See below...

At 08:17 AM 6/1/99 -0700, you wrote:
>From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehyo@...>
>>
>> ... I would certainly call TRITON "surprisingly, warm" as well.
>
>I think I understand why you say this (and correct me if I'm wrong),
>because, I agree, TRITON is a character-based book: in fact, probably
>the _most_ character-based of, at least, Delany's SF novels. (A few
>short stories, THE MAD MAN, and the ATLANTIS stories may be more so.)
>
>But it's more a dissection of character than what I describe above.
>Giving myself wholly to TRITON as a reader, I don't _care_ about Bron
>except as an intellectual puzzle; I'm _interested_ in what makes him
>tick, but he leaves me unmoved. SRD's portrayal of Bron isn't exactly
>_un_sympathetic, but there's a barrier -- at least for me -- that
>keeps me an observer rather than a participant in his thoughts and
>feelings.
>
>A part of this, of course, is that Bron himself is continually a
>self-alienated observer and analyzer (or mis-analyzer) of his own
>thoughts and feelings, and --
>
>H'mmm. I think I've just talked myself around to your point of view,
>here, Eli. We participate, yes, in Bron's self-alienation, and when
>the One Real Thing that happens to him (his first encounter with the
>Spike and her troupe) happens, it's very real to us also. So, yes:
>it's a "warm" book that happens to be about a cold person.

Heh heh... you _think_ you're talking yourself around. That's how subtle
my powers are.

Yes, this is pretty much what I meant. I think Bron's rationalizations are
so transparent that you experience both his parched and blindered view of
things, and his real state of mind which he won't admit, at the same time.
The overall effect -- as opposed to what he says at any given moment -- was
very moving for me.