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June 22, 2008
There's a long anecdote in
Samuel R. Delany "1984":
Delany is attending a party
held by Umberto Eco. One gets
an image of Delany bubbling
around the room happily holding
his own with the establishment
intellectuals.
The editor of "the New
York Review of Books" is
hanging around, and Delany gets
the definite impression that
this guy feels very
uncomfortable with people
actually talking about books.
At one point Delany explains
to someone his theory that
"Science Fiction" is a
"paraliterature", an outside,
marginalized artform the
existence of which is
necessary in order to define
"literature" (much as one
must have "the poor" in order
to have "the rich").
As Delany is leaving, a drunken
Umberto Eco takes him aside and
rants about how he was telling
the New York Review editor that
they really should be publishing
articles about Delany's own
books. Delany responds "Thank
you very much Umberto... but it
won't work." Umberto Eco stops
and laughs: "You're probably
right!"
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