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I've just finished reading Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany for the first time. In the novel gang-members wear hologramic light projectors, which give them the appearance of scorpions, dragons, lizards, mantises, manticores etc. The nameless central character of the novel, known as "The Kid", acquires a projector himself and becomes not just a gang-member, but the gang-leader. I was wondering whether we are ever given hints as to what the form of his projection was? Within the projection you cannot see what it looks like - he just sees blue light. At several points in the narrative he is tempted to ask his companions what it looks like, but as far as I can tell, he never actually does. The text is quite densely written though (I am going to have to reread it in the future), so it is completely possible I have missed some subtle reference.

As a side-note, the Kid found his projector in the apartment in Labry Apartments, hung on a mannequin, after it was vacated by Thirteen and his gang. The girl there told him "Some guy left them. He ain't gonna come back.". Of course, given the circular nature of the book, this guy may have been another incarnation of the Kid himself.

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    You are not kidding about "dense" -- there's almost a complete novel in just the sidebars...
    – Zeiss Ikon
    Aug 17, 2021 at 13:03

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This review states that his projection is amorphous.

In keeping with a general theme that The Kid lacks a defined self-identity, his light projector is faulty, displaying only an amorphous, shifting array of light when activated.

Although, poking into a copy on archive.org, I wonder whether they're confusing it with Denny's projector:

A ten-foot blob of light, colorful and disfocused, ran into itself like an amoeba erupting.

....

"Oh. About a month ago, something happened to it. I shorted something, I guess, and the projection grid -- it's plastic -- melted or something. So it comes out like that. I sort of like it."

At that time, The Kid's projector lacks a battery. It does sound like he believes it is a recognizable animal, as when he later turns it on:

What does my blue beast become behind scarlet caps!

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    From what I recall, your reading at archive.org is more correct than the review you link. AFAIR, we were never told what Kid's holo projected -- unless he read that on the crate he found it in (I don't recall that detail, been about forty years since I last read the book).
    – Zeiss Ikon
    Aug 17, 2021 at 13:02
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    I don't remember any hint that The Kid's projector was faulty. As @FuzzyBoots notes, it sounds like the reviewer mixed it up with Denny's, which was originally of a frog, but turned into a "colorful and disfocused" blob after it was damaged.
    – Clara Diaz Sanchez
    Aug 17, 2021 at 14:11
  • Actually I guess through red contact lenses, the blue projection would be invisible as red filters don't transmit blue light. That's a subtlety I didn't pick up on!
    – Clara Diaz Sanchez
    Nov 2, 2021 at 14:39

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