Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics

The Convergence of Postmodern Innovative Fiction and Science Fiction: An Encounter with
Samuel R. Delany's Technotopia
Author(s): Teresa L. Ebert
Source: Poetics Today, Vol. 1, No. 4, Narratology II: The Fictional Text and the Reader
(Summer, 1980), pp. 91-104
Published by: Duke University Press
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 THE CONVERGENCE OF
POSTMODERN INNOVATIVE FICTION
AND SCIENCE FICTION
An Encounter withSamuel R. Delany's Technotopia

TERESA L. EBERT
AmericanStudies,Minnesota

I
Recent science fiction,particularlyin the works of Samuel R. Delany, has
become increasingly pluralisticand,to use Delany'sownterm,"multiplex."The
criticismof sciencefictionneeds to be similarly diversifiedand synthesizing, not
only in terms of individualworks, but also in itsapproach to the genre as a whole.
My intentionhereis notto argueagainstcurrentattemptsto establisha criticism
of sciencefictionas sciencefiction, butratherto offeran alternativeperspective
on the orientationsof contemporary sciencefictioncriticism. I am interestedin
reading recent science not
fiction so much in terms of its historicalrelationsto
previoustypes of science fictionand proto-science fiction, but in terms of its
relation to the dominantepisteme and aestheticsof advanced technological
societies- a stylisticand epistemologicaldevelopmentthatI have called the
"aesthetics of indeterminacy (Ebert, 1978). It seems to me that integrating
science fictionwithother aestheticmodes of expressionof the postmodern
consciousness,ratherthan lookingat it as an isolated genredeveloped in an
aesthetic vacuum, will reveal new aspects of the literaryactivities in
technologicalsocieties.I therefore intendtodiscusssciencefictioninthecontext
of one of the major literarymanifestations of the new sensibility,namely
postmodern innovative fiction- the of
writings suchfictioneers as JohnBarth,
Ronald Sukenick,Steve Katz and RaymondFedermanas well as the worksof
less formallyinnovative,but no less contemporary, writerssuch as Thomas
Pynchon.
Increasingpluralismat all levelsof experienceon theone hand,and extreme
polarization on the other, are the complementarysides of the manifold
complexities of advanced technological communities. Aesthetically this
paradoxical diversificationand polarization has resulted in a generic
? Poetics Today, Vol. 1:4(1980), 91-104

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92 TERESA L. EBERT

reconfiguration ofcontemporary narrativeliterature- bothsciencefictionand

the"mainstream"novel.' As faras sciencefictionisconcerned,incontrastto the
relative structuraland thematichomogeneityof traditionalscience fiction,
recentscience fictionhas become highlyvariform, creatingan unprecedented
multiplicityand consequentpolarizationin thegenre.Amongthevariouskinds
of science fictionwhichare beingwrittentoday,one can differentiate (perhaps
withsome simplification!) threedistinct"streams."
In themiddleis traditionalsciencefictionwhichis based largelyon therhetoric
of believability:itemploysthemimeticconventionsof thebourgeoisnovelwith
its preoccupationwithsocio-psychologicalrealismand its commitmentto a
causal interpretation of the universe.(This obsession withcausality usually
manifestsitselfin theformof well-defined, linearplots.)The aim of traditional
science fictionis to "extrapolate" fromthe presentgivensof contemporary
scienceand technologyand predict,in a believablefashion,theeffects ofscience
on humandestiny.On one extremeside ofthismiddleformofsciencefictionisa
typeof writingwhichis energizedby the sudden popularityof science fiction
among a new class of readers.This is in factan adaptationand updatingof the
old-fashionedspace-operatypeof science fictionforthe tastesof middle-class
consumerswhose passion forgadgetsis inexhaustible.It is interesting to note
that this type of science fictionhas the tendencyto leave the literarydomain
altogetherand move into T.V. serials,filmsand comic strips.I shall call this
mode of science fiction,"parascience fiction."The oppositeextreme,whichis
the one thatconcernsme here,is what I shallreferto as "metasciencefiction":
the science fictionthat moves beyond thematicextrapolationand formal

' I am, ofcourse,aware thatthegenericmodelI amsuggesting Therewill

isopen toqualifications.
be some criticswhowillpointtocases whichare "exceptions"and thusseem to reducetheexplaining
powerof mytheory.However,mymodel,likeanyoftheotherparadigmsthatmaptheemergenceof
new modes of discourse(literaryor otherwise),shouldbe testednotmerelyin termsofitsabsolute
empiricalapplicabilitybut also in thelightofitsabilityto offera neworganizingperspectiveforthe
nascentcontemporary literaryconsciousness.The arguments ofthosecriticswho believe all literary
and culturaltheoriesshouldbe builtupon a purelyempiricalstudyofavailabledata is itselfopen to
manymethodologicalas well as practicalquestions.The case againstpurelyempiricalresearchin
genretheoryhas been statedbestbyTzvetanTodorov(1975:3-4):
The notionof genreimmediatelyraisesseveralquestions;fortunately, some of thesevanish
once we have formulatedthemexplicitly.The firstquestionis: are we entitledto discussa
genrewithouthavingstudied(or at leastread) all theworkswhichconstitute it?The graduate
studentwho asks thisquestion mightadd thata catalogue of the fantasticwould include
thousandsof titles.Whenceit is onlya stepto theimageofthediligentstudentburiedunder
books he mustread at therateof threea day,obsessedbytheidea thatnewones keep being
writtenand thathe will doubtlessnever manage to absorb themall. But one of the first
characteristics methodis thatitdoes notrequireus to observeeveryinstanceofa
ofscientific
phenomenon in order to describe it; scientificmethodproceeds ratherby deduction.We
actuallydeal witha relativelylimitednumberof cases, fromthemwe deduce a general
hypothesis, and we verifythishypothesis (orrejecting)itas need be.
byothercases,correcting
Whateverthe numberof phenomena(of literaryworks,in thiscase) studiedwe are never
justifiedin extrapolatinguniversallawsfromthem;itis notthequantity ofobservations, butthe
logicalcoherenceofa theory thatfinallymatters.(emphasisadded)

