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NEVER_SAY_NEVERYON

A summary of where I've stood with
Delany's Neveryon project for over
a decade:

Read the first volume.
Found it tedious.

However, I'm willing to concede
that I just don't get it.

I haven't read the second and third
volumes...  but I have bought them.
They sit on the shelves, awaiting
the day that I decide to see if
(a) they're better than the first or
(b) I've turned into someone who
appreciates them.

                                                               DHALGREN
Delany had continual fights with his publisher
where he had to remind them that these books         There's a similar
were indeed selling well, despite the fact that      need to point out
they're weird-ass high-brow shit.                    to self-described
                                                     SF fans that Dhalgren
                                                     was not only not a
                                                     commercial failure,
                                                     but has sold around
                                                     a million copies.

Could it be that there's a certain                        It's not
advantage to the "high brow" buzz:                        commercial
once you get to a certain level                           product!  Ergo,
some people will buy just because                         it must not be
they think they should, but if they                       commercially
don't get around to reading it                            successful.
they'll feel like it's they're own
fault.                                                       Revising your
                                                             profile for
       If you didn't read the                                "commercial
       last Robert Parker book                               product" does
       you bought, there                                     not seem to be
       clearly isn't any                                     an option.
       reason to buy the next
       one: If you don't enjoy
       them, why force yourself?

                 A variant of the
                 artist-as-con-artist
                 model.                      HONEST_JOHN



Anyway, reading Delany's "1984"
(a collection of letters written
during the period when he was
finishing up Neveryon) I get the
sense that --

    (I wonder where I was going
    with this.  Oh well: pick
    something I might have been saying...)

       He regarded these as his masterwork.

       He was annoyed that some people (like
       myself) preferred the quickly dashed
       off "Stars in My Pocket".

       The stories get increasingly strange as
       the series progresses, and hence I might
       find the later volumes more interesting.




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