Phallos by Samuel Delany
Phallos
Samuel R. Delany
Delany's Phallos is experimental in a less blatant way than the books I've discovered before now in here. It's experimentation still comes via form, but it's a bizarrely familiar form: the core of the novel, except for a brief, two paragraph "introduction" (that serves to put the book into a specific context) is delivered as an "online synopsis" of a long out of print book of gay erotica, Phallos, written by an unknown author. The introduction posits the history of the novel: some claim it to have been written in the 17th century, while others (drawing attention to certain vocabulary and textual choices within the book) assume it was written in the 1960s (of course, it was actually written in the 00s by Delany). The absence of an absolute position of the apocryphal novel within the context of a linear literary line echoes ideas that the author of the internet synopsis (Randy Pedarson of Moscow, Idaho) points us to in the text that sits at the center of the book itself.
In comparison to the amount of "synopsis" offered in Delany's 97 brief pages, there is not much commentary offered by the apocryphal internet author, and as I've already mentioned, most of the book details Phallos' depiction of the (sexual) adventures of Neoptolomus, and his search for a possibly apocryphal religious relic called the Phallos (okay, I'm starting to realize that a description of Delany's novel is actually far more labyrinthine than the novel itself, which never approaches being confusing-- it's a pretty direct read actually). Delany's experiments with an abandonment of authorship and relocation of a text (book to internet synopsis to Delany's book) is what makes it interesting-- though possibly not more interesting than the book that Delany offers hints of throughout his novel; the epic, apocryphal, anonymous Phallos. But this is part of the pull; Delany offers, via Pedarson's "website," a quote from Umberto Eco that sets the novel in motion:
Of course, this quote applies both to the apocryphal novel that Delany describes, as well as the artifact (called the Phallos) that the characters within the apocryphal novel are desperately searching for: neither exist, but both play with the individuals perception of something unknown to draw in the reader/individual further, to instill an inherent desire. And it is desire the forms the core of Delany's book; wisely echoed textually by the abundance of gay sex scenes throughout the apocryphal novel, with Pedarson quoting many of Neoptolomus' musings/dialogs on desire.
I've never read any of Delany's sci-fi (which he is ostensibly most well known for), but I really enjoyed reading this work, and will undoubtedly check out some mo>re.
Samuel R. Delany
Delany's Phallos is experimental in a less blatant way than the books I've discovered before now in here. It's experimentation still comes via form, but it's a bizarrely familiar form: the core of the novel, except for a brief, two paragraph "introduction" (that serves to put the book into a specific context) is delivered as an "online synopsis" of a long out of print book of gay erotica, Phallos, written by an unknown author. The introduction posits the history of the novel: some claim it to have been written in the 17th century, while others (drawing attention to certain vocabulary and textual choices within the book) assume it was written in the 1960s (of course, it was actually written in the 00s by Delany). The absence of an absolute position of the apocryphal novel within the context of a linear literary line echoes ideas that the author of the internet synopsis (Randy Pedarson of Moscow, Idaho) points us to in the text that sits at the center of the book itself.
In comparison to the amount of "synopsis" offered in Delany's 97 brief pages, there is not much commentary offered by the apocryphal internet author, and as I've already mentioned, most of the book details Phallos' depiction of the (sexual) adventures of Neoptolomus, and his search for a possibly apocryphal religious relic called the Phallos (okay, I'm starting to realize that a description of Delany's novel is actually far more labyrinthine than the novel itself, which never approaches being confusing-- it's a pretty direct read actually). Delany's experiments with an abandonment of authorship and relocation of a text (book to internet synopsis to Delany's book) is what makes it interesting-- though possibly not more interesting than the book that Delany offers hints of throughout his novel; the epic, apocryphal, anonymous Phallos. But this is part of the pull; Delany offers, via Pedarson's "website," a quote from Umberto Eco that sets the novel in motion:
"Yet there is nothing more fascinating than secret wisdom: One is sure that it exists, but one does not know what it is. In the imagination, therefore, it shines as something unutterably profound."--Umberto Eco, The Search for the Perfect Language
Of course, this quote applies both to the apocryphal novel that Delany describes, as well as the artifact (called the Phallos) that the characters within the apocryphal novel are desperately searching for: neither exist, but both play with the individuals perception of something unknown to draw in the reader/individual further, to instill an inherent desire. And it is desire the forms the core of Delany's book; wisely echoed textually by the abundance of gay sex scenes throughout the apocryphal novel, with Pedarson quoting many of Neoptolomus' musings/dialogs on desire.
I've never read any of Delany's sci-fi (which he is ostensibly most well known for), but I really enjoyed reading this work, and will undoubtedly check out some mo>re.