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 POSTMODERN FICTION AND SCIENCE FICTION 93

mimesisin order to celebrate the fabulatoryhuman imaginationin-and-for-

itself.In metasciencefictionthe entertainment or story-tellingfunctionthat
dominates traditionalscience fictionis backgrounded,and the literaryand
aestheticfunctions are foregrounded.Metasciencefictionenergizesthegenreof
sciencefictionat a timewhenscientific explorationsofotherplanetshave made
newsfromouterspace a regularpartofourdailyinformation, and futurestudies
have become an integralpart of our academic curricula.Metasciencefiction
acquires its narrativeforcefromlayingbare theconventionsof science fiction
and subvertingitstransparent languageofmimesisand believability.Insteadof
usinga languagewhichis onlya meansforachievingotherends,suchas tellingan
appealing and suspensefulstory,it employsa self-reflexive discourseacutely
aware of its own aestheticstatusand artificiality. Not only languagebut also
othercomponentsoffictionsuch as "character,""plot," and "pointofview" are
handledwithaestheticselfconsciousness in a mannerthatmakesitimpossibleto
take themforanythingbut whattheyactuallyare: createdliterarycharacters,
made-upplotsand so forth.
The fullemergenceof metasciencefictionin recentyearsis theoutcomeof a
radicalgenericreconfiguration whichmaybe described,in Roman Jakobson's
as a
terminology, shifting of thedominant in postwarnarrativeliterature.2What
thismeans is thattheoverallshape of narrativegenreshave changedand a new
aesthetichierarchyhas been establishedwithinthem.This is largelya resultof
the pressuresfromboth withinthe literarytradition(namelythe "automatiza-
tion" ofcertaindevices)and outsideit(thatis tosay,forcesintheculturesuchas
the development of high technologyand the consequent changes in the
immediateenvironment of theauthorand his/her audience). In pre-WorldWar
II years,forinstance,the"dominant"in sciencefictionwas thepseudo-mimetic
exploration of outer space. This "dominant" has been displaced because
internally, in termsof thewritingconventionsof sciencefiction,it is no longer
effective- ithas become "automatized"- and externally, inthecontextofthe
cultureat large,it does notgeneratetheimaginativeenergiesit used to - the
developmentof space technologyhas made it an almostroutinerealthing!The
"dominant"ofpostmodernsciencefiction, consequently, has shifted,and a new
aestheticand thematichierarchy has been establishedwithinthegenreaccording
to whichthevery"fictivity" ofsciencefiction is itsprimaryelement.It is perhaps
importantto emphasize that duringthe course of such a change none of the
(older) componentsof science fiction, is completelylost.Obviously,theyall still
exist.But theyare placed in a new order,and theirrelationshipto one another
and to thegenericsystemas a whole has changed.In metasciencefictionouter
space explorationsdo existbut therelativepositionofthisnarrativeelementin
the aestheticstructure has changed: it servesnow onlyas a backgroundagainst
which,to borrowa termfromRaymondFederman,"real fictitious" discourses
take place.
2 Jakobson,1971. For otherperspectiveson genre theory(essentiallyafterNorthropFrye)see
David Richter,1974; Todorov, 1975; Brooke-Rose, 1976; Todorov's reply to this essay, 1976;
Scholes, 1969.

