The Einstein Intersection

Samuel R. Delany's The Einstein Intersection is another one of his short, quest-structured narratives from the 1960s. This short novel can also boast of its direct ties to Delany's travels in Greece, Turkey and the Mediterranean during its writing. Indeed, Delany adds travel notes to the text in the beginning of chapters, connecting his own journey with that of Lobey (not to mention the ancient Greek mythological and geographical allusions). Like Aptor, Earth in the far future is inhabited by mutants affected by radiation. However, in this futuristic setting, the mutants are of alien origin and do not believe in things such as magic.

Lobey, our protagonist, is the Orpheus (and Theseus) of the story, searching for Kid Death so he can bring back Friza (Eurydice). Orphic tales have been around since, well, forever. But Delany modernized it in a science fiction vein that explores the role of the irrational and rational through timeless mythology. It is, as to be expected, a product of the 1960s and the intellectual currents of that era. Godel meets Einstein, with an overlay of Orpheus to suggest the ways in which tales of the past are reconfigured and changed. Do we accept our differences or struggle to assimilate into the mainstream? Are we doomed to repeat the past? Is Lobey trapped into forever playing Theseus and Orpheus?

Like the alien race inhabiting the ruins of humanity, incorporating ancient human music and literature into their lore, we have inherited ancient myths as accounts of who we are, exposing us to the real and the unreal (the rational and irrational, too). The novel eschews a conclusive ending, presumably because the message of the union of the rational and irrational and the way mythology is updated over time removes the need for a definitive ending. Instead, we receive an ambiguous text on creation, order, the hero and the place of outsiders in society, and the openness to other possibilities beyond the rational. It is cleverly told but its brevity is unfortunate. This futuristic setting, especially Branning-at-Sea, was fascinating. But the shortness of the novel and its opaqueness become strengths for a text steeped in mythos.