Samuel Delany writes difference: Desire and style in Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand

Abstract

Summary This article explores the intersection of transgressive sexual desire, literary convention and the boundaries of style in the Epilogue to Samuel Delany's science fiction masterpiece, Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand (1986). My argument has three parts. First, I discuss themes of gender and transgression in Delany's autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water (1988). Second, I examine Delany's subversion of the codes of Romantic poetry in the Epilogue of Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand. Finally, I explore markers of gender and power in Marq Dyeth's speech in the Epilogue, where Delany uses his viewpoint character to plead eloquently that erotic desire should be valorised over public interests. I conclude that Delany radically undermines the possibility of closure in terms of gender, literary tradition and desire.