In Dhalgren, one of the most serious and bestselling science fiction novels ever, Samuel R. Delany has produced a book that rivals the best American fiction of the 1970s.

Bellona is a town at the dead center of the United States. Something has happened there … the population has fled. Madmen and bad guys wander the roads. Strange portents come in the cloud-covered sky. And into this disaster zone comes a young man-a poet, fan, and adventurer-known only as a child.

Tackling questions of contest, gender, and sexuality, Dhalgren is normally a literary marvel and a groundbreaking function of American magical realism.