Customer Reviews

The Einstein Intersection

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After starting with Dhalgren and finding it unreadable, I decided not to give up on Delany. I went to Nova, which is sadly out of print by the way, and found it to be one of the finest SF books I've ever read. Next I tried Babel-17 (also out of print) and found that to be a very good work, but not up to par with Nova.

And then this. Delany's early (pre-Dhalgren) SF is very engaging. His characters are intense as is are his plot lines, and his imagery is dazzling without being confusing. Even if this novel had no plot whatsoever, you could still read it if only for the intriguing voice the Delany writes with. Yep, it's based on the Orpheus myth (as are some of his later works, which amount to far less than this novel), and Delany succeeds very well with his archetypal characters and plot line. With references to everything from Greek mythology to '60s pop culture, it is certainly thinking-person's reading, but it is also entertaining if you want a short, fun read. It's good to see this one back in print after so many "only available at an obscure used book store" years. If you want somewhere to start with Delany, this is the place, as the book is easily available and is more accessible than his later works (which I still don't like much even today). If you like this try out the harder to find stuff like Babel-17 and Nova (probably in that order, as Nova marks the highlight of Delany's career).

By the way, if you like Delany, check out the works by the lesser-known (but critically perhaps more acclaimed) New Wave author Thomas M. Disch (who's work is newly back in print, I believe).

This is essentially a retelling of myths and archetypes using what seems to be aliens or mutants. Now, bear with me for a second: This book is extremely well-written. I place it in the sci-fi section even though it is more like a fantasy on the surface. This is a world where people actually quote Ringo Starr and treat the rise and fall of the Beatles the way we treat the rise and fall of Achilles. We know it is our world, but something has gone awry. What, we never know.

This book won the Nebula and is full of rich, poetic prose. But I recommend it only to those people who love fantasy sci-fi with a good dose of poetic language on the side. For Delany's more straightforwardly "sci-fi" novels, see NOVA or THE FALL OF THE TOWERS.

There is no doubt Delany can write well but I think you either like his style or you don't with not much in between. Much of his writing is more like science fiction poetry than prose and Einstein Intersection is the most extreme example of that I have read so far. Delany leaves a lot to the imagination and a lot to figure out on your own. I think his reputation as writing "literary" science fiction is well deserved. If you want everything laid out for you this isn't the book for you and Delany is probably not the author for you. On the other hand, if you want great writing that you will enjoy and that will make you think, then this and his other books will fit the bill. Babel-17, Empire Star and Nova are easier to read although even there everything is not laid out in great detail. Nova is probably the easiest to follow and most traditional if that is what you are looking for.

The mythologies of Orpheus, the Beatles, Billy the Kid, Jean Harlow, and everyone's fave good ol' J.C. are intertwined here, replaying themselves among a race of alien wayfarers who've inherited the abandoned Earth and uneasily assumed the mantle of the vanished humanity. Told from the POV of Lobey, a "different" youth who is questing for his lost love Friza, this book deals with Delaney's usual concerns with art, Story, & the reality of events vs. the perception of events, and the complex ways in which they all interact. The engaging characters and exotic (but strangely familiar) setting, keep this from being just a rehash of familiar themes. One of Delaney's better works, the short length makes it a much less challenging read than his longer novels, but there's enough complexity here to satisfy any Delaney true believer. Love, death, redemption.. all this and dragons (decidedly non-fantastic), too- what more could you want?

I read thru it twice. Most of it could have been in Greek: perhaps very well-written Greek, very poetic Greek, perhaps imaginative and well-contained Greek, but not for me. Yet, whenever Kid Death was present, either directly or by reference from the other characters, those parts were intriguing. I'm not sure why. The name "Kid Death" somehow sounds cool, although death is hardly cool. But Delaney's writing seemed to come to LIFE when Kid DEATH was involved.

And so it was that I first read this book more than 30 years ago and all I remembered was: "Kid Death". And I found the book recently by doing a search here at Amazon for, what else but "Kid Death". I suppose I've changed. These two recent readings don't grab me. I may lack the imagination to keep up with this book.

But I won't pan it because I suspect the writing deserves better attention from me and because of Kid Death. There's somethng here even if it may take me a third, a forth, or a tenth reading to see it. I don't think this is a book to dismiss. It's an odd book, a rare book, whether you want to call sci-fi or fantasy or whatever. You may owe yourself to give it a read because it is unique, because 30 years ago it intrigued me and somehow still does ... and because you ought to meet Kid Death, one of the more unforgettable literary creations.

My first book of Delany was Babel 17, followed by Empire star, and I must say that I was dissappointed upon finishing them. So, I kinda picked this one with careful consideration, wanting to give Delany one more chance to astound me, and he did. Whatever lacked at those first two books, you'll find in this one. World that he built resembles our own in such scary details that you actually start to wonder would you be better of dead? Interwoven with ancinent myths of Oprheus and Euridice, or to say with quest for love long lost, which was a common theme in the elder days, this book will draw a tear into your eyes. Though rather short, it will seem that it lasted for ages. Why four stars? After all the praises that I have spoken I still cannot escape from that fact that conversation in the book is obviusly patterned, or to say, nobody speaks or has converation in that way....

While many of the "New Wave" science fiction writers of the 1960s did little more than adapt long-dead literary styles to their own work (as John Brunner, in "Stand on Zanzibar" adapted the style of John Dos Passos), Delany forged a new style of his own, telling a science fiction story through the creative use of ancient and modern myth. Warning--this is not a book for a lazy reader or a slow one. But if you've got the chops, this book has the chops for you.

