Subjects

#tbt: John Luther Adams and Experimental Music at Wesleyan

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This week’s Throw-Back-Thursday post is dedicated to composer John Luther Adams. Below you’ll find a passage from his 2004 book, Winter Music: Composing the North. 

John Luther Adams, who received the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music, for his symphony Become Ocean, is a widely praised composer, and author of two books published by Wesleyan: Winter Music and The Place Where You Go to Listen: In Search of an Ecology of Music. Adams is the subject of a recent Radiolab podcast, which aired earlier this month on WNYC . Give it a listen if you are interested in “all the forces at play in Adams’ work,” or in “the dark majesty of Adams’ take on the apocalypse.”

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From Winter Music. “Love the Questions”

John Cage said that in the course of his life and work he gradually came to understand composition ‘‘not as the making of choices, but as the asking of questions.’’

Morton Feldman put it even more succinctly, when he advised simply: ‘‘Love the questions.’’

The most important questions in music and in life may turn out to have many answers, or no answers at all. In any case, the questions may well be more important than the answers.

Varèse had a maxim for composing: ‘‘Keep it level, especially in times of invention.’’

Lou Harrison has written: ‘‘When I find myself inspired I enjoy it—but, I try to lay the pencil down, for, if I continue, I know that I shall have to use the eraser in the morning.’’

Although the music of Cage, Feldman, Varèse, and Harrison sounds nothing alike, all four composers speak of a healthy mistrust of ‘‘inspiration,’’ ‘‘self-expression,’’ and the artist’s ego. In very different ways each of them placed his faith in something larger than his own will and intentions: a deep belief in the power of the music and the sounds themselves.

In my own work I try to follow a similar path. I try to ask as clearly and directly as possible a few essential questions about the music at hand. Once I articulate these questions, my discipline is simply to keep faith with the musical materials, to listen carefully to the sounds and follow wherever they might lead me.

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Wesleyan University Press and Wesleyan University’s music department are well known for their commitment to experimental music. Our press has published a number of John Cage titles. John Cage Was, by James Klosty, is newly available. Cage was an assistant professor in Wesleyan’s music department, collaborating with members of our community from the 1950s until his death in 1993. Our press also published Alvin Lucier’s Music 109 (now available in paperback), aptly named after his Wesleyan course “MUSIC 109: Introduction to Experimental Music.” Lucier is the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, Emeritus, at Wesleyan. Another recent retiree from Wesleyan, Anthony Braxton (Emeritus, Faculty of Music), continues his musical life with the Tri-Centric Foundation. You can read more about Wesleyan University’s music department here.

This weekend (October 11), Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts will host a performance by the Vijay Iyer Trio. Vijay Iyer was described by Pitchfork as “one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today.” The trio also includes bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Tyshawn Sorey (Wesleyan, MA ’11).

In the brief piece above, “Love the Questions,” Adams considers the virtues of letting music itself take the lead while composing. Experimental music allows listeners to consider sound and art in ways they might never have imagined. Wesleyan remains committed to facilitating such artistic innovation. Experimental music has certainly enriched the cultural life at Wesleyan University. We hope our readers will enrich their own lives through experimental music.

An inside view of experimental music, with Alvin Lucier

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Alvin Lucier’s Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music. is now available in paperback!

Lucier’s new CD was recently reviewed by Robert Carl for Fanfare Magazine. Carl wrote: “Lucier has fruitfully pursued his passion for a uniquely personal form of research and experiment over the decades. He could have been a ‘one-hit wonder,’ but definitely was (and is) not. This is another I’d love for the Want List, though by now the waiting room is getting crowded. Highly recommended, and even those who think they won’t like it should confront this. It’s bracing, and one hears everything differently, and fresher, afterwards.”

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Composer and performer Alvin Lucier brings clarity to the world of experimental music as he takes the reader through more than a hundred groundbreaking musical works, including those of Robert Ashley, John Cage, Charles Ives, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, Christian Wolff, and La Monte Young. Lucier explains in detail how each piece is made, unlocking secrets of the composers’ style and technique. The book as a whole charts the progress of American experimental music from the 1950s to the present, covering such topics as indeterminacy, electronics, and minimalism, as well as radical innovations in music for the piano, string quartet, and opera. Clear, approachable and lively, Music 109 is Lucier’s indispensable guide to late 20th-century composition. No previous musical knowledge is required, and all readers are welcome.

