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Nova (Novel)Nova is a science fiction novel by Samuel R. Delany. Nominally space opera, it also explores the politics and culture of a future where cyborging is universal, yet major decisions are made using the Tarot. It has strong mythological undertones, particularly relating to the Grail Quest. Nova was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1969. After writing Nova at the age of 25, Delany stopped writing for several years. When he began to write again (his next novel was the sexually-explicit Dhalgren), he adopted an experimental writing style much different from his earlier work. Synopsis In the 32nd century, political power in the galaxy is split between two factions: the Earth-based Draco and the newer Pleiades Federation. Both have interests in the Outer Colonies, where mines produce trace amounts of the prized power source Illyrion, the superheavy material essential to starship travel and terraforming planets. Caught in a feud between aristocratic families, a scarred and obsessed captain from the Pleiades, Lorq von Ray, recruits a disparate crew of misfits to aid him in the race with his arch-enemy, Prince Red from Draco, to gain economic dominance by securing a vastly greater source of Illyrion, direct from the heart of a stellar nova. The characters follow a quest plotline, in that they visit numerous different worlds to pursue their goal, all while being pursued by the Red family. Motifs Nova, although science fiction, has a number of character motifs in common with Delany's literary and literary-pornographic works: the Mouse, a damaged artist, as a key figure; Katin, an intellectual and writer who attempts to record the events around him; the twins Lynceos and Idas, one black, the other albino; and Dan, a derelict with a rope holding up his pants. Captain Lorq von Ray, on his obsessive quest with a crew of outcasts, clearly alludes to the similarly scarred Ahab in Melville's Moby_Dick. As part of the New Wave of science fiction, the book deliberately goes against hard science-fiction motifs and themes. For example, von Ray uses the Tarot after a first, scientifically superior, mission fails. Delany also makes an offhanded reference to Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy (a random planet is named "Trantor"). Also central to the story is the idea of culture. One often-repeated concern in Nova is that, due to the dispersal of the human race among other star systems, there is no common cultural capital. However, Delany and his characters eventually embrace this new world. The book is undeniably the product of the 1960s. Although set in an imaginary future, a culturally iconic assassination - parallel to that of John F. Kennedy - has taken place. Likewise, the characters can be seen as hippies, with drug use extremely widespread and popular (especially among the characters). Also, social class tensions cause the feud between the "new money" von Ray family and the "old money" Red family; the society is in a pre-revolutionary state. Within the novel, the story is interpreted by Katin as a quest for the Holy Grail, with Illyrion playing the part of the Grail. Like Grail quest stories, there is a failed attempt to gain it, and someone must sacrifice themselves (in Nova, their sanity and senses) to finally obtain it. Delany even plays to Grail lore superstition by omitting the last word of the book. As Delany is an open homosexual, several characters in Nova can be interpreted as being gay, or at least bisexual. Although Sebastian and Tyy are a heterosexual couple, and Lorq von Ray lusts after Ruby Red, Delany is not explicit about other characters' sexualities. A close reading of certain "clues" in Delany's later novels, such as Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand, suggests that the Mouse (along with Katin) is probably gay. In particular, Katin and the Mouse - an intellectual and a Middle Eastern street boy - have a clearly homoerotic friendship that is almost identical to the openly sexual one between Marq Dyeth and Korga in Stars in my Pocket. Influences Nova is considered one of the major forerunners of the cyberpunk movement. Writer William Gibson was greatly influenced by Delany, and his novel Neuromancer includes allusions to Nova. However, while Delany's vision of the future is optimistic, the cyberpunk movement has a distinctly dystopic outlook. As an example, Gibson includes a character with the same powers as Mouse in Neuromancer—Peter Riviera—but Gibson's character is a psychopath.
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