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94 TERESA L. EBERT

Among themostsignificant metasciencefictionnovelstodayare thewritings

of Samuel R. Delany, especiallyhis aestheticallymatureworksof the 1970's,
Dhalgren(1975) and Triton(1976). AlthoughDelany maynotbe one ofthemost
innovativemetasciencefictionists (he has even triedto convinceme inone ofhis
lettersthathe is notas innovativeas Heinlein,forexample),I believethatthefull
aestheticrealizationof his worksrendersDelany's fictionan apt paradigmfor
metasciencefictionon thebasisofwhichone can construct an exploratory model
for dealing with the transformations that are taking place in postmodern
narrativeliterature.
BeforediscussingDelany's twomajornovels,however,I wouldlike to briefly
examine a second line of developmentswhich have been taking place in
contemporary "mainstream"fiction.In post-WorldWar II fiction, as in science
fiction,one notices a breakingup of the traditionalnovel into a numberof
sub-genres.The middle of the genericspectrumin mainstreamfictiontoday
consistsof theworksofwriterssuchas Saul Bellow,JoyceCarol Oates and John
Updike, who are continuingthe traditionof mimeticfiction.3 Their work is
dominatedbya quest foran aestheticsofverisimilitude. Theirfictionemployan
orderly,resolvablelinearplot (indicatingthewriter'sbeliefin a causal, rational
and orderlyuniverse)and deals withfully-developed characters(an expression
of the writer'sfaithin a coherenthumanidentityand integrative selfhood)in a
very clear and transparent language (which is a sign of the author's trustin
ordinarylanguageas a mediatoramong all membersof a speech community).
The major epistemologicalfunctionofthistypeoffictionis, to use thetermof a
recentcritic,to "totalize" human experience(Zavarzadeh, 1976:3) in other
words to seek coherence, meaning and order behind the unrulyempirical
experienceof humankind.The most radicalformsof narrativein recentyears
have renounced "totalization" of experienceas being inauthenticand have
moved beyond it to celebrate either unadorned human experience or the
shapefulnessof the fable-makinghumanimagination.In the firstinstancewe
have the "nonfictionnovel," whichis a transcription of actual experience- a
phenomenology of the extreme situation.The other reaction to the totalizing
novel are such various modes of innovativefictionas "surfiction"and
"metafiction."Again it is postmoderninnovativefictionwithitspost-mimetic
narrativetechniquesand itsdelightin constructing self-referentialfableswhich
concernsme here.
The resultof these two linesof developments- thechangesin mainstream
fiction,on theone hand,and in sciencefiction, on theother- is theblurringof
boundariesbetweenthose modes of writingwhichare on theedges of literary
experimentation, namelyinnovativefictionand metasciencefiction.It is, for
example, ratherdifficult to classifyPynchon's Gravity'sRainbow either as
straightmainstreamfictionor as science fiction.Delany's narrativesin certain
The "mainstream"novel,however,shouldnotbe regardedas a monolithicgenre.It is,rather,a
multilayered kindofwriting whichincludessuchsub-genresas popularfiction(JamesMichner,The
Source),the femininenovel (Doris Lessing,TheSummerBeforetheDark) and,ofcourse,theethnic
novel.

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 POSTMODERN FICTION AND SCIENCE FICTION 95

sectionsare hardlydistinguishable frompassages in the worksof postmodern

innovativewriting.One suchparallelcan be foundbycomparingchapterVII of
DhalgrenwithpartI, "Frankenstein,"of Sukenick's98.6. This convergenceof
metasciencefictionand innovativefictioninto what Mas'ud Zavarzadeh has
called "transfiction"(1976:38), heraldsa new break-upand a new synthesisin
narrativein post-industrialcommunitiessimilarto thedevelopmentsnarrative
literatureunderwentafterthe Renaissance.Accordingto RobertScholes these
transformations resultedin reconciliationof the "empirical" and "fictional"
impulses thatfinallyshaped thetotalizingnovel(Scholes and Kellogg,1966: 15).
Transfictionis a productof the post-novelsynthesis:it is the narrativeof the
consciousness that has moved beyond the "two cultures" (Zavarzadeh, in
manuscript).
CONTEMPORARYSCIENCE FICTION

I FictionI MimeticScience ---I

Parascience Metascience
Fiction
(StarTrek) Fiction (Dhalgren)
(Strangerina
StrangeLand)

CONTEMPORARY("MAINSTREAM")FICTION

Fiction
Innovative Novel
Totalizing Nonfiction
Novel
(Mr. Sammler'sPlanet) (TheElectric
Kool-Aid
AcidTest)
Metafiction Surfiction
(LostintheFunhouse) (98.6)

Transfiction

II
One interesting phenomenonwhich,I believe,indicatestheformaland thematic
"osmosis" thatis takingplace betweeninnovativefictionand sciencefictionis
the change in relativeimportanceof technologyas a fictionalelementin these
twokindsof narrative.There seems to be an activegive-and-take goingon here.
The functionof technologyin metasciencefictionhas been backgrounded
relativeto its functionin traditionalsciencefiction,
whereasin innovativeand
contemporary fictiontechnologyhas been foregrounded, in comparisonwithits
functionin thetraditionalmainstreamnovel.Specifictechnologicalinnovations,
most notably rocketships,computersand cyborgs,which are the dominant
motivatingelementsof plots and charactersin traditionalscience fiction,lose
theirimportancein metasciencefictionand insteadbecome enmeshedin the
landscape, the environmental matrixof the novelsin whichthe authorialand
readerly imaginations move. Regardless of whether one examines the
dysfunctional and inexplicablyerratictechnology offailedpostindustrial
society