For more details, click here.

Also available as an ebook—check with your favorite ebook retailer.

This project is funded by the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

Celebrating “John Cage Was”

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We are pleased to announce an important new book of photographs by James Klosty — John Cage Was, a collection of intimate portraits and remembrances of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Books will be available at the October 18th release party, and on October 31st in all other locations.

John Cage at a piano

Wesleyan is honored to continue our close relationship with the memory of Cage and his works. In his recent review of John Cage Was (Paste magazine) Bill Taft notes:

“John Cage Was adds an important work to the Cage canon published by Wesleyan University Press. The small press published Cage’s first book, Silence, in 1961. The success of that book enabled Cage to author five more tomes (all published by WUP) filled with lectures, essays and scores. Thanks to WUP’s fine stewardship of the Cage archive, today’s readers have easy access to a wealth of his written work. Klosty gives us a pictorial representation of a man whose life became as significant as his art.”

Wesleyan’s collection of Cage’s books include Musicage, Anarchy, Year from Monday, Empty Words, Cage:M, and Cage:X. Our recent 50th Anniversary Edition of Silence exposed a new generation of readers to his genius. In his foreword to the 50th Anniversary Edition, Kyle Gann explains why Silence was not only groundbreaking for its time, but also how it remains an innovative text in the 21st century.

“Personally, I have tried, at Cage’s urging, to enjoy a baby crying at a concert, not letting it ruin a piece of modern music; so far I’ve failed. But that’s why I keep coming back to Cage, because I keep thinking that if I could evolve or relax a little more, I could enjoy babies crying and fire alarms ringing, and feel as comfortable with the universe as he always seemed to be. He thought his way out of the twentieth century’s artistic neuroses and discovered a more vibrant, less uptight world that we didn’t realize was there. Silence is the traveler’s guide to that world. Every visit it to it lifts the feet a little more off the ground.”

We are overjoyed to add John Cage Was to our collection of John Cage titles. This volume is a true celebration of a remarkable figure who redefined music forever.

For more information on John Cage Was by James Klosty, click here.

Gerald Vizenor’s New England Tour, October 7-23

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Gerald Vizenor is Professor Emeritus of American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.  He is a citizen of the White Earth Nation, and has published more than thirty books, including Native Liberty: Natural Reason and Cultural Survivance, Survivance: Narratives of Native Presence, Native Storiers, Father Meme, Fugitive Poses: Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence, Hiroshima Bugi: Atomu 57, Shrouds of White Earth, and The White Earth Nation: Ratification of a Native Democratic Constitution. His most recent publications are Blue Ravens, a historical novel about Native American Indians who served in the First World War in France, and Favor of Crows: New and Collected Haiku. Vizenor received an American Book Award for Griever: An American Monkey King in China, and for Chair of Tears, the Western Literature Association Distinguished Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Literary Achievement Award from the Native Writer’s Circle of the Americas. Vizenor is a veteran of the United States Army. He served in Japan during the era of reconstruction, following WWII.

 

October 7, Tuesday, 4:30 PM—Wesleyan University
Center for East Asian Studies, Mary Houghton Freeman Room
343 Washington Terrace, Middletown, CT
EXPEDITIONS IN FRANCE: Native American Indians in the First World War  

October 10, Friday, 12 Noon—Yale University
Native  American Cultural Center
26 High St., New Haven, CT
Reading, and discussion of Blue Ravens

October 14 , Tuesday, 12 Noon—Bridgewater State University
Heritage Room in the Maxwell Library
131 Summer St., Bridgewater, MA
EXPEDITIONS IN FRANCE: Native American Indians in the First World War  

October 15, Wednesday, 6:30 PM—Brown University
Metcalf Auditorium
190-194 Thayer St., Providence, RI
EMPIRE TREASONS: Native American Indians in the First World War    

October 16, Thursday, 4:15PM—Harvard University
Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House
10 Garden St., Cambridge, MA
Reading, and discussion of Favor of Crows: New and Collected Haiku

October 18, Saturday, 1:30-3PM—Mashantucket Pequot Museum
110 Pequot Trail, Mashantucket, CT
Reading, and discussion of Blue Ravens and Favor of Crows.

