Overview
If one street in America can claim to be the most infamous, it is surely 42nd Street. Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, 42nd Street was once known for its peep shows, street corner hustlers and movie houses. Over the last two decades the notion of safety-from safe sex and safe neighborhoods, to safe cities and safe relationships-has overcome 42nd Street, giving rise to a Disney store, a children's theater, and large, neon-lit cafes. 42nd Street has, in effect, become a family tourist attraction for visitors from Berlin, Tokyo, Westchester, and New Jersey's suburbs.
Samuel R. Delany sees a disappearance not only of the old Times Square, but of the complex social relationships that developed there: the points of contact between people of different classes and races in a public space. In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany tackles the question of why public restrooms, peepshows, and tree-filled parks are necessary to a city's physical and psychological landscape. He argues that starting in 1985, New York City criminalized peep shows and sex movie houses to clear the way for the rebuilding of Times Square. Delany's critique reveals how Times Square is being "renovated" behind the scrim of public safety while the stage is occupied by gentrification.
Times Square Red, Times Square Blue paints a portrait of a society dismantling the institutions that promote communication between classes, and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as "family values." Unless we overcome our fears and claim our "community of contact," it is a picture that will be replayed in cities across America.
Synopsis
If one street in America can claim to be the most infamous, it is surely 42nd Street. Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, 42nd Street was once known for its peep shows, street corner hustlers and movie houses. Over the last two decades the notion of safety-from safe sex and safe neighborhoods, to safe cities and safe relationships-has overcome 42nd Street, giving rise to a Disney store, a children's theater, and large, neon-lit cafes. 42nd Street has, in effect, become a family tourist attraction for visitors from Berlin, Tokyo, Westchester, and New Jersey's suburbs.
Samuel R. Delany sees a disappearance not only of the old Times Square, but of the complex social relationships that developed there: the points of contact between people of different classes and races in a public space. In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany tackles the question of why public restrooms, peepshows, and tree-filled parks are necessary to a city's physical and psychological landscape. He argues that starting in 1985, New York City criminalized peep shows and sex movie houses to clear the way for the rebuilding of Times Square. Delany's critique reveals how Times Square is being "renovated" behind the scrim of public safety while the stage is occupied by gentrification.
Times Square Red, Times Square Blue paints a portrait of a society dismantling the institutions that promote communication between classes, and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as "family values." Unless we overcome our fears and claim our "community of contact," it is a picture that will be replayed in cities across America.
On Our Backs
This is one of those books that utterly transforms the way you look at the world. . . . Delany persuasively argues that public sex venues, among other institutions, facilitate cross-cultural contact, vital for a vibrant and sustainable urban life. Each page is packed with insight. . . . A grand moving vision, this book is a must-read.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"Reading this book reminds me, as few others in a lifetime of reading have done, just why it is that we so love our cities, what we value in them, and why the great ones become so. [Delany is] one of our finest social critics and one of our great writers."
-James Sallis ,Rain Taxi
"Measured but emotional, illuminating but challenging."
-The San Francisco Chronicle,
"Remarkable."
-Salon,
"Essential."
-The Nation,
"In a provocative and persuasively argued cri de coeur against New York City's gentrification and the redevelopment of Times Square in the name of 'family values and safety,' acclaimed science fiction writer Delany proves himself a dazzlingly eloquent and original social commentator. . . . This bracing and well-calibrated blend of journalism, personal history and cultural criticism will challenge readers of every persuasion."
