 Dust-jacket from the first edition | |
| Author | Samuel R. Delany |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Arbor House |
Publication date | 1988 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover)(Paperback) |
| Pages | 302 |
| ISBN | 0-87795-947-1 |
| OCLC | 16833709 |
The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, is the autobiography of the science fiction author Samuel R. Delany in which he recounts his experiences growing up as a gay African American man, as well as some of his time in an interracial and open marriage with Marilyn Hacker. It describes encounters with Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Stokely Carmichael and Stormé DeLarverie, a dinner with W. H. Auden, and a phone call to James Baldwin.
Among many cultural events of the decade that he witnessed, Delany recounts his attendance at the first New York City performance of the artist Allan Kaprow's 18 Happenings in 6 Parts, the 1959 performance piece that, for many, marked the end of modernism and the beginning of postmodernism.[1] In section 17.4 of the University of Minnesota Press edition, he describes the event and its venue, and speculates on its artistic significance.[2] The introduction puts an emphasis on the idea of the unreliable narrator; Delany's accounts often contrast his life as it "felt" to ways in which it actually occurred.