Dark Reflections is a novel by Samuel R. Delany, published in 2007 by Carroll & Graf, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group. In 2008 it received a Stonewall Book Award and was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Fiction.

Dark Reflections
Cover from the first edition
AuthorSamuel R. Delany
LanguageEnglish
PublisherCarroll & Graf
Publication date
2007
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages295 pp
ISBN0-7867-1947-8
OCLC123444197
813/.54 22
LC ClassPS3554.E437 D37 2007

Plot

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Dark Reflections tells the story of Arnold Hawley, a gay African-American poet who lives most of his life in New York City. The novel is divided into three sections, each illustrating a period in Arnold's life, arranged chronologically backwards, from middle age to youth. In the first part, "The Prize", Hawley is between 52 and 68; a book of his poetry wins a prize and is commercially successful, but neither of his next two books repeat this, and he falls further into poverty. In the second, "Vashti in the Dark" (named after a story by Stephen Crane), Hawley is in his middle 30s; the section tells the story of his brief marriage to a homeless woman. The third, "The Book of Pictures", is set in Hawley's college days, when he is attracted to another gay man, but does not act on his desires.

Themes

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Dark Reflections centers on themes of loneliness, sexual repression, fear, and the difficult and often unrewarding life of the artist. As in many other Delany works, a writer is a character in the novel, in this case the protagonist.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ Cheney, Matthew (9 October 2016). "On Samuel R. Delany's "Dark Reflections"". lareviewofbooks.org. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  2. ^ Dreisinger, Baz (9 September 2007). "Poetic Licentiousness". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
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