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96 TERESA L. EBERT

in Dhalgren or the hyper-efficient and omnipresenttechnologyof Triton,the

technologyis largelyunspecifiedand takenforgranted;technologyfunctions in
bothas thematrixof"things"throughwhichthecharactersmove. In thenovels
of Barth or Pynchon,on the otherhand, rocketships,computers,cyborgsand
gyroscopesand endlesslyenumeratedobjects and hardwaremotivatethe plot
and characters;in Barth's Giles Goat-Boyand Pynchon'sV., forinstance,the
centralfigures, Giles and V. are indeedcyborgs.In thesenovelsas well as in the
less technologically dominatednovelsofsuchwritersas Sukenick,thelandscape
of the fictionsthroughwhichthecharactersmoveis enmeshedin technology.It
seems thatan equalizationof sortshas taken place and now in bothnarrative
modes theverytextureand substanceofthefictive worldsand eventhelanguage
and narrativestructures of thefictions,whether Delany orSukenickor Pynchon,
are woven out of the complex and multiple web ofscienceand technology.
The forces behind the change in the function of technologyand the
consequent shift in the thematic and aesthetic concerns of recentsciencefiction
become moreevidentwhenwe examinetheprimarymodesofthoughtinforming
Delany's work.The traditionalideationalinfluenceon science fiction,namely
physics,specific technologiesand psychology,are replaced (although not
dispensedwith)in Delany's writing,bylinguistics, symboliclogic,mathematics,
cybernetics,biology (particularlyneurology and genetics), ecology and
sociology.Among these linguistics,mathematics and symboliclogic assume a
privileged position and overshadow the science of substances. Delany's
epistemology, in other words, is largely a "structuralist" one, in which the
relationships between things,whether synapses, phonemes or organic/inorganic
systems subsume the individual or the unique. Above all, Delany is concerned
withtherelationships and patternsgeneratedbywordsand languageas a whole.
This structuralist preoccupationwiththe fundamentalrelationshipsamong
words is clearly articulatedby Delany in his critical essay, "About Five
Thousand Seven Hundred and FiftyWords" (1977), in whichhe states that
"words in a narrativegeneratetonesofvoice,syntacticexpectations,memories
of otherwordsand pictures.But ratherthana fixedchronologicalrelation,they
sit in numerousinter-and-over-weaving relations(1977:36). He is concerned
with the "microleaps," the interconnections,between words that create
meaningsand thefundamental waysinwhichtechnology can transform boththe
relationsamong words and theirgenerativemeaningsin the verbal matrixof
metascience fiction. Science fiction, according to Delany in his essay,
"Shadows," is "a way of castinga language shadow over coherentareas of
imaginativespace thatwouldotherwisebe largelyinaccessible"(1977:133-4).By
"language shadow" Delany means theimagination'sabilityto formpatternsin
words thatenable it to expressthe relationshipsit perceivesbetweenentities
thatare disparate,multiplexortemporally discontinuousin ordertocreateareas
of meaning. In describinghow these lingual and ideational patternsare
aestheticallyrealized,Delany statesthat
insciencefiction,'science'- i.e.,sentencesdisplayingverbalemblems ofscientific
discourses- is usedto literalize themeaningofothersentences foruse in the

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 POSTMODERN FICTION AND SCIENCE FICTION 97

ofthefictional
construction foreground. ofthe
Suchsentences...leavethebanality
muzzymetaphor
emotionally thelabyrinth
... andthrough oftechnical
possibility,
becomepossibleimagesoftheimpossible
(Triton,
p. 337).
Science and technology,in otherwords,have becomein metasciencefictionthe
structuralvocabularyand stylisticdevicesthroughwhichthe aestheticvisionis
shaped. To illustratethis point,I would like to examine two sentencesfrom
Dhalgren,a narrativeinwhichtechnologyas a motivating forceoftheplotall but
disappears.
I. Somemesh,flush, terminalturnedherethroughthelarynx's
trumpet.
fearslips,whichwe tryto measure,
II. The articulate butcomeawaywithonlythe
perpetual thefrequency
angleofdistortion, ofan amazeddefraction
(p. 185).
The vocabularyis denselytechnicaland specificand yetintenselymetaphorical
in its impact.Delany has totallyenergizedthat"banal and emotionallymuzzy
metaphor"- "fearcaughtin his throat"- byrendering itin specificscientific
and technologicaltermsthatgive it concreteness,substance,depthand a fresh
vividness.The consciousattemptto measurethe articulatefearturningin the
"larynx'strumpet"beforeit slipsaway onlyresultsin greaterfear,namelythe
knowledgeof uncertainty, the impossibilityof ever correctingthe "perpetual
of the
angle distortion, frequency of an amazed defraction."By embeddingthe
imagination's"language shadow" in a technologicallychargedverbal matrix,
Delany constructstotally new of
patterns meaning that dislodge an idea or
emotion from the commonplace and relocate it in the very center of the
epistemologicalcrisisfacingcontemporary man- thecompleteindeterminacy
of existence.Delany's technotopiais thisprocessof usingtheaestheticfunction
of technologyto vividlyrenderthe multiplexand uncertainlandscape of the
postmodernimagination.
This particularaestheticfunctionof technologyis not unique to Delany,
althoughhe has given it its fullestarticulation;it is the essence of the verbal
matrixin nearlyall recentinnovativefictionfromPynchonto Sukenick. It
functions intheseworksto reconstruct
similarly thepatternsoflanguageinorder
to concretelyexpress the crisis of contemporaryconsciousness and the
imaginativepossibilitiesthatare thusopened up.
This concretizationof languagethroughtechnologythatinformstransfiction
as a whole foregroundslanguage itself,makingit opaque, an object, thereby
destroyingthe transparent,mimeticfunctionof language in both the classic
mainstreamnovel and traditionalscience fiction.In these works the reader
peered throughlanguage,as iflookingthrougha glasswindow,to finda plausible
and realisticworld,whetherpresentor probable.By foregrounding language,
transfictiontranscendsmimeticformsand celebratesa self-reflexive language
thatdrawsattentionto itselfthroughvariousmeans(in additionto theaesthetic
functionof technology)thatrangefromFederman'stypographical playingwith
the veryphysicality of thewordin workssuchas Double or Nothingto Barth's
regressionsad infinitum in Lost in theFunhouseand Chimera.
Like mosttransfiction Delany's prose is highlyself-reflexive. He attemptsto

