The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
"The Einstein Intersection" by Samuel R. Delany is a science fiction novel set thirty thousand years in the future, where an alien race inhabits a post-human Earth. This society grapples with its identity by imitating the traditions of extinct humans in an attempt to cultivate their "humanity." The protagonist, Lobey, a musician, embarks on a quest to reclaim his lost love, Friza, while confronting the challenges posed by mutations that create differences within his alien community. The narrative draws on mythic themes, particularly inspired by the Greek legend of Orpheus, and addresses the tension between individuality and societal expectations.
Delany intricately weaves motifs of mythology and transformation, echoing concepts from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," to explore how these narratives shape perceptions of reality. Through Lobey's journey, the novel illustrates the importance of embracing one's unique identity rather than conforming to inherited patterns. Ultimately, "The Einstein Intersection" invites readers to reflect on the relationship between culture, mythology, and personal redemption, offering a rich tapestry of themes related to diversity and self-acceptance.
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The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1967
Type of work: Novel
The Work
The Einstein Intersection expands upon the theme of cultural diversity Delany had first explored in Babel-17. The alien race inhabiting the earth thirty thousand years in the future attempts to develop its “humanity” by imitating the traditions of the extinct human race. In the end, one of the lessons that the aliens learn is that they must accept their own unique natures and develop traditions appropriate to themselves.
Frequent mutations cause differences to emerge among the aliens. The protagonist of the novel is one of those “different” beings—as is, ironically, the figure who has been destroying the mutants. Thus, failure to accept one’s own fundamental difference from others leads, in the novel, to hostility and ultimately to violence.
The narrator of the story, Lobey, is a musician. In the course of the novel, he sets out to regain his lost love, Friza, who is later taken from him again. Delany calls Lobey’s opponent in the novel Kid Death. All these elements have been inspired by the Greek legend of Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hades, but the myth of Orpheus is only one of the mythic allusions central to The Einstein Intersection.
Like many of Delany’s novels, the general structure of The Einstein Intersection is that of the quest. (Indeed, tying the plot of the story to his own artistic quest, Delany includes among the chapter epigraphs a number of passages taken from the journals that he kept during his travels throughout the Mediterranean in 1965.) Moreover, the novel’s frequent reference to mutations, both among the aliens themselves and in nature, was influenced by Ovid’s Metamorphoses (first century b.c.e.), a Roman epic in which the transformations of mythical characters was a unifying theme. The Metamorphoses, too, had retold the legend of Orpheus.
The Einstein Intersection explores those myths in much the same way that Babel-17 had explored language. The novel treats mythology as a phenomenon capable of determining the way in which reality is perceived. By the end of the novel, Lobey must free himself from the mythic patterns that he has inherited. He must permit his own “different” nature to emerge. This, Delany suggests, will prove to be the redemption of Lobey himself and of his entire culture.
Bibliography
Barbour, Douglas. “Cultural Invention and Metaphor in the Novels of Samuel R. Delany.” Foundation 7/8 (March, 1975): 105-121.
Broderick, Damien. Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction. New York: Routledge, 1995.
Dornemann, Rudi, and Eric Lorberer. “A Silent Interview with Samuel R. Delany.” Rain Taxi Review of Books 5, no. 4 (2000).
Fox, Robert Elliot. Conscientious Sorcerers: The Black Postmodernist Fiction of Leroi Jones, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, and Samuel R. Delany. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.
Sallis, James. Ash of Stars: On the Writing of Samuel R. Delany. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996.
Tucker, Jeffrey Allen. A Sense of Wonder: Samuel R. Delany, Race, Identity, and Difference. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2004.
Tucker, Jeffrey Allen. “Studying the Works of Samuel R. Delany.” Ohio University College of Arts and Sciences Forum 15 (Spring, 1998).