Dark Reflections

Dark Reflections is the story of Arnold Hawley, a gay African American poet who has lived in New York City's Lower East Side for most of his adult life. Divided into three sections, the book traces Hawley's life in reverse order. In part one, "The Prize," we see him at fifty winning the Alfred Proctor Award for his sixth book of poems. He is at the height of his personal and modest literary success. Eighteen year later, he publishes another--much less successful--book. Cramped by loneliness and fear of old age, he has a nervous breakdown when his Aunt dies in Cleveland and he is unable to make the funeral. The middle section, "Vashti in the Dark," takes us back to 1974, the time of Hawley's unlikely marriage to Judy Haindel. When it emerges that his new wife is deeply disturbed, the emotional and physical consequences are catastrophic. Hawley's third book comes as close to recording the impressions of this time as he dares. And the final section, "The Book of Pictures," recalls Hawley's college days at Brown and Boston. Free at last from his strong-willed Aunt Bea, he experiences, his first sexual fixation--a black delivery boy, Slake Bowman. Hawley follows Slake to the home of his white photographer partner, Joe Salieri, both of whom make it clear he'd be welcome for an afternoon of wild sex. Dark Reflections is a beautifully crafted novel that moves back and forth in time, creating an extraordinary meditation on deformed social attitudes, loneliness, and the startling invigoration of life's small triumphs.Delany, Samuel R. is the author of 'Dark Reflections ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780786719471 and ISBN 0786719478.