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98 TERESA L. EBERT

createmultiplelayersof relationships whichevoke resonancesofmeaninginthe

textbysuchdevicesas repeatingwords,phrasesand even scenesseveraltimesin
differentcontexts.Such repetitions contribute to thetextan almostunconscious,
imagisticdensity as words reverberate and echo in thereader'smind.Each new
contexttransforms the meaning,adding to the fluidityand fluxof Delany's
verballandscapes.The multiplicities ofmeaningthatare thuscreatedemphasize
the relativityand mutabilityof relationshipswhich are continuallybeing
restructured in Delany's textsas in reality,but moreimportanttheyenact the
profoundcomplexityof theimagination.
Perhaps even more significantin terms of definingDelany's works as
metasciencefictionis the fact that his textsreverberatewiththe verbal and
genericconventionsofthegenreofsciencefiction itself.An interestingexample,
althoughone thatis unsuccessful owingtotheobstinacyofDelany's publisher,is
the titleof hiswork,Triton.Accordingto hisinterviewwithDarrellSchweitzer,
Delany had intendedto call it Troubleon Tritonin orderto have a book witha
"titlethatsounded like twenty-seven othersciencefictionnovels... thatwould
evoke a sense of 'haven't I heard thisbefore?'and the titlewould sortof slip
between yourfingersbeforeyou could actuallygrasp it" (1976a: 17-18). And
indeed thereis a 1930'sshortstory,"Trouble on Triton,"at least threenovels
called Troubleon TitanthatDelany mentionsincludingKuttner's,and a Simak
novelcalled TroublewithTycho.In therepetition ofone image,or name,or word
to
fromone text another, whether it is the transmutation of "Bellona" from
Dhalgrento Triton, from Earth to Mars, or red suns and colonized moonsfrom
othersciencefictiontexts,Delany transcends the mimetic function of traditional
The
sciencefiction. very act ofcreation of hisfictive textsand theirrelation to the
of
largerquestions language and literarytraditions, both science fiction and
mainstream, become central aesthetic concerns of his fiction.In writing
metatexts,Delany parallels the worksof othertransfictionists, most notably
Barthwhoconstructs elaboratefictions reflecting on theartisticactitselfand the
relationof the work to its aestheticheritage,particularly, in both Lost in the
Funhouseand Chimera.
The metatextsof transfiction operatenotjuston thelevelofverbalmatrixand
fictiveuse ofthegenericconventions.Moreimportant, theyfunction on thelevel
of the structureof thefictivediscourse.The open-ended,irresolvedstructuring
of such metasciencefiction,especially Dhalgren and Triton,displaces the
mimeticfunctionby a dominantaestheticone that is largelyself-reflexive in
form.A prime example is Tritonitselfin whichthe main narrative,with its
ambiguous,broken-off ending and highlyuncertainresolutionof the plot, is
followed by two appendices. Each appendix simultaneouslycontinues and
moves beyond the characters,themesand devices of the text and in fact
transcendsthe textitselfthroughthe multiplelayersof self-reflexivity in the
narrativediscourse. The first
appendix to Tritonis taken verbatim from Delany's
criticalessay, "Shadows," whichwas publishedoriginallyin Foundationand
thenlatercollectedwithhis otheressaysin TheJewel-Hinged Jaw: Noteson the
Language of Science Fiction; the essay in turn is constructed fromDelany's

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 POSTMODERN FICTION AND SCIENCE FICTION 99

