I’d like to offer the Return to Nevèrÿon series by Samuel R. Delany for this week’s CORA Diversity Roll Call about people of color in science fiction and fantasy. But first, a geek confession:
In 8th grade, when my English teacher introduced the class to Sir Thomas Malory’s 1485 classic Le Morte D’Arthur – a too thick, moldy novel with a strange French title – I developed a deep and joyful obsession with Arthurian literature. My teacher opened up the legend’s secrets in thrilling ways and taught my class to have confidence in our capacity to unravel the power of allegory. And so my best girl friend and I became Anglophiles. Shut out from the D&D role playing games and comic books that the white boys shared, we developed a sisterhood that delighted in the charm, magic, and tragedy of King Arthur’s Court.
Over time, we sought out more romantic variations of the story by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Mary Stewart to read during Biology lab. We watched Excalibur and British comedies at sleepovers and for months after she moved away, we wrote letters to one another from our British alter egos. My friend, a young Vietnamese-American girl, called herself Agatha. I was Cornelius! We were an odd, happy pair.
What is especially valuable to me about this particular memory is the way my interest grew out of the imaginative play that is at the heart of speculative fiction and not the adolescent anxieties that understandably come with being the only black girl in junior high. (And believe me, I had plenty of those.) My best friend and I may not have seen our faces reflected in the knights and ladies of Camelot; nevertheless, we gave ourselves permission to make the legend our own.
The best stories, in my view, can draw from a precise place, time, or culture, and still make room for any reader.
Which brings me back to Delany.
When I began reading the work of the black writer Samuel R. Delany two years ago, I was frustrated by how inaccessible his stories seemed in spite of the critical praise and awards he has received, particularly for science fiction novels such as Babel-17 and Dhalgren. But then I stumbled across the short stories of Tales of Nevèrÿon, the first volume in Delany’s sword-and-sorcery fantasy series (1979-1987) that skillfully remixes the conventions of the genre. The reigning culture of this prehistoric civilization is dark-skinned, while their slaves and servants are made up mostly of pale, blue-eyed “barbarians” (although some intermixing has occurred over time). At its core, however, is a universal quest for liberation that is familiar to anyone who knows the history of the Underground Railroad or has seen Schindler’s List.
There are walled kingdoms under attack, the most amazing women warriors, and dragons on the verge of extinction. One of the main characters of the series, a brown-skinned fugitive slave named Gorgik, is more akin to Conan than King Arthur, but his experiences dissect the broader moral certainties of heroic fantasy all the same. Delany’s postmodern satire runs deep and, in all honesty, the stories are earnest and somewhat dense. His allegories tackle assumptions about race, gender, sexuality (Gorgik, for instance, is bisexual), and economic exchange in ways that indirectly comment upon our own society.
In Delany’s pre-literate setting, we learn that stories have special currency and their value changes with the teller, the listener, and the context. The author applies this notion to the series itself as Tales of Nevèrÿon contains both a preface and an appendix that are written by two scholars who are, in fact, invented characters that are aware of their own fictive nature. If these ideas sound a bit overwhelming, one of Delany’s alter egos, K. Leslie Steiner, assures us that,
We do not have to be alert to every nuance of the fantasy’s sometimes dauntingly allusive play to enjoy this epic of the rise to political power of an ex-mine slave in a world of dragons, barbarians, Amazons, prehistoric splendor, perverse passions, and primitive precocity.
Indeed, there is much detail in these stories that I don’t “get.” But I’m glad to be at a place where I can fully give myself over to a landscape as creative as Delany’s in which people of all colors play central roles. And strangely enough, I know that, for me, there would probably be no Delany if it wasn’t for King Arthur.
So, true story: When I arrived at my dad’s house the summer after my 8th grade year, there was a letter waiting for me in my room. It was neatly addressed to Cornelius (ha ha!) but someone had already opened it. My dad looked a little embarrassed when I asked him what happened. “One of my sisters – your aunt – was named Cornelius,” he said. “She died many years ago, but I thought the letter was for her.” I was shocked. And a little pleased to discover this kinship with an aunt I had never known about. Who would have thought that my geeky fascination with a medieval British king would lead me back to my own flesh and blood? (Is this what Dana in Octavia Butler’s Kindred felt like?)
I remember the puzzled expression on my dad’s face as I tried to explain the mix-up.
“What now? Who’s Agatha?”
*
Make sure to check out the other posts in CORA Diversity Roll Call and if you’ve read this far (!) and you’re still curious about Samuel Delany, all the stories in Tales of Nevèrÿon are available online.
Posted by susan on July 22, 2009 at 1:31 PM
You rock! I like geeks.
Posted by Claudia on July 22, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Thanks, susan!
Posted by Zetta Elliott on July 22, 2009 at 5:21 PM
oh my goodness, claudia–I wrote my senior thesis on Mists of Avalon! and studied Medieval European history in college…I *must* write a story set in a castle someday–I think about it now, how to insert a black girl into medieval history! I know it can be done…I’ve always shied away from Delaney, but you’ve convinced me to give him a try. i love your honesty! I was always shamed by the black members of my family for the things that I loved…
Posted by Claudia on July 22, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Zetta, girl – I knew there was something special about you. What was the focus on your research on Mists of Avalon? And please, spare no details, because how often do you get asked a question about your senior thesis? LOL. I’d love to hear more.
