Dhalgren
A mysterious disaster has stricken the midwestern American city of Bellona, and its aftereffects are disturbing: a city block burns down and is intact a week later; clouds cover the sky for weeks, then part to reveal two moons; a week passes for one person when only a day passes for another. The catastrophe is confined to Bellona, and most of the inhabitants have fled. But others are drawn to the devastated city, among them the Kid, a white/American Indian man who can't remember his own name. The Kid is emblematic of those who live in the new Bellona, who are the young, the poor, the mad, the violent, the outcast--the marginalized.
Stats for nerds
17recommend
47mentions
41people
2008–2025years
38% recommend53% neutral9% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Seems very interesting. Skimming the synopsis, it reminds me a bit of Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney, which is one of my favorite books.
- A lot of my absolutely favorite books are rated below 4.0. A few examples:
1. White Noise at 3.86
2. Catch-22 at 3.99
3. Dhalgren at 3.77
4. At Swim-Two-Birds at 3.86
5. Midnight's Children at 3.98
6. Омон Ра at 3.90
7. Never Let Me Go at 3.84
Drawing the line at 4 rules out some of the most interesting books.
In my experience, you really have to fall below 3.5 to get consistently bad books, and even then it's not 100% guaranteed.
- I'm in the minority here I think. I thought Dhalgren was vivid and although some parts were difficult, especially around the bits where the story splits down the middle of pages, the challenge was rewarding. Those bits I ascribed to The Kid's somewhat tenuous mental state. Dhalgren is the only Delany work I can specifically recall scenes from some twenty+ years after reading it.
- In no particular order, except that #1 is #1.
1. Adventures of Huckelberry Finn
2. Little, Big
3. Winter's Tale
4. Titus Groan
5. Gormenghast
6. Titus Alone
7. Dune
8. The manuscript found in saragossa
9. The Three Musketeers
10. A Scanner Darkly
11. The Man in the High Castle
12. Do Androids dream of Electronic Sheep
13. Ubik
14. Valis, basically almost every book by Phil Dick.
15. Life on the Mississippi.
16. The Garden of Forking Paths
17. Dhalgren
18. The Gods of Pegāna, basically all the fantasy work of Dunsany.
19. The Lathe of Heaven. Anything by LeGuin.
20. Their Eyes Were Watching God
21. The Master and Margarita
22. The Gulag Archipelago
- True, but of the two I think Dhalgren is easier to recommend to a stranger, who I only know liked House of Leaves.
- Um sorry but I really liked Dhalgren and Gravity’s Rainbow and Infinite Jest. I may actually use this list to find some new books to read.
