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4.0 

The Jewel-Hinged Jaw

By Samuel R. Delany
The Jewel-Hinged Jaw by Samuel R. Delany digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

From the four-time Nebula Award–winning author, an indispensable work of science fiction criticism, revised and expanded.

Samuel R. Delany’s The Jewel-Hinged Jaw appeared originally in 1977, and is now long out of print and hard to find. The impact of its demonstration that science fiction was a special language, rather than just gadgets and green-skinned aliens, began reverberations still felt in science fiction criticism. This edition includes two new essays, one written at the time and one written about those times, as well as an introduction by writer and teacher Matthew Cheney, placing Delany’s work in historical context. Close textual analyses of Thomas M. Disch, Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, and Joanna Russ read as brilliantly today as when they first appeared. Essays such as “About 5,750 Words” and “To Read The Dispossessed” first made the book a classic; they assure it will remain one.

“Delany’s first work of non-fiction, The Jewel Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction, remains a benchmark of sf criticism thirty-three years after its initial publication in 1977. . . . Extensively revised and reissued in 2009, JHJ has become even stronger, containing twelve essays in ten chapters and two appendixes.” —Isiah Lavender, Science Fiction Studies

“I re-read The Jewel-Hinged Jaw every year as a source of guidance, as a measure of what all criticism and literature should aspire to be, and as a challenge for those of us who want to write.” —Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“What a joy it is to have The Jewel-Hinged Jaw back in print! These essays glitter with insights into writing, reading, society, and the multiple relationships of the three.” —Reginald Shepherd, author of Orpheus in the Bronx

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3 Reviews

4.0
“Look, I'm not smart enough to have understood all of it, and quite a bit is very connected to the times it was written in. I've read only some of the books referenced. But oh my god, did I enjoy so much of it! The depth of affection this book of critical (academic-style) essays has instilled in me for Samuel R. Delany is huge! He writes with a lot of bite and humor about the genre. The essays are very varied (one of them, [A Fictional Architecture that Manages Only with Great Difficulty Not to Mention Harlan Ellison] is more like a memoir piece). I also love how Delany doesn't just use the default pronoun 'he', when talking about writers, a lot of times it's also 'she', which still feels powerful today! These were my favorites: [Letter to the Symposium on "Women in Science Fiction" Under the Control, For Some Deeply Suspect Reason, of one Jeff Smith] - this essay is such a great railing of sexism, in the world, in science fiction. It's incredibly funny and keeps alluding that when men say people do this and that, they actually mean men. Delany talks about the two roles allowed women in SF at the time (Evil Bitch and Simp) and many other things! Like his wife discovering her jean pockets were much worse than his! There's also a cute tidbit where he, Jeff and *Tiptree* (the three men supposedly involved in this symposium) have to reckon with the sexism, because this essay was written in 1975, two years before the world found out about https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5340839366 being actually a woman! [To Read The Dispossessed] - read this for the second time, because the first time I rushed it to get to book club, back in September. And it feels very validating, because Delany has most of the same critiques I have for Ursula LeGuin's novel (which I haven't written the review for, still, oof), aka we are told Anarres is an egalitarian society, but there are many instances when this thing we've been told is at odds with what's in the foreground of the book. Might do a re-read of Dispossessed and write a review in a few months! [Thickening the Plot] - a super cool discussion on writing process and how you can't truly separate the elements, so it's better to talk about plot more as 'story process'. [Quarks] - helping me articulate better my opinions on entertainment. And how all aesthetic problems (emotions, intellect and the pure pleasure we take in form) are actually entertainment. Yes, that's how I can be completely beguiled by political issues and history being used in historical romances! The politics in books is very entertaining to my brain. There are also some really interesting comparisons between SF and poetry that I loved in this book, and I made a fairly long reading list of things mentioned within. And I really have to make time to read Dhalgren this year, I'm so excited! I've only read two Delany books, but I already rather love him.”
“I’ve heard from numerous people that they like Mr. Delany’s essays as much or more than his fiction. I thought “About 5750 Words” and “Faust and Archimedes” were excellent; but I didn’t read his famous analysis of The Dispossessed (because I haven’t read the book yet). All in all some good, some a bit confused.”

About Samuel R. Delany

Samuel R. Delany published his first novel, The Jewels of Aptor, at the age of twenty. Throughout his storied career, he has received four Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards, and in 2008 his novel Dark Reflections won the Stonewall Book Award. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2002, named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2014, and in 2016 was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. Delany’s works also extend into memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society. After many years as a professor of English and creative writing and director of the graduate creative writing program at Temple University, he retired from teaching in 2015. He lives in Philadelphia with his partner, Dennis Rickett.
 

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