personal journals and reveals the discontinuityof disparate entries. To

compoundthelevelsofself-reflexivity here,thepassage itself,bothas itappears
in the essay and in Triton,is a continuationofthescenes in thenovelwherethe
character,Sam (obviously,a referenceto theauthor'sown name), attemptsto
explainthegravity failure.As partofthatdialogue,Sam discussessciencefiction.
The layersmultiplywhenthenarrativemakesseveraldiscontinuousjumps. all
discussingsciencefiction- itsdefinition and functionof itsverbalmatrix- in
the authorialvoice of thecriticalessaysand journals.This movingawayfroma
"fictivetext" to an "essayistictext" and then to a "diary text" is one of the
characteristicsof postmodernnarrative.It is a practice,however,that was
rejected by HenryJamesand othermodernistswho believed the purityof a
fictionaltextshouldnotbe violatedbytheimpurity ofdiscursivewriting.
The complex referentialdimensionsof the narrativeincreases when one
movesto thesecondappendixinwhichDelanyelaborateson thelifeand ideas of
a philosopheronlymentionedin passingin themainnarrative- AshimaSlade.
Not onlydoes thisappendixcontinually echocharactersand ideas fromthemain
narrativeas it developsitsown distinctideas and sequence ofevents,butit also
refersspecificallyto the same essay, "Shadows," in several places citingthe
originalsource,"Foundation,issuesix and thedouble issueseven/eight" at least
twice. Delany then mockshimselfas "a writerof light,popular fictions"and
author of "'Shadows' a nonfictionpiece writtenin the twentiethcentury"
(Triton,p. 357), and warns the reader against drawingtoo many parallels
between the two texts.But the factis thatmanyof the ideas in the second
appendixappear in embryonicformin "Shadows," and bytheverynatureofthe
transmutation of ideas fromone textto the other,offersome insightinto the
genesis and developmentof Delany's fiction- althoughany conclusionscan
only be speculative. The importantthing here is the multiple layers of
and theirimpacton thestructure
self-reflexivity ofthenarrative.Thus,thefairly
straightforward and largelysequentialstructure of eventsin themainnarrative
of Tritonis subvertedby being denied closure and resolution.This negation
results from the ambiguityand indeterminacyof the plot ending and the
continuationof the narrativebeyondtheplot intotwodistinctappendiceswith
multipleself-reflexive resonancesthatmovebetweentwoappendices;thenback
to the main narrative;outsideto the author'scriticalessays,personaljournals
and actual existenceas a science fictionauthor,and fromthereto thescience
fictiongenreas a whole,includingspecificworksbyHeinleinand Bester,as well
as to such modes of contemporary thoughtas thepoeticsof the Prague Circle,
linguistics,symboliclogic,calculusand aesthetics.
This subversionof the mimeticplausibilityand causal resolutionof plot is
accentuatedin the fictivediscourseof Dhalgrenin whichthe self-reflexivity,
circularityand indeterminacyof the narrativeare much more deliberately
integratedthanin Triton.In DhalgrenDelany transcendstherestricting didactic
and entertainment functionofmimeticsciencefiction inwhicha convincing story
plausiblyevolves out of the sustaineddevelopmentof a linear sequence of
events.In Dhalgrenhe looks beyondtheNewtonianworldviewofcausalityand

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100 TERESA L. EBERT

absolutesand attemptsto aestheticallyrealizethereconceptualizaton ofreality

brought about by Einsteinian relativity quantumphysics.Dhalgrendoes not
and
tella storyso muchas itenactstheexperienceoflivingina space-timecontinuum
oftechnotopiain whichabsolutesand causalityare shatteredand thecharacters
wanderuncomprehendingly throughvariousspheresofspace, each withitsown
register of time. The surface of discourseitselfsubvertslineararrangements and
acts out the confusionand uncertaintyof experiencinga relativisticreality
througha collage of fragmentary imagesand nonsequentialevents.In doingso
Delany utilizesan artisticstrategywhichis favoredby postmodernwritersand
roundly condemned by humanistcriticsofthemimetictraditionas "imitative
the
fallacy" (Winters, 1947: 41). The essential characteristicof imitativeor
expressive form is thatthe artistactsoutintheshape ofhisartifact whatseemsto
himto be the actual formof experience.Chaoticexperienceis directlyenacted
through a rather chaotic discourse without the mediation of "aesthetic
distance." The artist,in otherwords,does not talkabout realitybeingchaotic,
but lets the reader experience it by exposing him to post-orderly texts.
Postmodernfictioneers fromBarthelmeto Katz and Sukenickhave refusedto
followthe dictatesof the mimetictraditionwhichmaintains,as Yvor Winters
putsit,thatthe authormustendeavorto giveformor meaningto theformless,
otherwisehe will destroyformitself.They have attemptedto aestheticallyact
out the indeterminacyand acausality of experience by means of various
disjunctivedevices. Dhalgrenis no exception,and the narrativejumps from
thoughts,image or event to another in a discontinuous,acausal and often
circularmanner,relatedonlybythefactthattheyare all perceivedby"Kid" as
he moves throughdifferent spheresofspace in a "timelesscity."
The charactersin Dhalgren move througha technotopiathat is literally
timelessin that time is completelyrelativizedand changes accordingto the
participant'spositionin space. Thus, in the Einsteinianlandscape of Bellona,
whichis itselfa cityin a distinctspace-timecontinuumfromthatoftherestofthe
world,themeasurements oftime,suchas daysand years,no longerholdand are
instead arbitrarilyset by a mysterioushead-of-state,and Kid findshimself
movingwiththe "scorpions" in a space thattakes up one day relativeto the
five-dayspan forothercharacters.But moreimportant, thecityitselfburnsin
relativized time and space, which means that the topographyof thecityand its
destructiondo not occurin a linearprogressionin thenarrative,butrathertake
place in circular,multipleand repeatingsegmentsthatvaryforeach participant
withinhis own space. Thus, a storethatis vandalizedor burneddown forone
characteris fullystockedforanotherwhois ina different space-timecontinuum,
and the cityas a whole is able to witnessthecatastropheof a red sun without
being destroyed,since the cityand the sun are movingin separate spaces at
different times.Althoughblocks of the narrativein Dhalgrenseem at firstto
have a certainlinearprogressionand surfacerealism,theunderlying acausality
of realityemphasizes that events in the narrativedo not have any rational
explanationand are fundamentally nonsequentialand circularin occurrence.
This pointis underscoredbythenarrative structure ofDhalgreninwhichthelast

