Babel-17

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany is an interesting book to say the least.  The novel uses a language as it's central point of focus, which seems pretty unique in the science fiction genre.  Obviously I'm not saying that it's unheard of for a novel to be driven by an existing or made up language, since I've already pointed out that Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series is entirely based around the languages he forged; But in science fiction it's rarely taken into consideration.

Babel-17, once thought to be a code used by the enemy, is revealed as actually being an alien language with several interesting linguistic features.  Apparently once one attains a grasp on Babel-17 it turns the user into an unwilling traitor, because the language alters the person's perception and even certain physical abilities rendering them incapable of unhindered thought.  Delany's use of a language as a weapon of sorts, to me is extremely appealing and a fresh idea in science fiction, a genre (just like most any genre) that is exhausted with numerous novels that all share the same ideas.

The world in Babel-17 is really bizarre, but at the same-time oddly familiar to our own.  Delany's use of body modifications and blatant references to sexual encounters were very progressive for the time in which the novel was written.  The way they are portrayed are obviously fictional, but at the same time many of the things that Delany hints at are actually very much a reality in our own time.  People in the present day are already obsessed with body modifications, such as tattoos and piercing, and it's not unbelievable to assume we will get to the point where human's will want modifications like the ones seen in Delany's novel.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would, because the world in Babel-17 is extremely fun  and the language innovations are interesting.  The main character, Rydra Wong isn't really that appealing to me, she's a poet and has definite skills in many human languages as well as a sense in decryption.  But, all of her skills seem to have to do with languages and not much else which gives her a weak scholarly image.  I think I would've enjoyed a more brave and classic hero that was still very intelligent and just as capable in the linguistics department as Wong. I did however enjoy a lot of Wong's the crew members so, that was a plus. The story is also seemingly a bit convoluted towards the end, when the story is reaching it's finale, but this isn't a major concern, as it still makes sense and doesn't detract from the novel as a whole.

Babel-17 is a well written and very original piece of science fiction... definitely worth reading if you're looking for a more contemporary edge (even though it was published in 1970) to the science fiction genre.

-Dan