Samuel R Delany's "The Einstein Intersection", review and ranking on SF Shed Ladder.

Tonight we go back to the Samuel R Delany's and his second Nebula award winning novel "The Einstein Intersection". I provide a spoiler free plot overview, discuss what I like, what I didn't like and attempt to discover a new way one could read this novel.
I rank it on the ever growing SF Shed Ladder that is aiming to rank all the Hugo and Nebula award winning novels and struggle doing so.
I hope you can follow along.

[@bjhillinck169]

This is one of my favorite books of all time! I love how historical Delany is in it. If I had to summarize the concept of the book, I'd say it's primarily concerned with how cultures evolve and use myth as a tool for constructing collective memory and identity. Nova is similar, but I think you're right on the money that there is a poetry to this title - Delany is using the structure of the language to make his point. For me, the style of the writing evolves as Lo Lobey's journey progresses through varying levels of economic/social organization: the narration is straight-forward and clear at the start when he's still in his village, but as he becomes involved with cross-continental overland trade it starts to lose continuity. By the time Lo Lobey reaches a metropolis, the narrative voice becomes totally surreal, so I've always thought there was something going on tracking narrative and social complexity that's fairly modernist. There's so much going on in this short book - that's why it blows me away. It's bold and imperfect, and I love it for all its rough edges.

[@thesci-fished]

Very well said, I totally get you point of view. It's definitely an experience one needs to experience at least once, thank you for your comment, I really enjoyed reading your synopsis.

[@bjhillinck169]

@@thesci-fished I enjoyed your review! Keep up the great work I look forward to seeing more of your reads :)

[@thesci-fished]

@@bjhillinck169 Thank you for the feedback BJ, I love the genre, I've been reading it for over 40 years, I think I'm hooked 😁😁

[@Fictitious199X]

I'm glad to find your channel today as I'm searching for someone to talk about this somewhat confusing book. Something I wasn't clear on was the whole Green Eye portion, but I suppose that would involve spoilers to discuss. I still don't quite understand why it was there, and why it intersected with the Orpheus myth. Looking forward to watching your other videos.

[@thesci-fished]

Thank you for the kind comment. Yes, greeneyes was an interesting one. I put it down to the Hindu mythology originating with Ramaya who was a prince in exile. I'm not overly familiar with Hindu mythology but that was my take when I read the Einstein intersection. It's like I was saying in the review, it's just a washing machine off all these myths and when you really take time to research and read some of these myths, the book comes alive. Thanks again for the note.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I had a very similar experience with this one. Agree with the poetic writing, I'm actually excited to read more Delany.

[@thesci-fished]

I always enjoy Denay but I do find I need to be in the mood.

[@garagegeek4863]

Thank you for this review. I struggled with the end part of this book but your idea to shift your viewpoint is genius.

[@thesci-fished]

Thank you for the kind words, it was my pleasure bringing this to you.

[@garagegeek4863]

@@thesci-fished I look forward to jumping into your SF shred. You’ll probably see me randomly commenting on past videos.

[@thesci-fished]

@@garagegeek4863 that would be an honour, nice to meet you.

[@Ro_Morgen]

I have Babel 17 on the shelf... I need to read Delany because looks like my kind of jam. Cool review!

[@thesci-fished]

Let me know how you go when you do get around to reading it 👍

[@theresahemminger1587]

Pronunciation update: Eurydice (/jʊəˈrɪdɪsiː/; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice. I don’t know why Greek kappas are transliterated as soft c’s but it is still pretty. Gluck’s opera in French pronounces it air-i-deech-ay which is also pretty. As is the glorious 🎶🎶music. Nice presentation. I am a fan of book reviews and yours are good. I am now looking for the book.

[@thesci-fished]

Thank you for the nice comment, my pronunciation is terrible at the best of times 😁 I'll try to incorporate the proper pronunciation if the opportunity arises.

[@theresahemminger1587]

The difference between Babel-17 and The Einstein Intersection is exactly $10.00 on Amazon, at least. :/ Guess I’ll start with Babel. The short wikipedia entry is informative and explains the title.

[@thesci-fished]

They're two very different novels, Babel is a good starting point for SRD.