DHALGREN

Paperback, 880 pages

Published July 30, 1975 by Bantam.

ISBN:
978-0-552-68554-2
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OCLC Number:
16303763

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(3 reviews)

Dhalgren is a 1975 science fiction novel by American writer Samuel R. Delany. It features an extended trip to and through Bellona, a fictional city in the American Midwest cut off from the rest of the world by an unknown catastrophe.

16 editions

Dhalgren

1) "to wound the autumnal city. So howled out for the world to give him a name. The in-dark answered with wind. All you know I know: careening astronauts and bank clerks glancing at the clock before lunch; actresses cowling at light-ringed mirrors and freight elevator operators grinding a thumbful of grease on a steel handle; student riots; know that dark women in bodegas shook their heads last week because in six months prices have risen outlandishly; how coffee tastes after you've held it in your mouth, cold, a whole minute. A whole minute he squatted, pebbles clutched with his left foot (the bare one), listening to his breath sound tumble down the ledges. Beyond a leafy arras, reflected moonlight flittered. He rubbed his palms against denim. Where he was, was still. Somewhere else, wind whined. The leaves winked. What had been wind was a motion in brush below. His …

Review of 'DHALGREN' on 'Goodreads'

I wrote this review while I was halfway through the book. Now that I've finished it, I think it's perfectly appropriate to post it as my review.

I'll add one important thing: this book changed me. It opened me to a new way of interacting with strangers, especially strangers who are on the fringes of normal society. It made me a braver, better person.

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I've been reading Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren since February, with interruptions for other books, because I have found it so hard to get into. Somewhere around page 150 or 200, I started finding it incredibly compelling. Now, I can't seem to put it down. I couldn't really tell you what it's about, except that it takes place in a city where an unspecified disaster has taken place, and everyone lives in a kind of cluster of self-formed communities of different types, money's no good, clocks …

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