Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. It raises interesting ideas and plays with theoretical concepts that are intriguing and significant within the fields of gender studies, queer theory, postcolonial theory, sf/genre studies, postmodern literary theory, and theories of race and ethnicity. There is a lot to take in. For that, I like the book. However, there is so much going on in this book that it becomes difficult to follow and, worse, it becomes difficult to care about the characters and what happens to them. As an exploration of ideas in the form of fiction, it is a success; as a novel with a narrative and compelling characters, it is a failure. There are two things Delany sets forth in this novel that I find particularly interesting. One, given my interest in feminist theory and gender studies, is his use of gendered pronouns. Instead of using gendered pronouns to acknowledge sex/physiology (where he = male and she= female), Delany presents a culture in which gendered pronouns reflect relationships of desire. In this culture, all beings (whether male or female, human or other) are referred to as women and called by the female pronoun. The exception to this is when one person is attracted to another person. In that situation, the person who is desired becomes . It is a model of gender and sexuality that is not at all about bodies as types for it does not distinguish between sexes in common general speech nor between species and therefore it is rather liberating for a queer movement. There is no concept as homosexuality on many worlds (though the practices associated with the category certainly exist). There is a great deal of freedom on Velm (the world about which the reader is given the most information) to have sex with anyone you like of any sex, any species, any age, any height. Other worlds, it becomes clear, have different customs and prejudices (one world is okay with homosexuality, for instance, but frowns upon sexual relationships between individuals of very different heights). This is also potentially liberating for a feminist movement. Women are not differentiated in the language, are not set apart as outside the linguistic norm (having been commonly accepted as male). There is, in fact, a near reversal of this in the common assumption that all beings are women, daughters, sisters, mothers, regardless of their sex. There are potential problems with this, in that it does resemble a reversal of the current situation even as it reconfigures the system, but in practice, on Velm anyway, this functions less as a reversal of power relations and an empowering of women at the expense of men and functions more as an undoing of the concept of gender. It is not that women gain power, but that all people are the same, only distinguished by the workings of desire, whatever paths that desire may follow. The second element of this novel that is particular interesting is in Delany's concern with cultural transmission. The book is just filled to the brim with details (some relevant, some irrevelant, and and some whose relevance is impossible to judge) about the cultures that Marq Dyeth, an interplanetary ambassador, comes into contact with. Because he travels to different worlds so often and must know so much about their different cultures and the ways in which they communicate with each other, this information is constantly intruding into his narrative. A character nods and we find ourselves inundated with information about what this means here, there, and everywhere. This makes the book difficult to read; it also illustrates the difficulties and dangers inherent in communication, especially when dealing with different cultures and different species. This is significant within the text of course because cultural/species differences sometimes inhibit and sometimes prevent communication (for instance, Delany shows how differences in bodily perception will affect communication . Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand Samuel R Delany. 14-11-2016 2/2 Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand Samuel R Delany. Other Files Available to Download. Adam Reire Oct 26 2012 12:44 pm I loved it. Characters, story, acting, scenes, emotions, all utilized well. Another great film dealing with homosexuality. Like Grains of Sand (1995) - Trailer (Eng Sub) In the modern world, misunderstandings of other cultures and between cultures abound. One way of reading Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is to see in it a warning about the necessity of greater sensitivity to cultural differences. As a part of the African American literary tradition, one could also read this element of Stars as a warning about the cultural differences between white Americans and black Americans, between black Americans and black Africans. This book's publication, following as it does, the black power movement and the flowering of interest in Africa among African Americans, serves as an oblique commentary on African Americans' attempts to fit into these various groups (whether white American or African). The cross- cultural connections within Stars serve as a hopeful vision of intercultural closeness (Marq's family, or stream, is composed of both humans and evelms) and as a warning of how easily those intercultural connections can be wounded. Having said all that, I want to point out once again that, as a traditional sort of novel, this book is not the work of genius I was led to expect. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand . Galaxies Like Grains of Sand is Brian Aldiss's epic chronicle of. Like Grains of Sand (1995) on IMDb: The movie is built around the very complex relationships between Yoshida, leaving Shimizu for Aihara (or at least he tries to. Title: Like Grains of Sand (1995) 7.9 /10. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site?
But perhaps it is not fair to expect it to be a great traditional novel. Delany's focus here is experimental, after all, and the overwhelming and somewhat diffuse nature of the narrative reflects the broader issues he addresses. I cannot tell what the central narrative arc of the novel is, nor can I tell what details I should note as important or relevant as the story unfolds; but, upon reflection, that seems to be the point. Delany unsettles the reader by refusing to provide the expected focus and drive and in this unsettling provides a narrative that more truly reflects the diversity and randomness of reality, both in the novel's world and in ours. Because this is a science fiction novel rather than a realist novel, there is even more room for these sorts of complications. Delany writes about the protocols of reading science fiction, in which the reader, rather than relying on a given world and its usual expectations, must create a new world in the process of reading. All science fiction requires this. It requires world- building in the reading process. Delany takes this concept further than most science fiction writers do, however, in his insistence on creating . His scope is not individual but cultural, and the overwhelming amount of detail in this book makes this cultural rather than individual approach unavoidable for the reader. The reader cannot simply care about Marq Dyeth's relationship with Rat Korga; the reader must also care about the human/evelm political relationship, the dangers of cultural fugue, the question of who and what the Xlv are, and the many, many small ways that all of these groups (and more) interact with each other. Delany writes, in the afterword to Stars, . He goes on to state that he sees a special connection between this position and the genre of science fiction. While I do not believe that science fiction has any sort of monopoly on this attitude among literary genres/types/styles, Delany's Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand certainly goes a long way toward creating a science fiction that is most definitely science fiction (it includes many traditional tropes of sf) and also stylistically and ideologically experimental as well as politically progressive.
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