Dhalgren

Dhalgren, a title referenced nowhere iin the book, is indeed a book aboutt nothing. In one way, it is the epitome of the experiimental writing style which flourished in the 1960's and whcih reached a zenith in the 1970s, then died an unlamented death.

Perhaps the best descriptiion of this book is to call it a SF biography, that is, a collection of all the experiences and sensory impressions from Delaney's life to that point, put together in a format that is deliberrately obtuse, ungrammattical, incoherent, contradictory, nonsensical and so on.

That doesn't mean it is unreadable. I was able to read more than 60 pages before I realized that I was learning nothing, experiencing nothing, understanding nothiing, and trying to follow a story that intentionally goes nowhere.

But in the end, all this is to say the book is not for me. There are liteerally thousands of high quality SF works I can enjoy and feel challenged by, without spending weeks wadiing through carefully constructed anti-grammatical verbal nonsense trying to understand what the author has deliberately obfuscated.

I know there are many who will read this and marvel at spending so much time only to ask themselves "What diid I just read?" and feel uplifted by their confusion and uncertainty.

That said, I continue to enjoy reading other works by Delaney, ones written to connect directly with the reader to present stories and ideas which are clearly explicated.

Read at your own risk. Better yet: find something less dated in its "edgyness".