I never would have made this association prior to reading your assessment here, but your use of pastoral made me think that a lot of Delany’s later work, from Triton onward to Stars in My Pocket and culminating in The Mad Man, is reminiscent of Adalbert Stifter (and, less so, maybe Gottfried Keller). The same emphasis on pastoral, languid pacing and self-discovery that is not fundamentally inward-facing. Under that description, even something like Hogg would qualify. I need to think more about this but I do believe there’s something there.

Spinoza is an odd choice though, given Delany’s pluralistic leanings.