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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                        But 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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