Reviewing: The Einstein Intersection, Samuel Delaney
I'm gonna email him my work. He's a professor... they profess... for the people! How do you believe it'll go? I'm just craving some "yes man's" in my life and one from him could be special.
Being a celebrity ain’t nothing but decreeing your life’s existence so strongly that it resonates in others to the point they may or may not feel entitled to hefty bouts of shame and regret for all the moments they put themselves to the side for another’s comfort.
Which is why Samuel Delaney has to be the number one celebrity in my life currently. His work, the Einstein Intersection, carves itself as a force in which the reader must recognize somewhere along the line, they settled for their own personal believes of the lifeform. What is humanity? What could it be? These are thoughts we likely avoid, instead seeking the comfort and restitution that daily life and death can only bring us. Delaney plays with his audience, carving out the most minute details of the taste and existence of foods accessible to many today, meanwhile building his work fast and swift around concepts of body form, ability, and prowess.
That’s what the story is. A story of prowess, and how one chooses to weld it.
For those that have not read, the story begins by introducing a new world to the reader: one where social statuses mimic the ones old white American once tried to enforce. Where we latently use Miss, Mrs. etc., we see use of the titles Lo, La, and Le. Each one designating the level of “ability” one has. The story goes on to follow Lo Lobey, an individual who’s lived a simple life in his village. The height of the story comes where he believes he’s found love, someone truly carved out for him, only to soon lose them.
Lo Lobey takes on a journey of experiencing the hi’s and los (get it) of his loss, and is approached with the possibility of having his lover returned to him. This offer reaches him just as a series of deaths and unfamiliar events leave Lo Lobey feeling a sense of unease in the home he once knew. As Lobey sets out to retrieve his special someone, he’s met with the reality that his reality.. was just that. His!
And frankly, the introduction of new peoples, lands, and experiences don’t do much to shake Lo Lobey from what he’s determined to work toward.
A fair warning to the black intellect seeking sci-fi from black elders for a sense of guidance (I see y’all motivating the press to publish 100 more copies of parables of the sower! keep going! - sincerely, someone who has managed to not complete three attempts to read it on YouTube and Libby1), as I was, this is not an easy read! This book was yet another reflection to me that I am NOT the same lil girl who read Harry Potter more for the attention I gained stating “yes bitch I can finish this in two days” and less for the storyline.
You CAN take your time reading this. Frankly, I first downloaded the first chapter via pdf back in April. I left that unfinished, and checked it out physically in June. I thought it was lost all of August (so sorry blkmrktclt, I definitely was like.. it’s in this DAMN studio), and finally found it in my trunk 2 days ago. Due to the heightened nature of my senses from this search, I told myself we WOULD be finishing the text quick fast and in a hurry. Now here I am.
On a scale of … Toni Morrison’s Paradise to Dany Laferrière’s How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired… I’m going to rate this… closer to the latter. You want to give the text time, without giving it too much time. I very much had to reassure myself and give grace by saying “yes baby… you just read two pages and don’t know what’s going on. keep going!”
But again, I started this text back in April. If I’m remembering correctly, I learned of this text because I was seeking collections of American Black Short Stories, and there’s a text out there that highlighted this title in particular. It was important for me to read it because I wanted to shake myself out of the comfort of the texts I was used to reading. Frankly, they weren’t as good anymore. Do you know how it feels to feel like there’s NOTHING good on the shelf?
Actually, that reminds me of how I used to check out books.
Go to the library,
end up anywhere in the fiction section,
just start picking up and putting down books.
I did this yesterday and ended up with an Argentinian text that feels like it could definitely tell me about myself, so I’m excited to revitalize old practices.
That’s currently what I’m looking for: texts written outside of the U.S. I read an Iranian text and it confirmed I need to leave these folk alone for a little bit while the U.S. publishing industry corrects how books are promoted.
This year alone has transformed how I read. I’ve come across so many texts written before the 1980’s (from authors in the U.S.) and they’ve all blown my mind. I’m like… so just because the author died… you can't properly promote their work? You know how I learned of Laferrière’s work? Pinterest! Shout out to the girls on Pinterest! Y’all are WORKING. It only takes a little time to curate the platform to start showing great recommendations. The unfortunate aspect has been on the part of accessibility of some of the texts. Some are accessible via pdf. Other’s were either published in limited quantities and not available online (omg did y’all hear about the Internet Archive court case), OR they exist and aren’t online or available locally. The latter taught me I really might need to make academia my sidepiece because colleges in North Carolina, especially Duke, ALWAYS have the most… unique texts housed in their libraries. Shoutout to them.
Anyways, I’ve reached my 30 minutes of typing goal. I’ll end by saying this: if you feel you need a shake up that’s not TOO stirred, and have room for feeling affirmed in your existence, go read Delaney’s text. You’ll enjoy it.
all my n words know libby, cause all my n words love the public library. and if your publib doesn’t offer it.. CALL ME, let’s bully them to bully the federal government!