| The Straits of Messina | |
| Author: | Samuel R. Delany |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Publisher: | Serconia Press |
| Release Date: | 1 October 1989 |
| Media Type: | |
| Pages: | 183 pp |
| Isbn: | 0-934933-04-9 |
The Straits of Messina is a 1989 non-fiction collection of essays, in which author and critic Samuel R. Delany discusses his own novels. The essays are published under his own name, and under the pen name K. Leslie Steiner.
The pieces by K. Leslie Steiner are written as an answer to the question "Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone say all the fine and brilliant things about my work I so desperately would like to hear…?" according to Delany's preface.[1]
The Strait of Messina of the title is a reference to the treacherous waters between Scylla and Charybdis, a metaphor on how difficult it is for an author to write about his own works: "to negotiate the waters between the Scylla of overweening self-importance and the Charybdis of childish self-deprecation."
From 1973,[2] a proposed introduction to the as yet unpublished Hogg.
From 1973,[3] an essay discussing Hogg.
From 1975,[4] a discussion on the novel Dhalgren.
From 1975,[5] more discussion on Dhalgren.
From 1976,[6] a review of Triton
From 1981/1985,[7] a short version of the early chapters in The Motion of Light in Water.
Response to a panel given at Madison, Wisconsin, 1981.
From 1982,[8] a scathing review of Tales of Nevèrÿon.
From 1986,[9] a preface published in The Bridge of Lost Desire.