"The Einstein Intersection" is a slim novel and a "difficult" one, its unadorned prose easy to read and its unconventional structure hard to understand. Its various aspects--metafictional, surrealist, symbolist--defy readers expecting a straightforward narrative and place the novel firmly in the 1960s (with both the flashy complexities and trendy excesses associated with the decade). It is an odd combination of storytelling and navel-gazing; a spaghetti Western melded with the tedious minimalism of absurdist drama.

Forty thousand years from now, long after human civilization has ended on Earth, an alien species has taken up residence on the planet and for truly baffling reasons they have adopted and adapted our bodily forms, our souls, and our myths--from Helen of Troy and the Minotaur to Jean Harlow and Ringo Starr. (The cynic in me questions the alleged intelligence of these beings.) The hero, Lobey, embarks on a quest to rescue his lover, Friza, from the hands of Kid Death. Along the way, he meets up with some herders traveling across the plain, each of whom mirrors other mythic figures from four millennia of human storytelling. Armed with a "machete," a combination woodwind instrument and lethal blade, Lobey confronts fearsome dragons and Important Questions. Imagine the myth of Orpheus updated with the passion of Christ and the story of Billy the Kid and presented on a stage designed by Sartre during his "Trojan Women" years--and you'll have the general idea.

Interwoven with this modernist fare are excerpts (perhaps real, perhaps not) from Delany's journals during a stay in (appropriately) the Mediterranean, describing his thinking while he re-creates these various legends: "Billy the Kid is the last to go. He staggers through this abstracted novel like one of the mad children in Crete's hills." Or, more revealingly, "Endings to be useful must be inconclusive." These authorial interpolations are often essential to readers hoping to understand Delany's various allusions; just as often, they come across as self-important posturing ("going on twenty-three," he writes to himself, "you are too old to get by as a child prodigy"--a reflection he would have been well-advised to keep private).

I've now read the book twice (in part because I had forgotten much of it, but mostly because I felt sure I must have missed something the first time around), and while I both admire the erudition and enjoy some of the narrative passages, I find much of Delany's avant-garde experimentation unremarkable--and ripe for mockery. To ponder how humans create their own mythology ("Myths always lie in the most difficult places to ignore") runs the risk of inflicting on readers the type of New Age pablum dispensed by Joseph Campbell in his waning years. With its two-dimensional characters and reliance on slangy dialogue, the book just isn't as urbane as this former "child prodigy" thought it was when he was writing it. But who knows? Forty thousand years from now, it might be regarded as a classic of its kind--which, I suppose, is to damn it with faint praise.

This book itself was very different and weird, but it didn't bother me at all. I was drawn right into the story and was able to follow it. There are many layers of myth and symbolism and I'm sure I'd have to read this book a few more to understand them better. I liked the differentness. There was a common thread of reality through this book and a set of rules. A lot of fantasy books lack this and in my opinion this ruins the story. When anything can happen at any time for no reason, there really is no story. This is not the case with EI.

This story is about an alien race dealing with the myths of humans, and is itself a myth. Every character fits many roles from many different stories. It was fun to recognize Green Eye as XXXXX and Kid Death as XXXXX. This was a story with meat on it's bones. One I will have to read again in a year or so. I will keep thinking about all the implications of this story for many books to come, just as Lobey has gone off to think about what happened.

I had to read this for class. Can't figure out much of the plot to save my life. What I could figure out was that the main character Lo Lobey is looking for his significant other La Friza.

Key points:

Mankind is gone. there are only a race of beings that from the descripition look a lot like monkeys living on the Earth. They are trying to become human beings and throw anything that doesn't resemble them into the Kage. I spelled that right. The Kage.

Gender is denoted by a prefix

Lo for boys
La for girs
and informally "Le" for hermaphhrodites.
These beings have done a horrendous job of piecing together the history of humanity melding it with much of greek mythology.

The myriad of creatures in the cage often mate with one another and produce "Functional" beings that are released.


Strange stuff:

Lo lobey gave birth to one of the rejects in the Kage with the Kage Keeper, Le Dorik.


Le Dorik gave birth to a child. The mother? Le Dorik. The Father? Le Dorik. Hence the child deemed
"The one thats ALL mine."


Le Dorik was in a relationship with Lo Lobey. He thought that Le Dorik was a woman.

The characters act out several religious stories with a twist.

La Friza (Lo Lobey's girlfriend and the person he's looking for.) Had a relationship with Le Dorik. She thought Le Dorik was a boy.


Cool Stuff:


Lo Lobey saves a dragon from being eaten by evil flowers.

A machete is a musical instrument now.

KID DEATH:

Originally placed in the Kage at birth because he didn't move after being born. The red haired, Gold eyed, snow white villian child with gills didnb't even realize he was imprisoned. Why? because he could see through any pair of eyes on the planet. There was no need for any type of movement. He could see anything he wanted to whenever he wanted to. By Kid death's own admiission when he found out he was trapped he'd transport water and other suppies to those trapped in the Kage with him in an effort to help them. This is one of the only kind actions he performs. He can bring back the people he kills (It is later revealed that Lo lobey has this ability as well). He reveals to Lobey that he has killed Friza and brings her back at one point to taunt him. The chase begins. Lo Lobey sets out to find Kid Death and reveive La Friza. This is the awesomist villan ever. You can love and hate him and he isn't downright nasty. He's much like a chuld with all the power in the world. However his waeakness is the fact that he cannot create or set things in order. He can only control what has already been created. This is a jkey point in his defeat, which is accomplished while Lo Lobey plays miusic AKA a set of "ordered " notes. on his machete. His only friend , a mutiarmed monkeything named Spyder Kills kid death with his whip despite Kid Death's tears and declaration that Spyder is supposed to be his friend. He is powerless to save himself thanks to the music. It is something being set in order and such makes him weak, fascinated and entranced. He is whipped to death. He uis so awesome a character that he earned this book four stars from me although it makes about as much sense as a baby's babling.