Triton

MAY WELL GET INTO SPOILERS SO READER BEWARE....

Also content warning for (view spoiler)

I read this recently specifically reflecting on the novel being a response to The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia and thinking about how Delany approached the notion of a Heterotopia. It may be best to steal the wikipedia entry for a Heterotopia as it will explain it better than I can...

Heterotopia is a concept elaborated by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe certain cultural, institutional and discursive spaces that are somehow "other": disturbing, intense, incompatible, contradictory or transforming. Heterotopias are worlds within worlds, mirroring and yet upsetting what is outside.

So we are talking about the 'other' and 'worlds within worlds' here which challenge the accepted order or way of thinking about things. In many respects Triton is the Heterotopia - a moon of Neptune way out in the solar system far away from the warring planets of Mars and Earth. But also after reading, it is the central character Bron who is the world within a world, for he is the one who is othered, who is out of place in this far future society where basic needs are taken care and the society is sexually liberated.

So I was reading this comparing Triton to Anarres - the anarchist moon in The Dispossessed. Both have a notion of a computerised planned economy. Whilst Anarres is a harsh moon where the living conditions are difficult, on Triton nothing at all basically seems to be difficult. On Anarres no one is compelled to work or be coerced into agreements, but there are consequences of not doing so. On Triton people basically live in communes according to their gender and sexuality preferences, and whilst people have jobs, bosses and differing credit limits everyone has enough to eat, somewhere to live and can travel about freely. There is a government (which seems faceless or shadowy) but essentially there are something like 37 parties you can vote for and the one you vote for is the one whose policies you adhere to (I guess for things like taxation and social security). That feels kind of liberating and it does make me think that an extension of libertarianism is the subscription to the politics you agree too and somehow making that work, rather than the coercion of adhering to the politics you didn't vote for...

I guess I should get out of the way one of the things that I find really problematic about this book, and Delany generally. His books often explore the gamut of sexuality, and sexual liberation is a constant theme in his works. However, in several instances in this book he refers to the normalisation of adult / child sexual relationships. I get that in the 70s in some quarters there was a different relationship to young people's sexual activity and relationships and having sex with children was often couched in 'sexual liberation' language - but make no mistake, it was exploitative and evil then and is now. It really pisses me off to be honest because it's not the first time Delany has gone here. Like, a father and son walk around naked - the boy is about ten and the central character goes, 'oh I assumed you were lovers'. Another instance is when a 15 year old girl goes to a hook-up bar where men over 50 meet girls 15 and under for consensual sex. I know sci-fi is meant to ask 'what if', but in Delany's 'groovy anything goes' sexual liberation he ignores the real world effects of predators on children. So much of his writing in this novel, and in others is exploring the hang-ups and sexual neurosis of 20th century humans. In Triton, with the exception of the central character no one has a hang up about sex. But what Delany is saying here, is that without 'hang-ups' children can freely consent to sex with adults, ignoring the reality. It's a casual thing in his work but it sure pisses me off.

So that out of the way, let's get into Bron. Bron Helstrom is one of the most infuriating characters I think I have read. I'm pretty confident that Delany expects you to think he is an insufferable prick too. He's a 'metalogician' and he uses logic for all his decisions - except he comes across as a really unpleasant, self-centred, selfish, idiot. He mopes around, treats people like dirt (especially a character early on who he gets fired for working with him, ostensibly because she is a lesbian - except he says that's nothing to do with it even though he is hitting on her). He meets a micro theatre artist (the Spike) who he kind of falls for, who puts up with him before dumping him in the best dumping letter ever (The dumping letter was brilliant, because up to this point I still wasn't sure what Delany thought about Bron - here we get not just a woman's perspective but a human perspective).

Indeed, leading up to this is Delany having fun with a dreadful dinner date on Earth, and all along one sympathises with the Spike, and when Bron basically pesters her for sex and gets nowhere it does feel like his response to the ugly attempted rape scene in The Dispossessed. It's here, where I get the notion that Bron is really Delany's 20th century man - a stranger in a strange land. A man who can't understand women, who cannot conceive of the world not revolving around him, a man who really only enjoys male company, despite his homophobia and disdain for others.

In the middle of this Bron goes to Earth and ever so subtly (I am confident of this) allows a terrorist attack to happen on Triton. It's here where I think Delany enters another of his world within a world. The attack causes harm in this war. To date, the war has been waged economically far, far away and the inhabitants of Triton are insulated. The attack causes the death of some people and damages infrastructure - meanwhile millions die in genocide on Earth, Mars and other satellites. I am sure Delany is asking American readers to look to themself - see how they take such a casual disregard to immeasurable suffering elsewhere, whilst feeling scared and afraid at relatively minor responses - the parallels to the 21st century war on terror are all a little to close.

So Bron, who doesn't understand women, who can't find a woman, decides that he will become one. Delany here posits gender and sexuality as a choice - which doesn't align to our understanding of sexuality and gender today, but it is an interesting theme. He essentially says, that since gender roles are meaningless (mentioning that 'it's only in the last 65 years that women have been considered human') it's really no big deal what gender (about five are mentioned) and what sexuality you are. Furthermore, if you want to change it, change it - and if you want to change your brain at the same time, or have your sexuality changed then go for it. I do feel pained when I see so much transphobia right now. What I think Delany is saying is, 'who gives a shit' and maybe one day, if we have equality, then our gender and sexuality can be a choice and it won't matter. Bron can't understand it - but if there is sexual equality then the stakes disappear?

At times Delany writes beautifully, at others he is incredibly frustrating. Some times you just have to run with it and go with the flow. I'm glad I read it, and he always makes you think despite my frustrations with him.