October 21, Tuesday, 4:30PM—Dartmouth College
Rockefeller Center 1
2 Webster Ave., Hanover, NH
White Earth to Picardy: Native Americans & the First World War in France 

October 23, Thursday, 4:30PM—Amherst College 
Paino Lecture Hall, Beneski Earth Sciences & Natural History Building
81 Dickinson St., Amherst, MA
EXPEDITIONS IN FRANCE: Native American Indians in the First World War  

 

Rhythms of South India, in Persian!

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Wesleyan University Press is pleased to announce the release of a Persian language edition (Aref Music, Iran) of Solkattu Manual: An Introduction to the Rhythmic Language of South Indian Music, by David P. Nelson.

Solkattu Blog Picture

The book, a first of its kind, is a step-by-step introduction to South Indian spoken rhythm. It includes instructions for designing performable pieces, accompanied by graphic notations as well as video demonstrations on two DVDs (Persian language edition), and online (English language edition). The Persian edition sports beautiful new artwork that is reminiscent of our English language edition.

Solkattu Manual is designed for use in a variety of settings. Beyond courses in Indian music, it can be used for beginning music courses or for courses in percussion studies. It does not assume any prior experience with Indian music.

More information about our English language edition is available online.

Autumn fun in Connecticut–agricultural fairs and more!

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With Fall quickly approaching, we look forward to the many agricultural fairs happening across Connecticut. Attending a fair is the perfect way to enjoy Connecticut’s beautiful Fall weather, and colors, with your family, friends, or that special someone!

Wesleyan University Press is dedicated to publishing books to support Connecticut history and culture. Our Connecticut-related titles include some great Autumn reads: Becoming Tom Thumb by Eric D. Lehman, Connecticut’s Fife and Drum Tradition by James Clark, The Old Leather Man by Dan W. DeLuca, Hidden in Plain Sight by David K. Leff, African American Connecticut Explored edited by Elizabeth J. Normen, and Barns of Connecticut by Markham Starr, among other books.

Here is a schedule of Fall 2014 agricultural fairs and festivals in Connecticut:

Hebron Harvest Fair 2014 
347 Gilead Street
Hebron, CT
September 4-7, 2014
Hours: Thursday, 4-10pm; Friday, noon-11pm.; Saturday, 9am-11pm; Sunday, 9am-8pm. Admission: $12-13; parking, $5.

North Haven Fair 2014
Washington Avenue (Route 5)
North Haven, CT
September 4-7, 2014
Hours: Thursday, 5-10pm; Friday, 3-11pm; Saturday, 10am-11pm; Sunday, 10am-7pm Admission: $10; senior on Sunday only, $5; children under age 12 admitted free when accompanied by an adult.

Wapping Fair 2014
Evergreen Walk, 100 Cedar Avenue
South Windsor, CT
September 4-7, 2014
Admission: Adults, $6; seniors over age 64, $3; children 57 inches tall and taller, $6. Hours: Thursday 6-10; Friday 6-11pm; Saturday 10am-11pm; Sunday 10am-6pm. Parking is free.

Bethlehem Fair 2014 
284 Main Street
North Bethlehem, CT
Phone: 203-266-5350
September 5-7, 2014
Admission: General, $9; seniors, $7, Saturday and Sunday only; children under age 12, free with an adult. Hours: Friday, 5-10pm; Saturday, 8am-9:30pm; Sunday, 8am-5:30pm

East Haven Fall Festival on the Green 2014 
Town Green, Main and River streets
East Haven , CT
September 5-7, 2014
Hours: Friday, 6-11 pm; Saturday, noon to 11 pm; Sunday, noon-6 pm with a car show at 9am.

Ledyard Fair 2014 
Route 117
Ledyard, CT
Phone: 860-464-912
September 5-7 2014
Hours: Friday, 6-11pm; Saturday, 9am-11pm; Sunday, 11am-6pm. Admission: Adults, $8; seniors and youth age 13-18, $5; 3-day pass, $13; children under age 11, free. Parking: Free at junior and senior high school with shuttle bus to fair. Pets: Service animals only.

