Books Acquired Recently

Books Acquired Recently (in the order I acquired them):


Disch, Thomas M. The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World. 1998. New York: Touchstone, 2000.


A friend who knows that in the past several years I've been beginning to explore the world of science fiction (mostly as a result of reading Samuel R. Delany) gave this to me. It looks pretty interesting, though I have a rather sizeable stack of other things to read first, including the rest of the books mentioned in this post. I've read Disch's Camp Concentration and generally liked it as an anti-war statement/indictment of the American police state, though it wasn't spectacular aesthetically.


Humphreys, Laud. Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. 2nd ed. 1975. New Brunswick: AldineTransaction, 2009.


I first read this during my senior year of college, and it changed my life. The model of non-monogamous, anonymous sex it documents was completely new to me at the time, and it helped to open my eyes to just how important-while-being-commonplace sex is. It also helped me in my long journey to acknowledge that my sexual attraction to men is legitimate. Furthermore, the book prepared a conceptual framework which gave me a base from which to encounter and appreciate writers such as Delany and John Rechy, who have become essential for me.


Delany, Samuel R. Trouble on Triton. 1976. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 1996.


I'm re-reading this for a paper that I am working on, so I decided to get the edition that is currently in print rather than using my old Bantam edition. I am also thinking about teaching it next year. Usually when I teach Delany's science fiction I teach Babel-17, but I am getting a little tired of it. My problem is that the Delany novels I love the most and/or find the most interesting (e.g., in no particular order, The Mad Man, Dhalgren, Equinox, The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals) are generally either too explicit or too complicated/long (or all three) to teach to undergraduates. Trouble on Triton might be an acceptable compromise.


Tucker, Jeffrey Allen. A Sense of Wonder: Samuel R. Delany, Race, Identity, and Difference. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 2004.


This is also for the paper I am writing. I read pieces of it while researching my dissertation, but am now ready to interact with it fully.

Thoughts on Robert Herrick's poetry

I possess a general dislike for literature written before 1816 (Frankenstein), but I've been reading some of Robert Herrick's poetry (1591-1674), and it's pretty cool (yes, even the over-anthologized "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time"). I am especially drawn to his treatment of the erotic in poems such as "Upon the Loss of His Mistresses," "Cherry-Ripe," "Corinna's Going A Maying," and the unforgettable "Fresh Cheese and Cream." (Would ye have fresh Cheese and Cream? / Julia's Breast can give you them: / And if more; each Nipple cries, / To your Cream, here's Strawberries.) These poems are humorous, almost light verse, yet they are also respectful and profound.

I am especially drawn to "Delight in Disorder," which describes the alluring nature of a woman undoing her clothing before sex. What intrigues me about this poem is that Herrick writes it as an employee of the Church of England, an institution which would certainly not delight in the disordering of things, especially when that disordering involved illicit sex. So Herrick places the erotic in conflict with the religious. The two combatants are closely tied together - the Church is obsessed with sex (what other natural activity has so many rules governing it?), and part of the allure of sex is that it is a traditionally taboo activity - but Herrick's poem forces the reader to choose a side. Do you prefer chaste order, or do you prefer the disorder of "An erring lace" and "tempestuous petticoats?" I know what my choice is.