American writer and critic; one of the most unusual and controversial figures in the genre. Born in New York. He lived in Harlem for a long time, but later received a comprehensive education - he studied at several universities. Debuted in fantasy - novel "Jewels of Eptor" came out when Delaney was 20 years old (1962). This was followed by the trilogy The Fall of the Towers (1963-1965) and the novel The Ballad of Beta-2 (1965). In these early works, Delaney’s original style is already clearly visible,
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American writer and critic; one of the most unusual and controversial figures in the genre. Born in New York. He lived in Harlem for a long time, but later received a comprehensive education - he studied at several universities. Debuted in fantasy - novel "Jewels of Eptor" came out when Delaney was 20 years old (1962). This was followed by the trilogy The Fall of the Towers (1963-1965) and the novel The Ballad of Beta-2 (1965). In these early works, Delaney’s original style is already clearly visible, as well as a penchant for metaphors, a fascination with mythology and linguistics. The central theme that wanders from book to book for Delaney is the idea of the interaction of different types of consciousness, solved each time in a new way. Most characteristic in this sense is his novel "Babylon-17" (1966, "Nebula" "). He was followed by the novels “Einstein’s Crossings” (1967, “Nebula”, the big story “Star Pit” (1967), “Nova” (1968). Since 1967, the author has resorted to a small form. The result was the "Nebula" award - for the short story "Gomorrah ..." (1967); "Hugo" and "Nebula" - for a small story "Time considered as a spiral of semi-precious stones" (1969). Critic Algis Budris in 1969 called twenty-seven-year-old Delaney the best science fiction writer in the world. His early novels were collected in the collection “Sliding Glass” (1971). On the subject and style of Delaney, of course, refers to the most prominent representatives of the “new wave”, along with Allison and Zelazny, Delaney’s later works are a colossal novel “Dalgren” (1975), the creation of which took seven years, as well as “Triton” (1976), “Stars in my book are like grains of sand” (1984) and a number of others. In 1979-1987 he wrote four books from the fantasy cycle Neverion. To this day, Delaney continues his experiments in literature, like no one, as befits a "star". In addition, Samuel Delaney is a professional critic and teaches the discipline at the University of Massachusetts.