On the way to work this morning I heard an interview of Keith Oatley, who’s book Such Stuff as Dreams (subtitled The Psychology of Fiction) was published this year.

The material discussed — from within his book —struck a chord regarding the book I’m reading: Trouble on Triton, by Samuel R. Delany (an excellent read: recommended!). I’m beginning to feel as if Delany’s book is an experiment in fiction that uses the ideas in Oatley’s book, although Triton was first published in 1976, thirty-five years before Oatley’s tome!

Such Stuff as Dreams explores several ideas that are inherent in Delany’s book; in fact, the informal remarks toward the modular calculus in Triton seem to be hinting at quite the same thoughts:

  • The ways in which reading can influence our understanding of self to facilitate transformation. I hadn’t thought about Triton in this regard until I heard Mr. Oatley, but it seems more than plausible that Delany was purposefully guiding me (the reader) through the text, and even telling me (if only I’d listen) that he was doing so.
  • Psychological research into the how and why of identification with fictional characters. Although the main character in Triton — Bron Helstrom —is not a person to identify with (he’s a self-absorbed boor), there are characteristics of his that, unfortunately, I share (this dichotomy — won’t identify with lout, but can identify with him partially — contributes to the literature’s influence as described above).
  • How literature can benefit social skills; as per previous two bulleted items.
  • Aspects of fiction; plot, setting, characters, theme…modular calculus…
  • Writing techniques; metaphor, metonymy (which (uneducated me) I’d never heard about until Triton, where it is mentioned in the informal remarks toward the modular calculus, part I), defamiliarization, et cetera.

I’m almost finished reading Trouble on Triton, but I feel like I have to re-read the whole thing from the beginning; instead, I’ll finish, let it percolate, and re-read in a year or two….

2011-10-11: Update

I’ve finished Trouble on Triton now, and still feel like I’ll need to reread it sometime. I’d Recommend the novel to science fiction fans who like a bit more of a challenging read than the typical Heinlein, Asimov, or Clarke…