Norwalk Oyster Festival 2014 
Veteran’s Memorial Park, 42 Seaview Avenue
Norwalk, CT
Phone: 203-838-9444
September 5-7, 2014
Hours: Friday, 6-11pm; Saturday, 11am-11pm; Sunday, 11am-8pm. Admission: Friday $10, Saturday/Sunday $12. Seniors $10, Children ages 5-12 $5, US Military Personnel on Active Duty: Free with ID.

Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival 2014
Fort Trumbull and other parts of the New London waterfront
New London, CT
September 11-13, 2014

Four Town Fair 2014 
Egypt Road and Billings Road
Tolland, CT
Phone: 860-749-6527
September 11-14, 2014
Hours: Thursday/Friday 4-11pm, Saturday 8am-11pm, Sunday 8am-7:30pm. Admission: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, $10; Thursday, $6; children age 12 years and younger, free; seniors all day Thursday and Friday, $5.

Newtown Arts Festival 2014 
Fairfield Hills, Trades Lane
Newtown, CT
Phone: 203-417-0862
September 13-14, 2014
Hours: 10am-6pm. Admission: $5. Children 12 & under FREE.

Guilford Agricultural Fair 2014
Guilford Fairgrounds, Lovers Lane
Guilford, CT
September 19-21, 2014
Hours: Friday, 1-11pm; Saturday, 9am-11pm; Sunday 9am-7pm. Admission: Adults, $10; seniors, $8; children age 6-11, $5; 3-day pass, $25.

Milford Irish Festival 2014
Fowler Field Rotary Pavilion behind the Milford Public Library, 57 New Haven Avenue
Milford, CT
Phone: 203-874-7275
September 19-20, 2014
Hours: Friday 6-11pm, Saturday 11am-11pm. Admission: Friday $5, Saturday $12.

Harvest Festival at Haight-Brown Vineyard 2014 
Haight-Brown Vineyard, 29 Chestnut Hill Road
Litchfield, CT
Phone: 860-307-5426
September 20-21, 2014
Hours: 11am – 6pm, both days. Admission: $25; kids under age 21, $10.

Harvest Festival at Stonington Vineyards 2014 
Stonington Vineyards, 523 Taugwonk Road
Stonington, CT
Phone: 860-535-1222
September 20-21, 2014
Hours: 12-6pm. Admission: Advance tickets $20, Day-of tickets $25.

Orange Country Fair 2014
525 Orange Center Road
Orange, CT
September 20 & 21, 2014
Hours: Saturday, 8am-7pm; Sunday: 8am-6pm. Admission: Adults, $7; seniors, $5; free parking and shuttle.

Durham Fair 2014 
Main Street and Fowler Avenue
Durham, CT
September 25 – 28, 2014
Hours: Thursday, 4-10 pm; Friday and Saturday, 9am-10pm; Sunday, 9am-7pm. Admission: Adults, $10-$15, depending on the day; children age 11 and younger admitted for free.

16th Annual Connecticut Renaissance Faire 
Dodd Stadium – 14 Stott Avenue
Norwich, CT 06360
Phone: 860-478-5954
Saturdays, Sundays and Columbus Day, Sept. 27 to Oct. 26, 2014
Hours: 10:30am-6pm. Parking: Free of charge. Admission: General (Ages 16+) $17, Youth (7-15) $10, Children 6 & under FREE.

New England Acoustic Music Festival 2014 
Main Street between Front (Route 44) and Lee streets
Putnam, CT
September 27, 2014
Hours: Gates open at 11:30 a.m. and music starts at noon. Festival ends at 9 p.m. Admission: $15 in advance and $20 at the door (includes one serving of beer, soda or water).

Oktoberfest at Quassy 2014 
Fieldside Pavilion, Quassy Amusement Park, Route 64
Middlebury, CT
Phone: 203-758-2913
September 27-28, 2014
Hours: 12-6pm. Admission: Free! Parking $6 per vehicle.

Berlin Fair 2014
Berlin Fairgrounds, 430 Beckley Road
East Berlin, CT
Phone: 860-828-0063
October 3-4, 2014
Hours: Friday, 11am – 10pm.; Saturday, 9am-10pm; Sunday, 9am-7pm. Admission: Adults, $12; seniors, $8; children under age 11, free.

Southington Apple Harvest Festival 2014 
On and around Town Green
Southington, CT 06489
October 3-5 and 10-12, 2014
Hours: Fridays, 5-9pm; Saturdays, 9am – 9pm; Sunday, October 5, noon – 7pm; Sunday, October 11, noon – 5pm. Admission: Free admission and parking.

