I can genuinely say that I struggled while reading Samuel Delany’s novel, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand. I mainly struggled to grasp the concepts that Delany was trying to stress in the novel, because I found them difficult to follow and understand. One thing that I did note though, was how advanced Delany’s ideas of society and culture were in the novel. Delany published Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand in 1984, yet his opinions on sexuality and gender pronouns were far more advanced than those that were accepted in the 1980’s. Rather than adhering to social norms and writing a novel with standard male and female characters, Delany chose to depict a multi-gendered universe that was both technologically and sexually advanced from what we know in the present-day. I found this fascinating because Delany presents a more open and free view of social diversity in the novel that did not parallel with what was generally accepted during the time the novel was released. Delany’s thought process aligns more with modern-day thinking of transgendered individuals and intense sexual relationships. Although I struggled at times interpreting and understanding the novel, I was impressed and satisfied to see that Delany was able to depict a universe, thousands of years in the future, that shares some of the same advancements in today’s society, such as rights for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation.
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