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 POSTMODERN FICTION AND SCIENCE FICTION 101

chapteris ostensiblyKid's journal. The journal itselfbreaks withthe surface

linearityof the precedingdiscourseand, througha typographically variedand
disjunctivecollage of fragments of eventsand images,repeatspreviousevents
and ideas in new patternsof relations while extendingand adding new
occurrencesand meditations to thenarrative. The journal,liketheappendicesof
is
Triton, highly self-reflexiveas it echoes and repeats bits and pieces of the
previousdiscourse,thenarrativeends whereit beginsin a cyclicalinversionof
the openinginitiationritesas Kid presentsan orientalwoman,who recallsthe
image of the woman in the firstpages, withhis "orchid" on the bridgein an
exchange that ritualisticallyrepeats his receivingthe "orchid" fromanother
woman on the bridge near the beginningof the narrative.Since the city's
destructionhappens in a different space-timecontinuumforeach individual,
each person entersand leaves the cityat a different stage in its decline,thus
suggestingthatthecitywillcontinueitscataclysmic existencein a continualcycle
untiltheconvergenceofitsspace-timecontinuumwiththatofthedestruction of
earthitself.
The circularityand self-reflexivity of the discourse,combined with the
discontinuousand acausal structuring ofthenarrative,preventanyclosureofthe
textor resolutionof the plot. The narrativestopsbut it is not completed.The
open-endednatureof the narrativein Dhalgren,as in postmodernfictionas a
whole, is nontotalizingand subvertsthe mimeticideal of a work of art as a
self-contained,self-sufficientand finishedproduct.The discourse has been
destabilized to such a degree in Dhalgren,and so successfullydisruptsthe
mimeticconventionsoftotalizingand closure,thatitleads me to expectthatthe
incomplete,fragmented and cyclicalnatureofthethemesand narrativeeventsof
the discoursemayhave been extendedto theactual physicalnatureof thetext
itself,leavingitan unfinishedpublishedproduct.
In factmyspeculationswere confirmed by anothercritic,Algis Budrys,who
wrotein Fantasyand ScienceFictionthat

obviously,whatis important
aboutthisbookiswhatithastoteachDelany,whois
stillwriting
it.Bantam,andFredrick Bantam'sSF editor,
Pohil, areletting
Delany
makerunning changesinthetextas theyoccurtohim(1975:53).
In a footnote,Budrysadds, "Pohl tells me the changes are not massive but
persistent.They willnot be identifiedas changes.You maysimplyassumethat
laterprintings are variorumeditionsof theearlierones,collectorsplease note"
(ibid.). Thus one can speculate that the fluidityand fluxof the narrativeare
extendedto includeactual variationsin subsequentprintings of thetext.These
additions and deletions destabilize the text and emphasize its postmodern
preoccupatonwiththe on-going"process" ratherthanthefinished"product."
Such variationsindicatethateach textexistsin a separatespace-timecontinuum
byrelativizing theactualphysicalproductionand existenceofthetextitself.This
raises the questionof whetherthe textsof Dhalgrenthusbecome serialin the
same sensethata minimalist paintingbyFrankStellaisserial.In otherwords,the
text of Dhalgren has been deabsolutized with the unidentifiedchanges in

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102 TERESA L. EBERT

subsequent printings, and thereforeeach textmustbe read in the contextof

every other text in order to experiencethefullaestheticrelativization ofthetext
itselfand the discourseas a whole. The texthas been diversified;each textis
unique and distinctonly in relation to all other texts,and no longer does
Dhalgrenexistas a mass unity- a culminationof same texts.Althoughthese
speculationsare notfullysupportedbytheprinting historyof Dhalgren, I think
the factthatBudrysand I bothfoundthediscourseso successfully destabilizing
thatwe extendedits incompleteness,fordifferent reasons,to the textitselfis
significant testimony to thedisruptivenatureofDelany's nontotalizing vision.
Most postmodernfictioneers use serializationas a contra-mimetic convention
to relativizethe discourse.However, fewif any have extendedit to the actual
productionand physicalexistenceof thetext.Serializationin postmoderntexts,
such as Sukenick's 98.6 or (if we regard "shufflenovels" as a form of
serialization)B. S. Johnson'sThe Unfortunates, is a techniquegenerallyused to
deabsolutize characterizationor narrativepointof view. The relativizationof
the discourse in Dhalgren is largely contingentupon the serializationof
character. As I suggested earlier, the only narrativedevice holding the
discontinuousfragments and nonsequentialeventsof the narrativetogetheris
thefactthattheyare perceivedbytheconsciousnessoftheprotagonist, Kid. But
thecharacterof Kid is contradictory and serial.He has no nameand no identity,
nor does he ever findone in the processof thenarrativeevents.Instead,he is
given the genericappelationof "Kid" whichunderscoresthe problemof even
identifying himphysicallysincehe claimstobe twenty-seven butlooksabout ten
years younger.The age confusionreinforces' relativityof each person's
the
experienceoftime,on theone hand,and lackofidentity and personalhistory, on
theother.Lacking anycentralidentity, Kid takes on the rolesand personalities
of the various situations throughwhich he moves, shiftingfrom poet to
gang-leader,fromheroto tough-guy. The idea of a knowable,stablecore ofself
thatenables thecoherentcontinuationofa consistentpersonalityis questioned
in a relativisticand indeterminate world,and Kid's chameleoncharacter,withits
personalityshaped and molded by each situation,aestheticallyacts out the
ruptures of self in technotopia. a worldin whichthemostcommonelements
In
such as the timeof day or even the sun are displaced,Kid is unable to fitthe
pieces and fragments ofhisexistenceintoanykindofmeaningful wholeon which
he could base a sense of himselfor a framework forreality.Denied even the
rudimentary aspectsof self,a name, a sense of continuity, or place, or time,or
history, Kid assumes the stereotyped rolesimposed on him bythecontingencies
of each situation.When realityforcefully impingeson hissenses,he recordsand
reflectsit in his poetry;whenhe begins"runningwiththescorpions,"he stops
writingand reactsto each eventin termsof theconventionsand stereotypesof
his role as a gang-leader.There is no developmentof self,no self-realization,
onlya chameleonswitching ofserialselves.Thus,thenarrativeis held together,

