I've spent the last hour or so online looking to buy a copy of Samuel R. Delany's Starboard Wine (1984). It is the only volume of his nonfiction that I do not own. My search has thus far been unsuccessful, as it was when I undertook it at the end of December. I am so used to finding whatever book I want on amazon.com (and almost always for reasonable prices) that it is a disconcerting feeling when this process fails. I had seen a copy in fair condition for around $55.00 on amazon last summer and decided not to get it then because I didn't need it for my research at the time and thought I would wait until I had some extra money around, but now I am kicking myself for passing up the chance.
I did find that apparently Wesleyan University Press, which has published/re-printed most of Delany's nonfiction and several of his novels, was planning on issuing a new edition back in 1997, but it never came to fruition. It scares me that Delany has such a difficult time keeping his work in print (and had a tough time finding a publisher for his new novel, which is finally coming out in October after its original publisher, Alyson Books, went bankrupt earlier this year) because he is a tremendously important author, not only for the queer and African American communities, but for America in general. I focus on him in my criticism in order to keep him on the canonical radar, where he is already on the margins at best. He is too important to let fade into obscurity after his death (he turns 70 next year, so who knows how much time he has left?).
3 comments:
I love Delaney, but he's a hard read for most 'Americans', at least much of his later work is. I'm not a big 'canon' person, but I agree that Delaney's work is important. One problem (as I see it) is that he's been relegated to the backwaters of "queer" literature. When we focus on literature as fitting into specialized categories that require a particular analytical perspective we oftentimes do a disservice to the writers and their work. It would help if he was re-imagined (and rightly so) simply as a great writer to be read and studied in any literature class.
Tom, you make a good point about the issue of labeling writers as something other than simply "writers." I try to present Delany as such in my classes when I teach him, but much of the scholarly discourse around his work places him squarely within the realm of queer theory, which is a discipline that many claim is dying. Hardly anyone writes about the racial aspects of Delany's work, or writes about him simply in the context of American literature in general.
Hi Daniel,
I'm a Delany fan; I just located your page via a Google search for him.
Wesleyan's 2009 edition of Jewel-Hinged Jaw lists a forthcoming "Starboard Wine (1978; revised, 2009)". After this didn't eventuate, I emailed them in early 2010 about their plans, and they said they were planning on a Spring 2012 release, so let's hope that happens.
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