Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany (1974). Bellona is a city at the dead center of the United States. The population has fled. Madmen and criminals wander the streets. Strange portents appear in the cloud-covered sky. Something has happened there. And into this disaster zone comes a young man—poet, lover, and adventurer—known only as the Kid. Dhalgren is a work of American magical realism, tackling questions of race, gender, and sexuality.