Babel-17 (S.F. MASTERWORKS): Samuel R. Delany

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The weaponized language is the eponymous Babel-17 which is being used to sabotage the war efforts of The Alliance, the side of the war the story is narrated from; whether this is the "right" side is not really dwelled upon in the book. The dialogue concerning a language without the concept of I and Me is one of the highlights of the book. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo.

The denouement at the in the last chapter is fascinating, though the actual ending is a little abrupt. Humanity appears to have split in two- the Alliance, who are Earth based and the Invaders who are pretty minimally described, but appear to control one or more other galaxies outside the Milky Way. I think part of that was because the author’s style of writing their thoughts made me feel disconnected from them. Having read Nova only two months ago, I thought I had a handle on Delany’s more esoteric tendencies.an amazing new-wave SF space opera about a starship captain, linguist, poet, and telepath named Rydra Wong who is desperately trying to solve the mystery of what Babel-17 is and how it is being used by the Invaders against the alliance. So many times I realized that merely voicing a concept in a different language changes your understanding of it, its connotation, and therefore the parts of its meaning.

By the time I was twelve, I knew seven Earth languages and could make myself understood in five extraterrestrial tongues. Still, while perhaps not a 'must read', it is definitely a 'should maybe read' for fans of sci-fi and those interested in gaining a broader understanding of the genre. Then he turned directly to SFF as an amazing medium for re-envisioning the mind and the worlds it creates. Delany was on a short list of famous sf authors I have never read, the list includes Cordwainer Smith, Henry Kuttner, C. Nominative, genitive, etative, accusative one, accusative two, ablative, partitive, illative, instructive, abessive, adessive, inessive, essive, allative, translative, comitative.Most of those ideas relate to language and communication, but there is also weapon development, faster than light navigation, genetic enhancement, a bit of battle action and a memorable trip through a dystopian city peopled with oddball characters, both alive and incorporate. Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. It’s quite clear that Delane and I have differing philosophies on the nature of existence, but I enjoy hearing differing perspectives, so this wasn’t too much of a problem.