In our inaugural episode, we read "About 5,750 Words," Samuel R. Delany's classic essay on the language of science fiction. Delany theorizes the experience of reading, seeing each work of fiction as a sequence of word-images, each changing and correcting the reader's mental picture of what they have already read. (These pictures even include Delany's vision of "the", an alien creature we discuss in detail.) Science fiction, then, is a particular "subjunctivity" of language, a way that science fictional language cues us to read. It's safe to say neither of us would think about science fiction the way we do today without this essay, so it was a pleasure for both of us to get into detail on Delany's ideas. I hope you join us, for this and future episodes!

Topics: word by word corrections, subjunctivity, science fictional reading

This essay is collected in The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, 2009 edition (let us know if you're having trouble finding it in your library). The 2020 Windham-Campbell Lecture Delany gave (which we mention in the episode) can be found here.