Dark Reflections
 Cover from the first edition | |
| Author | Samuel R. Delany |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Carroll & Graf |
| Publication date | 2007 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 295 pp |
| ISBN | 0-7867-1947-8 |
| OCLC | 123444197 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 22 |
| LC Class | PS3554.E437 D37 2007 |
Dark Reflections is a novel by Samuel R. Delany, published in 2007 by Carroll & Graf, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group. In 2008 it received a Stonewall Book Award and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Fiction.
Plot
[edit]Dark Reflections tells the story of Arnold Hawley, a gay African-American poet who lives most of his life in New York City. The novel is divided into three sections, each illustrating a period in Arnold's life, arranged chronologically backwards, from middle age to youth. In the first part, "The Prize", Hawley is between 52 and 68; a book of his poetry wins a prize and is commercially successful, but neither of his next two books repeat this, and he falls further into poverty. In the second, "Vashti in the Dark" (named after a story by Stephen Crane), Hawley is in his middle 30s; the section tells the story of his brief marriage to a homeless woman. The third, "The Book of Pictures", is set in Hawley's college days, when he is attracted to another gay man, but does not act on his desires.
Themes
[edit]Dark Reflections centers on themes of loneliness, sexual repression, fear, and the difficult and often unrewarding life of the artist. As in many other Delany works, a writer is a character in the novel, in this case the protagonist.[1][2]
References
[edit]- ↑ Cheney, Matthew (October 9, 2016). "On Samuel R. Delany's "Dark Reflections"". lareviewofbooks.org. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ↑ Dreisinger, Baz (September 9, 2007). "Poetic Licentiousness". The New York Times. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
External links
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