The Jewel-hinged Jaw: Notes On The Language Of Science Fiction

Author: Samuel R. Delany

Curiously, science fiction writers aren't always the best people to write about science fiction, they're too close to have the perspective that's needed. The result is often rather pedestrian, like Arthur C. Clarke's memoir, Astounding Days, or Thomas M. Disch's idiosyncratic essays in The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of. But there are some sf writers who are among the very best commentators on the genre, and of these Samuel R. Delany is head and shoulders above them all. The Jewel-Hinged Jaw was his first collection of essays and reviews, and it's where he first developed the idea that science fiction is a language. Science fiction writers use words differently from other writers: "she turned on her side" could mean she rolled over, but in sf it could mean she threw a switch. And having established that idea he goes on to explore how this different language marks science fiction out from the rest of literature. Delany has written almost as many books about science fiction as he has written novels. Some of them are quite dense, and he does use a lot of jargon, but if you love his fiction you'll really want to read these books as well. The Jewel-Hinged Jaw is the place to start, but after this you'll quickly want to move on to the others, like Starboard Wine or The American Shore (a full-length book devoted to analysing just one short story, "Angouleme" by Thomas M. Disch) or Shorter Views or About Writing (which is absolutely essentially for anyone who actually wants to be a science fiction writer).