DHALGREN by Delany, Samuel R - 1975

(New York): (Bantam), 1975. Very good plus.. First edition, paperback original, of the ULYSSES of the United States, the MOBY DICK of science fiction, the DHALGREN of DHALGRENS. Like some other famously difficult classics, DHALGREN has acquired an undeserved reputation for being more often praised than actually read. In fact, it sold both widely and well upon publication, in and especially out of its home genre: readers of poetry and of ambitious mainstream novels appreciated its literary power and experimentation, while science fiction fans were offered all the novelty, subversion, and strangeness they could ask for; more, indeed, than many could handle. Delany himself speculated that the novel's more agitated critics were outraged by DHALGREN's Foucauldian sexual attitudes and critiques; to those only confused or overwhelmed, his suggestion to read it a second time, starting at the end or in the middle, is a good one. Or a third time, why not: "The invitation is, naturally, open." 7'' x 4.25''. Original pictorial wrappers. 879, [1] pages. Original Science Fiction Book Club membership brochure laid in. Minor edgewear and traces of soil to wrappers. Small closed tear to upper edge of back cover.