In Search of Silence by Delany Samuel R. James Kenneth R

Author:Delany, Samuel R., James, Kenneth R [Delany, Samuel R., James, Kenneth R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780819570895
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Published: 2016-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

Vrest—L.M.

Corbelli—L.C.

Slum

Catherine–S.U.M.

Port slum

Woods

Slum

Vrest

Branning—S.U.

Country School

Regs—déclassé

Woods

Nunnery

Slum

Vrest

Leontyne—déclassé

Museum

Helene, U.C.

Slum

City Mansion

Woods

Arthur Branning

Minor characters

8

Travels in Europe

Upon arriving in Luxembourg in October 1965, Delany, Helstrom, and Balousiak spent approximately one week in that country, followed by two weeks each in Paris and Venice. Next they explored the islands of Greece—Milos, then Mykonos, and eventually Crete, with brief stop-offs in Syros, Sifnos, Tinos, and Corfu—and then went on to Athens, where they stayed for an extended period before Delany eventually departed for London.1 (Note that the entries in the first notebook from this period, Notebook 67, skip back and forth in time and cover the entire period from Venice to London, while entries in subsequent notebooks cover episodes occurring within this same period; there is a good deal of chronological overlap among these notebooks.) During his travels Delany worked intermittently on The Einstein Intersection, which he refers to here by its original working title, “A Fabulous, Formless Darkness,” and several other stories, including “Dog in a Fisherman’s Net” (which, like The Einstein Intersection, makes creative use of the Greek landscape) and the ongoing “Faust” project.2 Delany also began to develop his next science fiction novel, Nova. As various entries indicate, this novel went through considerable changes before settling into its final form.

Delany’s experiences in Greece eventually found their way into several essay-memoirs: “A Fictional Architecture That Manages Only with Great Difficulty Not Once to Mention Harlan Ellison” (1967), “A Bend in the Road” (1994), and “Citre et Trans” (1995). In various entries in the notebooks to follow we encounter individuals who play important roles in those later works: DeLys Robinson, John Witten-Doris, and Heidi Mueller.

During his travels, Delany supplemented his income with solo folk performances. In early 1966, however, he was arrested by Greek authorities for performing without a permit, resulting in his brief deportation. Delany went to Budapest, crossed back to Thessaloniki shortly thereafter, then spent twelve days in Istanbul before returning to Athens.3 In the spring of 1966 he traveled to London, where he met a number of British writers associated with the SF magazine New Worlds, including Michael Moorcock and John Brunner, as well as the American SF writer and editor Judith Merril.4 In Notebook 30—which covers the end of Delany’s stay in London and his return, two weeks after his twenty-fourth birthday, to New York City—we see the beginning of Delany’s discussions of and correspondence with these writers, which will carry forward into future journals. In this notebook we also find a draft of “New Wor(l)ds / Many Inventions,” which, appearing in truncated form in New Worlds under the title “Sketch for Two-Part Invention,” would become Delany’s first piece of published SF criticism.5 After Delany returned to New York on April 15, he completed The Einstein Intersection and “The Star-Pit” and continued to work on Nova.6

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