveryon Series, “Racism and Science Fiction,” Triton (also referred to as The Trouble on Triton), “Aye, and Gomorrah,” “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones,” Samuel R. Delany
  • In Milton Lumky TerritoryConfessions of a Crap ArtistMary and the GiantDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
  • The Science Fiction of Roe vs. Wade,” Palmer Rampell
  • Library of America Volumes, Ursula K. Le Guin (Delany disses them!)
  • A Little Earnest Book Upon a Great Old Subject, William Wilson
  • I Will Fear No Evil and By His Bootstraps, Robert A. Heinlein
  • The Fifth Season Novels, N.K. Jemisin
  • More than Human and The Dreaming Jewels, Theodore Sturgeon
  • The Making of Americans, Gertrude Stein

    Read the episode here.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Recall This BookBy Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7

    4.7

    29 ratings


    More shows like Recall This Book

    View all
    This American Life by This American Life

    This American Life

    91,069 Listeners

    Radiolab by WNYC Studios

    Radiolab

    43,969 Listeners

    Fresh Air by NPR

    Fresh Air

    38,526 Listeners

    The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

    The New Yorker Radio Hour

    6,740 Listeners

    99% Invisible by Roman Mars

    99% Invisible

    26,212 Listeners

    The Book Review by The New York Times

    The Book Review

    3,874 Listeners

    The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

    The LRB Podcast

    292 Listeners

    Political Gabfest by Slate Podcasts

    Political Gabfest

    8,473 Listeners

    Backlisted by Backlisted

    Backlisted

    597 Listeners

    London Review Bookshop Podcast by London Review Bookshop

    London Review Bookshop Podcast

    128 Listeners

    The TLS Podcast by The TLS

    The TLS Podcast

    185 Listeners

    Why Theory by Why Theory

    Why Theory

    587 Listeners

    Conspirituality by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

    Conspirituality

    2,039 Listeners

    The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

    The Ezra Klein Show

    16,051 Listeners

    Past Present Future by David Runciman

    Past Present Future

    325 Listeners