Old Wethersfield Fall Craft Fair 2014 
Cove Park
Old Wethersfield, CT
October 4, 2014
Hours: 10am-4pm. Admission: $6, Children 12 and under FREE. Ample free parking!

Blue Slope Country Museum Fall Tyme Fest 2014 
Blue Slope Country Museum, 138 Blue Hill Road
Franklin, CT
October 4-5, 2014
Hours: Saturday, 10am-4pm; Sunday, 10am-3pm. Admission: Adults, $7; children age 4-14, $4.

Fall Festival & Swap Meet 2014 at Zagray Farm Museum
Zagray Farm Museum, 544 Amston Road (Route 85)
Colchester, CT
October 4-5, 2014
Hours: 8am-3pm. $5 per car.

Harwinton Fair 2014 
Locust Road
Harwinton, CT
Phone: 860-485-0464
October 4-5, 2014
Hours: Saturday, 8am-6pm; Sunday, 8am-5pm. Admission: Adults, $7; children age 12 and younger, free.

Portland Fair 2014 
Exchange Club Fairgrounds, Route 17A
Portland, CT
Phone: 860-342-0188
October 10-12, 2014
Hours: Friday, 5pm-11pm; Saturday, 10am-11pm; Sunday, 10am-5:30pm. Free off-site parking. Admission: Adults, $10; seniors, $6; children (under age 10), free.

Riverton Fair 2014 
Route 20
Riverton, CT
Phone: 860-738-4227
October 10-12, 2014
Hours: Friday, 5-10pm; Saturday and Sunday, 8am-6pm. Admission: Adults, $5; children under age 12, free. Free parking. Pets: Service animals only.

Garlic and Harvest Festival 2014 
Bethlehem Fairgrounds, 384 Main Street North (Route 61)
Bethlehem, CT
Phone: 203-266-7810
October 11-12, 2014
Hours: 10am to 5pm. Admission: Adults, $7; seniors, $6; children under age 12, $1.

Scotland Highland Festival at Waldo Homestead 2014 
Edward Waldo Homestead, 96 Waldo Road
Scotland, CT
October 12, 2014
Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Admission: Adults, $15; seniors and students, $10; kids age 6-12, $5. Parking location address: 130 Devotion Road, Scotland

Roseland Cottage Fine Arts & Crafts Festival 2014 
Roseland Cottage, 556 Route 169
Woodstock, CT
October 18-19, 2014
Hours: 10am-4:30pm. Admission: Free for Historic New England members and children under 12; $5 for nonmembers.

 

We wish you all the best for this lovely season!

#tbt: M. NourbeSe Philip, “Clues”

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This week’s Throwback Thursday selection is “Clues,” from Philip’s 1993 book She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks (The Women’s Press Ltd). Wesleyan University Press will re-issue the book next year, with a new introduction from Evie Shockley, author of the new black.

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Clues

She gone—gone to where and don’t know
looking for me looking for she;
is pinch somebody pinch and tell me,
up where north marry cold I could find she—
Stateside, England, Canada—somewhere about,
“she still looking for you—
try the Black Bottom–Bathurst above Bloor,
Oakwood and Eglinton—even the suburbs them,
but don’t look for indigo hair and
skin of lime at Ontario Place,
or even the reggae shops;
stop looking for don’t see and can’t—
you bind she up tight with hope,
she own and yours knot up in together;
although she tight with nowhere and gone
she going find you, if you keep looking.”

 

Poet, essayist, lawyer, and novelist, M. NourbeSe Philip recently organized a series of participatory readings from Zong!, a masterful work exploring the anguish of some 150 enslaved Africans intentionally drowned at sea on November 29, 1781. These recent readings were participatory and ritual, and can be described as existing somewhere between noise and silence. The most recent event was on August 10th, at Trinity Bellwood Park in Toronto.

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Click on the poster above for further information on the Zong case, and related events.
In addition, view a reading presented as a Wake for Trevon Martin, from Naropa University here.

 

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M. NOURBESE PHILIP is a poet and writer and lawyer who was born in Tobago and now lives in Toronto. 

