Quotes from book
Equinox

Equinox is a 1973 novel by American writer Samuel R. Delany. His first published foray into explicitly sexual material, it tells of a series of erotic and violent encounters in a small American seaport following the arrival of an African-American sea captain. It is a non-science fiction work, though with fantastic elements.Peter Nicholls in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction described the work as "serious in intent, though likely to be shocking to most readers in its evocation of the extremes of sadomasochism in imagery which is sometimes poetic and often disgusting -and so intended- perhaps as a Baudelairean ritual of passage".


Samuel R. Delany photo
Samuel R. Delany photo

“That is the basis of all magic.”

Samuel R. Delany book Equinox

Equinox (1973)
Context: Always remember the objects you are working with. When you make a bridge, remember you are putting steel on stone and dirt. … Some day you will write poems to a little girl: marks with ink on paper. … When you are making love, you are moving flesh against flesh. That is the basis of all magic. (p. 30)

Samuel R. Delany photo

“It is a magic book. Words mean things. When you put them together they speak.”

Samuel R. Delany book Equinox

Equinox (1973)
Context: It is a magic book. Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind. (p. 163)

Samuel R. Delany photo

“Always remember the objects you are working with.”

Samuel R. Delany book Equinox

Equinox (1973)
Context: Always remember the objects you are working with. When you make a bridge, remember you are putting steel on stone and dirt. … Some day you will write poems to a little girl: marks with ink on paper. … When you are making love, you are moving flesh against flesh. That is the basis of all magic. (p. 30)

Similar authors

Samuel R. Delany photo
Samuel R. Delany131
American author, professor and literary critic 1942
Cesare Pavese photo
Cesare Pavese137
Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator None
Umberto Eco photo
Umberto Eco120
Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic… None
Walter Benjamin photo
Walter Benjamin70
German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892… None
Fernando Pessoa photo
Fernando Pessoa288
Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publi… None
Truman Capote photo
Truman Capote26
American author None
Christian Morgenstern photo
Christian Morgenstern21
German author None
Jean Paul Sartre photo
Jean Paul Sartre321
French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, sc… None
Haruki Murakami photo
Haruki Murakami655
Japanese author, novelist None
Henry Miller photo
Henry Miller187
American novelist None