Abstract
Disability as a form of human difference is a theme woven throughout the genre of science fiction (SF). Characters who have disabilities, or who encounter disability communities, often cast much-needed light on the social and cultural forces at work in creating disability oppression and liberation (Verlager). Samuel R. Delany ranks among the foremost practitioners and critics of socially conscious SF, and his writing refutes the stereotypical view that SF is inferior in aesthetic and social value to “realistic” fiction. He characterizes SF in terms of its unique ability to create “unreal worlds, [in which] chords are sounded in total sympathy with the real” (“About 5,750 Words” 29). According to Delany, quality SF writing entails a “significant distortion of the present that sets up a rich and complex dialogue with the reader’s here and now” (“Dichtung und Science Fiction” 176).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Works Cited
Asch, Adrienne. “Critical Race Theory, Feminism, and Disability: Reflections on Social Justice and Personal Identity.” Ohio State Law Journal 62 (2001): 391–425. Print.
Barbour, Douglas. Worlds Out of Words: The SF Novels of Samuel R. Delany. Somerset: Bran’s Head Books, 1979. Print.
Beam, Joseph. “Samuel R. Delany: The Possibility of Possibilities.” Conversations with Samuel R. Delany. Ed. Carl Freedman. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2009. 3–19. Print.
Broderick, Damien. Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction. New York: Routledge, 1995. Print.
Davis, Lennard J. “The End of Identity Politics and the Beginning of Dismodernism.” Bending Over Backwards: Disability, Dismodernism and Other Difficult Positions. New York: New York UP, 2002. 9–32. Print.
Delany, Samuel R. “About 5,750 Words.” The jewel-Hinged jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction. New York: Berkley, 1977. 21–36. Print.
—. “An American Literary History Interview: The Situation of American Writing Today.” About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan UP, 2005. 271–98. Print.
—. “Coming/Out.” Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories. Ed. Patrick Merla. New York: Avon Books, 1996. 1–26. Print.
—. “Critical Methods/Speculative Fiction.” The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction. New York: Berkley, 1977. 119–31. Print.
—. “Dichtung und Science Fiction.” Starboard Wine: More Notes on the Language of Science Fiction. New York: Dragon, 1984. 165–96. Print.
—. The Einstein Intersection. 1967. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan UP, 1998. Print.
—. Empire Star. New York: Bantam, 1966. Print.
—. The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, 1957–1965. New York: Arbor House/William Morrow, 1988. Print.
—. “The Necessity of Tomorrows.” Starboard Wine: More Notes on the Language of Science Fiction. New York: Dragon, 1984. 23–35. Print.
—. “Science Fiction and ‘Literature.’” Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction. Ed. James Gunn and Matthew Candelaria. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005. 95–117. Print.
—. “The Semiology of Silence: The Science Fiction Studies Interview” Silent Interviews: On Language, Race, Sex, Science Fiction, and Some Comics. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan UP, 1994. 21–58. Print.
—. “Sex, Race, and Science Fiction: The Callaloo Interview.” Silent Interviews: On Language, Race, Sex, Science Fiction, and Some Comics. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan UP, 1994. 216–29. Print.
—. “Shadows.” The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction. New York: Berkley, 1977. 38–118. Print.
—. “To Read The Dispossessed.” The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction. New York: Berkley, 1977. 218–83. Print.
—. “Toto, We’re Back! The Cottonwood Review Interview.” 1986. Silent Interviews: On Language, Race, Sex, Science Fiction, and Some Comics. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan UP, 1994. 59–82. Print.
—. Triton. New York: Bantam, 1976. Print.
Erevelles, Nirmala. “Committed Critique.” Deaf and Disability Studies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Ed. Susan Burch and Alison Kafer. Washington, DC: Gallaudet UP, 2010. 204–21. Print.
Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia UP, 1997. Print.
Gill, Carol. “Questioning Continuum.” The Ragged Edge: The Disability Experience from the Pages of the First Fifteen Years of the Disability Rag. Ed. Barrett Shaw. Louisville, KY: Advocado Press, 1994. 44–52. Print.
Le Guin, Ursula K. “Introduction.” The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960–1990. Ed. Ursula K. Le Guin and Brian Attebery. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993. 15–42. Print.
Lukin, Josh. “The Wiggle Room of Theory: An Interview with Samuel Delany.” The Minnesota Review 65–66 (Spring 2006): 85–102. Print.
McEvoy, Seth. Samuel R. Delany. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1984. Print.
Nicholls, Peter. “Delany, Samuel R.” The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. 3rd ed. Ed. Peter Clute and David Langford. Gollancz and the SF Gateway, 2011. Web. 4 Mar. 2012.
Peplow, Michael W., and Robert S. Bravard. Samuel R. Delany: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography, 1962–1979. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980. Print.
Samuelson, David N. “Necessary Constraints: Samuel R. Delany on Science Fiction.” Ash of Stars: On the Writing of Samuel R. Delany. Ed. James Sallis. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1996. 109–26. Print.
—. “New Wave, Old Ocean: A Comparative Study of Novels by Brunner and Delany.” Extrapolation 15 (Dec. 1973): 75–96. Print.
Slusser, George. The Delany Intersection. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo, 1977. Print.
Smith, Stephanie. “A Most Ambiguous Citizen: Samuel R. ‘Chip’ Delany.” American Literary History 19 (2007): 557–70. Print.
Tucker, Jeffrey Allen. A Sense of Wonder: Samuel R. Delany, Race, Identity, and Difference. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2004. Print.
Verlager, Alicia. “Kestrell.” Decloaking Disability: Bibliography. Web. 28 Jun. 2011.
von Glahn, George A. “A World of Difference: Samuel Delany’s The Einstein Intersection.” Critical Encounters: Writers and Themes in Science Fiction. Ed. Dick Riley. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1978. 109–31. Print.
Weedman, Jane Branham. “Art and the Artist’s Role in Delany’s Works.” Voices for the Future: Essays on Major Science Fiction Writers. Ed. Thomas Clareson and Thomas Wymer. Bowling Green U Popular Press, 1984. 151–85. Print.
—. Samuel R. Delany. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont, 1982. Print.
Young, Iris Marion. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1990. Print.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2013 Kathryn Allan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Woiak, J., Karamanos, H. (2013). Tools to Help You Think. In: Allan, K. (eds) Disability in Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137343437_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137343437_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46568-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-34343-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)