 

Kazim Ali wins Ohioana Book Award

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We are pleased to announce that Kazim Ali’s Sky Ward is the 2014 Ohioana Book Award winner in Poetry!

 

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The Ohioana awards have been presented annually since 1942 to talented Ohioans in recognition of their contributions to the literary and cultural life of the state. The awards are among the oldest and most prestigious awards in the country; past winners in Poetry include Mary Oliver, David Young, Rita Dove, and Dave Lucas, among others. The 73rd annual Ohioana Awards ceremony will take place at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Friday, October 10th.

“From the nearly 400 books that were eligible for this year’s awards, our judges selected twenty-nine finalists,” said David Weaver, executive director of the Ohioana Library. “To make this short list is recognition of excellence. Choosing a winner in each category from such outstanding books was a challenge for the final selection committee.”

Kazim Ali is the author of three books of poetry, including the cross-genre Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities. He is also the author of two novels and two essay collections— Fasting for Ramadan and Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art, and the Architecture of Silence. Ali is a frequent contributor, of essays and poetry, to magazines including American Poetry Review, jubilat, and Boston Review. He is an associate professor of creative writing and comparative literature at Oberlin College and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. His diverse professional experiences include four years on the liberal arts faculty of The Culinary Institute of America and several years dancing with the Cocoon Theatre Modern Dance Company. Read more about Ali’s work here, or visit his website.

A vivid ethnography and in-depth history of musical performance in North Sumatra

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We are pleased to announce a new book by Julia Byl, Antiphonal Histories: Resonant Pasts in the Toba Batak Musical Present.

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“Well-written, smart, and honest, Antiphonal Histories is an innovative juxtaposition of historiography, ethnography, musical analysis, and reflexive autobiography. There are also moments of poignant insight, brilliant induction, and hilarity.” —Jeremy Wallach, author of Modern Noise, Fluid Genres: Popular Music in Indonesia, 1997–2001

Positioned on a major trade route, the Toba Batak people of Sumatra have long witnessed the ebb and flow of cultural influence from India, the Middle East, and the West. Living as ethnic and religious minorities within modern Indonesia, Tobas have recast this history of difference through interpretations meant to strengthen or efface the identities it has shaped. Antiphonal Histories examines Toba musical performance as a legacy of global history, and a vital expression of local experience. This intriguingly constructed ethnography searches the palm liquor stand and the sanctuary to show how Toba performance manifests its many histories through its “local music”—Lutheran brass band hymns, gong-chime music sacred to Shiva, and Jimmie Rodgers yodeling. Combining vivid narrative, wide-ranging historical research, and personal reflections, Antiphonal Histories traces the musical trajectories of the past to show us how the global is manifest in the performative moment.

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Clockwise from top left: a group of men playing at the lapo tuak; ceremonial dancing at a Toba adat ceremony; Martahan Sitohang playing the Toba suling during a performance residency in the Netherlands (photo: Hardoni Sitohang); and a gondang group.

For more details, click here.

Also available as an ebook—check with your favorite ebook retailer.

Samuel R. Delany’s “American Shore”

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We are pleased to announce the release of a brand-new edition of The American Shore: Meditations on a Tale of Science Fiction by Thomas M. Disch —- “Angouleme,” with an introduction by Matthew Cheney.

 american shore

A keystone text in literary theory and science fiction The American Shore: Meditations on a Tale of Science Fiction by Thomas M. Disch—“Angouleme” was first published in 1978 to the intense interest of science fiction readers and the growing community of SF scholars. Recalling Nabokov’s commentary on Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, Roland Barthes’ commentary on Balzac’s Sarazine, and Grabinier’s reading of The Heart of Hamlet, this book-length essay helped prove the genre worthy of serious investigation. The American Shore is the third in a series of influential critical works by Samuel Delany, beginning with The Jewel-Hinged Jaw and Starboard Wine, first published in the late seventies and reissued over the last five years by Wesleyan University Press. Delany was honored with a Pilgrim Award for Science Fiction Scholarship from the Science Fiction Research Association of America. He has also received the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime’s contribution to gay and lesbian literature. In 2013, he was named the 31st Damon Knight Memorial Foundation Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. This edition of The American Shore includes the author’s corrected text as well as a new introduction by Delany scholar Matthew Cheney. For more details, click here. Also available as an ebook—check with your favorite ebook retailer.