* Delany has informedme, however,that these speculationsmade by myselfand Budrysare

incorrect.Evidentlythechangesamountedto about sixty-five corrections.
typographical

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 POSTMODERN FICTION AND SCIENCE FICTION 103

not by a synthesizing consciousnessthatordersand interprets thechaos, but by

one that flows and changes with each shiftingpattern of eve.:as. The
discontinuoussensibilitythatis Kid servesto further destabilizethe discourse
and increasingly underminethemimeticconventionsbybeingin fluxitself.
AlthoughDelany discussesthe"psychologicalveracity"ofcharacterization in
some of his criticalessays (1977:171),in an interviewhe describesTritonas "a
book about people tryingto lead their lives by cliches" (1976a:18). This
contradiction betweenthedetailedtextureandrealismofthesurfaceactionsand
behaviors of the characters and the negation of personality that an
incomprehensibleand multiplex reality creates are even more strongly
delineatedin Trition thantheyare in Dhalgren.The behaviorof theprotagonist
in Triton,Born Helstrom,is carefullyand fullydescribedin richconcretized
sentences that pervade the verbal matrixof Delany's fictions.But it is the
rhetoricof the discourse, and not the personalityof the character,that is
emotionallycharged.Born is a flat,psychologically colorless stereotype- a
caricatureof the 70's whitemale chauvinist- who is unable to adapt to the
permutations and multiplexities of technotopia.It is a societyso changefulthat
the serialization of character and roles are the institutionalizednorm;
technologymakes possible any kind of transformation of self fromsexual
preferenceto sex type. A hollow characterwho reveals little ability to
understandhimselfor others, Born responds to reality with stereotyped
responsesthatare onlyfacilitatedbythefactthathe can changeroles,planetsor
sex at will,especiallyifthecontradictions of one shouldbecome too muchfor
him. Thus, Born's sex change is not a result of any insightor realistic
psychologicalmotivation,but the exchange of one limitingrole with all its
stereotypedresponsesforitsopposite.And althoughtheendingofthenarrative
is ambiguous,itis highlyimprobablethatBornwillachieveanykindofsynthesis
or understandingbecause her reactionsas a woman are just as limitingand
conventionalas whenshe was a man.
To say thatthefigures in Delany's fictions
areserializedcharactersexchanging
one role and identity foranother,whetheritis changingfroma manto a woman
in case of Born, or froma poet to a gang-leaderwithKid, and to add thatthe
charactersare largelyflatstereotypes, evenat timesborderingon caricaturesas
withMrs. RichardsinDhalgren,is,ofcourse,nottosaythatthesefictions are not
charged with considerable emotional and imaginative energy.They are. It is the
discourseof Delany's recentfictionswhichis self-reflexive and chargedwith
vitality,not the characters.Here one can clearlysee how Delany is moving
beyondtraditionalhumanismand bases thecenterofhisnarrativeon a systemof
signsout ofwhichhisdiscourseis woven.The space and settingofhisfictions are
also morecitiesofimaginationthanhabitatsofactualhumanbeings.Theyare,to
quote fromDhalgren(p. 716), "apocryphalcities,thecitiesof speculationand
reconstituted disorder,ofinseminationand incipience,sweptroundwithdark."
In a sense it is thislandscape itselfwhichis technotopia:a spherein whichthe
imaginativepotentialof the postmodernmindis fullyactualized throughthe
aestheticfunctionoftechnology.

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104 TERESA L. EBERT

Delany has statedin his interviewwithDarrellSchweitzerthat"just in terms

of Bradbury,Bester,and Sturgeonyouhave moreexcitinglanguagebeingdone
in science fictionin thefiftiesthanyouhave in all of theseriousmainstreamput
together"(1976a: 18). This leads me to speculatethatas thecurrently emergent
transfictionbecomesa fullymatureand dominantliterary genre, we willbe able
to see more clearlythatthe extensionof modernistfictionintothe yearsafter
WorldWar II in theworksofsuchwriters as Bellow,Malamudand Rothwillnot
prove to be the generic mainstream, but rather the tail-end of the
socio-psychologically realisticnovel begun with Richardson,Defoe and their
contemporaries. It will then, I believe, become apparent that the roots of
transfictionlie in itscreativesynthesisand transmutation of theelementsofthe
literary traditions of both the traditional novel and science fiction,and that
sciencefictionmay,in theend, proveto be themorecentralgenericinfluenceon
theevolutionoftransfiction. Whethermybrieftypologyoftheliterary evolution
of transfictionproves trueor not, one thing which is certain is thattheworksof
Samuel Delany,particularly hisfictions ofthe70's, willplaya verycrucialrolein
shapingthenew tradition.

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