Dhalgren
- 879
- Pages
- about 16 h
- Reading time
- 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
Our view
“Dhalgren” is Delany’s vast, enigmatic novel of Bellona, a Midwestern city cut off from the world by a catastrophe no one can explain. Some readers return to it more than once for its language; others find it slow, wordy and short of answers, touching on race, sexuality and mental illness without going deep. At nearly nine hundred pages, it is a serious commitment.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Dhalgren is a 1975 science fiction novel by American writer Samuel R. Delany. It features an extended trip to and through Bellona, a fictional city in the American Midwest cut off from the rest of the world by an unknown catastrophe. It is number 33 on the 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction list.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 6.7 across 60 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 29% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.5 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 6.8 | 5 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 6.7 | 55 | 92% |
Frequently asked
How long is Dhalgren?
It has 879 pages — longer than 98% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.5, the closest to this book.