-Publishers Weekly,starred review
On Our Backs
This is one of those books that utterly transforms the way you look at the world. . . . Delany persuasively argues that public sex venues, among other institutions, facilitate cross-cultural contact, vital for a vibrant and sustainable urban life. Each page is packed with insight. . . . A grand moving vision, this book is a must-read.Village Voice
Both a celebration of the kaleidoscopic possibilities inherent in urban diversity and a eulogy for the plurality of human contact and stimulation squelched by the Times Square makeover.Time Out New York
This complex, contentious, and utterly enjoyable book is at once autobiography, social history and passionate polemic that laments the 'improvement' of Times Square. . . . He uses an eclectic collection of works-from canonical city-planning texts like Jane Jacob's The Death and Life of Great American Cities to legal opinions about pornographic films and private homosexuality-to attack the bowdlerized, corporate Times Square of the present day. Delany's argument suggests that the old Times Square served an important social function by dissolving class boundaries and encouraging otherwise taboo relationships. . . . Even Mayor Giuliani should read these provocative, proficient essays.Citysearch.com
Composed of two diametrically opposed essays, 'Times Square Red, Times Square Blue' falls somewhere in the cracks between memoir, social history, philosophy, and polemic-and draws its strength precisely from the tension between those elements. Delany plumbs the depths of a Times Square that's all but gone in search of social treasure worth salvaging for future use; the result is worthy of a (sometimes contentious) position within a history of modernist city thinking that stretches from Walter Benjamin through Jane Jacobs to Marshall Berman.Publishers Weekly
In a provocative and persuasively argued cri de coeur against New York City's gentrification and the redevelopment of Times Square in the name of "family values and safety," acclaimed science fiction writer Delany Dhalgren, etc. proves himself a dazzlingly eloquent and original social commentator. In the first of two radically distinct but related essays, Delany, an Amherst college professor and native of Manhattan, writes frankly about his gay sexual adventures in the peep shows, porno movie houses and bars of Times Square. This personal history is juxtaposed with a detailed record of how the city's red light zones have changed over the past 40 years. The companion essay movingly details Delany's sociological and anthropological observations of the men who live, work and socialize in the area, and extols the virtues of a society that not only tolerates but values a public sexual culture. Drawing upon a wide range of historical and theoretical materials--the history of the pornographic film, Jane Jacobs's Death and Life of Great American Cities and Supreme Court discussions about homosexual activity--Delany makes the case that because urban areas like Times Square promote relationships across class boundaries, they are not a blight but foster an environment of safety, empathy and social coherence. In his most dramatic argument, Delany charges that, despite City Hall rhetoric, Times Square's "Disneyfication" is not about public morality, safety or health but simply serves corporate and private economic interests. This bracing and well-calibrated blend of journalism, personal history and cultural criticism will challenge readers of every persuasion. July Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Library Journal
Times Square's emergence as a "safe" family entertainment mecca in the heart of New York City, suggests novelist and critic Delany, isn't necessarily for the better. He offers a cautionary tale on the perils of over-gentrification based on observation, analysis, experience, and sociology. Fluent in the culture of sex movie houses, he candidly discusses his homosexual experiences there over the years and then presents a philosophical look at networking vs. interclass contact in many settings--from writers' conferences to the sexual arena. This all blends into a strong case against a sanitized Times Square, which could ultimately threaten the city with a loss of social and racial diversity, a reprise of pre-gay liberation days, and an evolution into streets of monotony. A lesser writer than Delany could not have woven many seemingly divergent ideas into a cohesive whole, but he succeeds with intelligence and style. His strong endorsement of the richness, energy, and social benefits arising from contact between people from all walks of life is somewhat reminiscent of William Foote Whyte's Street Corner Society and has a great deal of merit. For libraries with collections in urban sociology and gay studies.--Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Booknews
Delany, winner of the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature, looks at the transformation of New York City's 42nd Street from a strip of peep shows to a tourist attraction dominated by corporate theme stores. He paints a portrait of a society dismantling institutions that promote communication between classes and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as "family values," and he makes some radical suggestions regarding what people need in a city. Includes b&w photos of 42nd Street then and now by the author and by Philip-Lorca DiCorcia. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR booknew.comWayne Hoffman
In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany brings his sexual politics together with his class-based analysis of Times Square's recent past...More than his sometimes overstated critical observations, it is Delany's straightforward memories that make his book essential. He speaks from a specific perspective—as a black, gay intellectual and as someone with a personal investment in reaching across barriers to make personal and sexual connections.—from The Nation, October 18, 1999