In a story as exciting as any science fiction adventure written, Samuel R. Delany's 1976 SF novel, originally published as Triton, takes us on a tour of a utopian society at war with . . . our own Earth! High wit in this future comedy of manners allows Delany to question gender roles and sexual expectations at a level that, 20 years after it was written, still make it a coruscating portrait of "the happily reasonable man," Bron Helstrom -- an immigrant to the embattled world of Triton, whose troubles become more and more complex, till there is nothing left for him to do but become a woman. Against a background of high adventure, this minuet of a novel dances from the farthest limits of the solar system to Earth's own Outer Mongolia. Alternately funny and moving, it is a wide-ranging tale in which character after character turns out not to be what he -- or she -- seems.
Trouble on Triton
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
From Library Journal
Published back-to-back in 1975 and 1976, respectively, these works involve an apocalyptic society on the verge of collapse and a utopian society at war with Earth. LJ's reviewer dubbed Dhalgren an "important novel" (LJ 3/15/75).
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Delany's most controlled, and therefore his most successful, experiment to date . . . Triton is a novel of manners -- those of a rich and complex society in which the avowed highest good is the free expression of each individual's personality." --Gerald Jonas, New York Times Book Review
"Delany has been the cutting edge of the SF revolution for more than ten years . . . [He may turn out to be as important a writer as Pynchon."--Mother Jones
"An excellent novel. The author has created an innovative and fascinating culture."--Orca
"Delany has been the cutting edge of the SF revolution for more than ten years . . . [He may turn out to be as important a writer as Pynchon."--Mother Jones
"An excellent novel. The author has created an innovative and fascinating culture."--Orca
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Marcella G.
Format:Paperback
A book is a machine to generate interpretations, as Eco wrote. Thus, not one interpretation can be the correct one, and all we can do is to add to what other people have experienced at some point while reading a book.
Due to my own life experience, I perceive, perhaps, several more levels to this novel. The first time I read it, about 20 years ago, I was 10 and didn't understand many of the subtleties. However, the fact that the main character was so out of touch with the reality around him and that he had failed miserably to adapt to his changing surroundings, and, in the end, finds a "way out" for all the wrong reasons, made me think.
And think hard.
This book forced me to re-examine my own motivations several years later, because, besides the humour (sometimes even mockery) of our current socio-political systems, the book has a point. Bron Helmstron, the main character, becomes a woman not because he feels he's one, but because he wants to please the image of women she had as a man. He becomes a woman created from an intellectual male psyche.
Of course the issue of gender is at the core of the novel. Adaptation, sexism (Bron is perhaps the last old-mindset sexist in this heterotopic future) and monosexism -that is, the loving yourself as a projection but in a different gender role.
I asked myself many questions after re-reading this book at 22 (I'm a male-to-female transsexual): what are my motivations? I'm doing this as a rebellion against the rigidity of gender in our society? Am I doing this because I'm so selfish I've fallen in love with my own image in a different gender-role? Am I doing this out of selfishness, or because I've failed adapting myself to the world? Or because I'm so utterly sexist that, by adhering to the stereotype of what femineity should be, I am trying to put order to my own world?
This is one of my "top ten" books of all times. It made me grow as a person, and discover in myself that, unlike Bron, I was going through this route because I wanted to be honest with myself, not out of selfishness or emotional laziness.
Highly recommended if you don't mind some pretentiousness and have an open mind -and some background on feminist theory wouldn't hurt.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Paul B.
Format:Paperback
This is a hell of a good book. Reading it a second time through, I was most impressed by Delaney's subtle irony--Triton is an itnensely comic novel. But it's also a profound interrogation of gender. Delaney's important, and Triton is a great read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Robert Brown
Format:Paperback
In the light of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center
today, I was immediatley reminded of "Triton", and the way the
war was fought in that book. The attack on the gravity
generators on Triton was similar in many ways to what happened
today in New York City. I have not identified the here and now
with a Sci Fi novel so strongly since Chernople blew up and I was
reminded of Lester Del Rey's "Nerves"! ...
today, I was immediatley reminded of "Triton", and the way the
war was fought in that book. The attack on the gravity
generators on Triton was similar in many ways to what happened
today in New York City. I have not identified the here and now
with a Sci Fi novel so strongly since Chernople blew up and I was
reminded of Lester Del Rey's "Nerves"! ...
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 15 reviews
3.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Delany Loses It
It was with this book that Delany systematically began to dash the hopes of fans who had breathlessly awaited every new book up through "Nova". Read more
Published on Aug 26 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
another masterpiece by SRD
In reading all the customer reviews of Trouble On Triton, both negative and positive, what I found most lacking was any mention of humor. Read more
Published on Nov 21 2000 by Leslie K. Weinar
2.0 out of 5 stars
An ambiguous review.
Samuel Delaney's Trouble on Triton is a somewhat disturbing book from the mid-70's. The Solar System has been colonized, and the various and many moons are in a war with the two... Read more
Published on Jan 7 2000 by peterb
3.0 out of 5 stars
Triton is a thought-provoking, yet also irritating, book.
Dating from the mid-70s, Triton still provides much food for thought. As you can also see, the novel can still provoke some homophobic hostility. Read more
Published on Feb 24 1999 by Alex.Cull@tesco.net
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant intellectual satire in SF guise
Trouble on Triton (as it is now retitled--the publisher just called the first edition "Triton,") is one of the finest SF novels ever written. Read more
Published on Jan 21 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
My first intro to Delany - loved it, and will re-read.
It seems with Delany that you either understand him, and he becomes your favorite author, or you completely don't get it and are repulsed by all of his works. Read more
Published on Aug 10 1998 by Dmitri Zagidulin (97zagdmi@hawken.edu)
1.0 out of 5 stars
Can a book be worse than this?
Maybe I just missed the boat on the whole Delany thing. The guy won back-to-back Nebulas in the late 60s, but everything I've read by him is just bizarre. Read more
Published on May 26 1998
4.0 out of 5 stars
An intriquing character study
An intriquing character study - Delany puts you in the mind of his protagonist, and places his protagonist in an entirely plausible world (not just in the sense of planet), weird... Read more
Published on April 5 1998
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
