Re: finished reading _Spiders_

I finished it. Several times, actually, as I proofread and did some light editing on the novel as it was evolving. I will say that as Chip added more and more chapters, and extended or added scenes, I recall thinking it was becoming too much. And then I got past it. I realized what he was doing--he was showing life, warts and all. I also got used to the sex scenes pretty quickly. Certainly there were times when I read something (the story about the photograph at the pump comes directly to mind) where I thought, "Oh, come on, Chip! Do you really need to push that boundary?" But yes, he did. Ultimately, I found so much love in Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders--heaps and heaps of it.




--- In [email protected], Erich Schneider <erich@...> wrote:
>
> A short while ago I finished _Through the Valley of the Nest of
> Spiders_. I have to say, it's not up there among my favorites of his
> (those would be _Stars_, _Dhalgren_, _Triton_, and the
> autobiographical works). The feeling I get is that the block of marble
> needed some more chiseling to more clearly reveal the statue within.
> 
> I find myself agreeing with a few of the specific points made in
> this review (but I would stop short at saying it was "bad"):
> 
> http://jwcampb.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-of-through-valley-of-nest-of.html
> 
> I'm sure Delany could explain exactly why every one of the many sex
> scenes was kept in at the length and level of detail it was, but I did
> start to mentally say "oh, not another one" as things went on. 
> 
> The relationship of Eric and Shit did remind me of that between Marq and
> Rat in _Stars_, only here, the question asked is "so you meet your
> perfect erotic match... and then get to live with them for 70 years in
> a milieu where sex is the primary way you spend your free time, at
> least for the first few decades. What happens?" In _Stars_ I felt like
> I got to get up and walk around Velm or Rhyonon a little, and when I
> did, what I saw made my brain light up like a Christmas tree. There
> was the potential for that here, but it largely didn't happen.
> 
> The scene in the "Gay Friendly" men's room is the funniest scene I can
> remember in all of Delany's fiction. 
> 
> I found the depiction of Eric and Shit as old men touching without
> being mawkish.
> 
> I read _The Mad Man_ once, when the first edition was published
> (although I own the latest, as I have heard it is vastly improved
> there, but I haven't been motivated enough to read it), and also
> _Phallos_, and the statue depicted on the covers of those gets quite a
> few pages devoted to it in _Spiders_. I don't remember what the
> significance of it in the other works was, though. If any of you would
> care to summarize for me, I'd be grateful.
> 
> Who else here has finished it?
> 
> -- 
> Erich Schneider  erich@...
>