What if humans can’t spread across moons, planets, and the galaxy? Is “The Star Pit” an analogy for that too? I believed being a science fiction fan supported colonizing the solar system. I’ve always read science fiction because I thought it prepared us for the future. It reveals the dissatisfaction of not fitting in pushes us to leave, and at some point, we butt into a barrier like a guppy in an aquarium. Reading “The Star Pit” shows us the boundaries of our ecological existence. Over the years I’ve read many astronaut memoirs and they’ve all taught me the same thing: I’m an earthling. Of course, I didn’t know besides poor vision I completely lacked the right stuff until I encountered Tom Wolfe’s book. My astronaut ambitions began with reading Have Space Suit – Will Travel and ended with “The Star Pit,” a period that coincided with the duration of Project Gemini in the 1960s. My favorite spacecraft has always been the Gemini space capsule, something that was as down-to-Earth as a Volkswagon Beetle. Have I been a life-long science fiction fan because I couldn’t go into space? I’m not part of the Millennium Falcon generation, where science fiction is pure escapist fantasy. Anyone who reads “The Star Pit” will discover analogies with their own dissatisfactions and limitations. I’ve since learned why I was unhappy wherever I was, making this story more beautiful every time I reread it. In the decades since I’ve learned that there are countless existential locations I can’t go, that others can.
I didn’t understand back then why I wanted to leave the Earth. I related to this story strongly back in 1967 because of the anguish I felt wanting to be an astronaut and learning I couldn’t. The story analyzes how dissatisfaction of not fitting in makes us want to go elsewhere. “The Star Pit” explores the emotions we feel when we discover places we can’t go but other people can. It reiterates common themes Delany dwelt on in the 1960s as a young writer. Delany is a complex novella I’ve read several times in the last half-century. Delany (Delany’s current short story collection that’s still in print.) ebook edition of this story I know about.) Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois (only U.S.The Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H.You might already own “The Star Pit” in one of these books: Delany first appeared in Worlds of Tomorrow February 1967. A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction.200 Significant SF Books by Women, 1984-2001.