Quotes from book
Triton

Triton

Samuel R. Delany

Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia is a science fiction novel by American writer Samuel R. Delany. It was nominated for the 1976 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for a retrospective James Tiptree, Jr. Award in 1995. It was originally published under the shorter title Triton.

“She simply has no concept of what’s real and what’s fantasy—did I say? She’s in the theater.”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 7 “Tiresias Descending, or Trouble on Triton” (p. 322)

“The whole problem, I suppose, is that any time some piece of communication strikes poor Fred, or any of the remaining Beasts, for that matter, as possibly meaningful—or is it meaningless? It’s been explained to me a dozen times and I still can’t get it right—anyway, his religious convictions say he has to either stop it or—barring that—refuse to be a party to it.”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 3 “Avoiding Kangaroos” (p. 113)

“Topologically, men and women are identical. Some things are just larger and more developed in one than the other and positioned differently.”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 6 “Objective Knowledge” (p. 266)

“And who’s to say where life ceases and theater begins”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 3 “Avoiding Kangaroos” (p. 113)

“The emblem of a philosophy is not that it contains a set of specific thoughts, but that it generates a way of thinking.”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Appendix B (p. 363)
Triton (1976)

“Everyone in a position of authority is hysterical, and everyone else is pretending to be asleep.”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 3 “Avoiding Kangaroos” (p. 54)

“Finally I just had to get out. Because when that fantasy seeps into the reality, she just becomes an incredibly ugly person. She feels she can distort anything that occurs for whatever purpose she wants. Whatever she feels, that’s what is, as far as she’s concerned.”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 7 “Tiresias Descending, or Trouble on Triton” (p. 322)

“Political commitment isn’t a perimeter, Sam; it’s a parameter. Don’t you ever wonder? Don’t you ever doubt?”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 4 “La Geste d’Helstrom” (p. 140)

“You should always tell the truth, she thought, not because one lie leads to another, but rather because one lie could so easily lead you to that terrifying position from which, with just the help of a random dream, you can see, both back and ahead, the morass where truth and falsity are simply, for you, indistinguishable.”

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 7 “Tiresias Descending, or Trouble on Triton” (p. 329)

“You seem to be using some sort of logical system where when you get near any explanation, you say: “By definition my problem is insoluble. Now that explanation over there would solve it. But since I’ve defined my problem as insoluble, then by definition that solution doesn’t apply.””

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 3 “Avoiding Kangaroos” (p. 123)

“the Spike said. “I think we have just gotten down to a gritty—or at least a nitty.””

Samuel R. Delany book Triton

“Ah ha!”
Source: Triton (1976), Chapter 3 “Avoiding Kangaroos” (p. 123)

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