Posted by Zetta Elliott on July 22, 2009 at 7:49 PM
Sadly, I don’t recall many of the details b/c it was my high school thesis, not college…not that anything I wrote three years later is fresh in my mind! But I think it was comparative somehow–focusing on Morgaine, of course, and how Bradley had reclaimed/redeemed her…one weekend about a year ago (when I still had cable!) they were showing TWO Arthur movies on two different channels and I was losing my mind; it was the first time I saw the tv miniseries of Mists of Avalon–with Angelica Huston and Juliana Margolies…the other was a retelling of Merlin’s story, with Sam Neill (love him!) as Merlin…Martin Short was in it…very odd, but no matter how bad the special effects are, I can’t look away. Needless to say I’m also all about hobbits and could endlessly watch Lord of the Rings…they’re rich stories that fed my imagination as a young woman, and I shouldn’t have to disown that legacy now; it’s crucial to my love of nature and sense of what’s possible…
Posted by Claudia on July 23, 2009 at 2:26 PM
…they’re rich stories that fed my imagination as a young woman, and I shouldn’t have to disown that legacy now; it’s crucial to my love of nature and sense of what’s possible…
I like the way you put that. I couldn’t bring myself to watch the tv mini of Mists of Avalon. I had such strong feelings about the characters of that book and I didn’t want anyone else’s interpretation in my head. I remember liking the Merlin series, though. And Lord of the Rings, yes! I’m going to start calling you my new Agatha.
Posted by Ali on July 22, 2009 at 8:19 PM
What a wonderful story–I love the bond the two of you shared and that it started with a teacher sharing his love of literature. The connection to your aunt is the icing on the cake. Delany is probably not my style but I’m intrigued with what he did with the stories, especially for the time he was writing.
Posted by carleen on July 22, 2009 at 8:42 PM
Love this post! Will link on Tuesday. (FYI, hubby just reread Le Morte D’Arthur a few weeks ago-geeks rock!)
Posted by Charlotte on July 23, 2009 at 6:18 AM
I love that story!
I tried Delany myself many years ago, and vaugly remember being baffled–I’ll try again, just as soon as I’ve made headway in the book piles scattered around my house…
Posted by ghettoManga on July 23, 2009 at 11:44 AM
i’m a comicbook nerd myself (those white boys didn’t scare me). my knowledge of fantasy literture is limited (mostly to what i read in school). i had trouble getting into most of it because of (what i interpreted as) a lack of relevance to my own experience. many people have tried to pull my card because i didn’t like star wars very much, and for the same reasons. but i digress…
while i would NEVER refer to myself as an Anglophile (my wife is, but won’t admit it), i really like the Arthurian legends, and mythology in general. one of my (many) comics concepts revolves around the idea that legends and myths come from a common reality that predates what we call history. i use it to tie together all the old, dusty stories i like (greek, african, and norse mythology… atlantis, lemuria, even the major religious texts). for me it gives me an opportunity to play with the fun parts of the stories and inject ideas, characters and settings i can relate to.
anyways, i appreciate this kind of information. i grew up with very little knowledge of black authors or attempts to include any color in the fantasy genre. now that i have a daughter, i want to make sure she knows better than i did!
Posted by Claudia on July 23, 2009 at 2:40 PM
>Hey Ali and Charlotte, thanks for feedback! I think most of these sub-genres are an acquired taste, but fortunately there’s something for everyone. I enjoyed reading the Roll Call posts on your sites, by the way.
>Carleen, I’m glad to hear that there’s a King Arthur fan in the family! Who knew?
>ghettoManga, glad you stopped by the site! When you mentioned your idea that: legends and myths come from a common reality that predates what we call history – this is also what Delany tries to get at in his series, as the people of Neveryon are also a prehistoric people in either Africa or Asia (he doesn’t make clear the exact location) so he pulls together concepts from many different cultures.
And if you haven’t already, I think you will find great recommendations for your daughter at Color Online and The Happy Nappy Bookseller as well as the books by Zetta Elliott. (All are friends of this site, of course, but they have a lot of GREAT recommendations.)
Posted by missincognegro on July 24, 2009 at 7:31 AM
I had not heard of the book, or was aware of the genre. Thank you for sharing the information. Perhaps we can pass it along to the young people in our lives, and turn them on to something new, i.e. planting and sowing the seeds.
Posted by Daniel on July 28, 2009 at 12:49 PM
It’s so sad these cool tales have not been translated into spanish :(
Posted by PurpleZoe on September 1, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Thankyou for this gem. I’ve found reading Sam a bit difficult to get into at times as well [might be due to my leaning towards Fantasy more than Sci-fi], but this will be worth picking up. Long live diversity in literature.
Cailloux Williams’ Ancients & Immortals Book 7 (Imajen.com), and Charles Saunders Dossouye (Sword and Soul w/ a female warrior protaganist – Lulu.com – His Imaro books are on Amazon) are enjoyable adventure reads.
Love&Light
-PZ
Posted by Claudia on September 1, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Thanks for stopping by, PurpleZoe. And I appreciate those recommendations!
Posted by TBoH Nominated for Best Cultural Review Blog! « The Bottom of Heaven on September 24, 2009 at 10:42 AM
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