Dhalgren: So it Begins

So, you may have already inferred from the title of this post, but it's going to be about Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren, supposedly one of the more complicated books to read. Which is precisely why I have decided to read it. I have just gotten past the first scene of Chapter 1, and I am now on scene 2(if you don't know what I mean, think about a Stephen King book where he pits the numbers for the scene breaks). I understand it at least 95% so far, but that was the with the aid of me writing notes and breaking things down, even elaborating on certain things. Yes, it is a little confusing, but the average reader could probably consume it with the same kind of aid I am giving myself. What's confusing about Dhalgren is just the poetic sense that is is written in, and the way that Delany describes things almost deliberately confusingly. This one line is strange by itself: "Beyond a leafy arras, reflected moonlight flittered". I had to reread that line a few times to understand it. Also, if you do not know what an arras is, then you really shouldn't be reading this book in the first place. 

Anyhow, Delany just describes things in a less common sense, also in some ways, more descriptive than most writers-and trust me, i am one of those descriptive writers, just you wait until I publish this book I'm writing now...

Delany also makes this book a little confusing to read-or at least the first few pages-because the first few pages are just a really long but interesting poem, believe it or not.And to make things even more intriguing, the first line is the last line. Grammar Nazis beware of this book, for the first word is not capitalized, but after examining the book and reading the last line-as I so often do-I learned that the first line of this book was just the continuation of the last, which brings me to question whether or not this book is just a paradox of itself, bring itself in a circle round and round. Some people have said that this book is a riddle never meant to be solved, and maybe it is. Or maybe it is more simple than any one person could ever imagine. 

We'll just have to see! 

In the next post, I rant about something that has to do with this very topic(kind of)