A chance encounter introduces Bron to The Spike, a free-spirited performance artist who quickly becomes the object of Bron’s affection. He’s an ex-prostitute from Mars, blonde, tall, chiseled, and an expert in meta-logics, a concept that Delany explained was merely a “pseudo-scientific rationale.” This “reasonably happy man” exudes masculinity in every facet of his existence, even down to his name. It’s no coincidence that the male protagonist in this story, Bron Helstrom, is a tribute to all the other protagonists that typify the genre of science fiction. Samuel Delany took Le Guin’s futuristic idea of utopia and turned in into a heterotopia, or “other place,” exploring just how idyllic a world with an endless supply of solutions really is. It was created in response to The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, by Ursula K Le Guin. Triton cannot be discussed without naming the novel of its inspiration. Like Trouble on Triton, he transcends the normal limits and boundaries that confound our modern day ideas of sexuality and society within his writing. Chip Delany, as he’s lovingly referred to by the many who admire his work, is one of the most brilliant figures within modern fiction, taking the genre of science fiction to new levels. What Delany reveals about sexuality and gender in Trouble on Triton, is that even in a world of endless possibilities and titillations, where all are liberated from twenty-first century Puritanism, society continues to perpetuate a criteria for sexuality. The future seems… ambiguous, to say the least in Samuel R.
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