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Babel-17/Empire Star
Alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780375706691.
Babel-17, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, is a fascinating tale of a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy鈥檚 deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack. For the first time, Babel-17 is published as the author intended with the short novel Empire Star, the tale of Comet Jo, a simple-minded teen thrust into a complex galaxy when he鈥檚 entrusted to carry a vital message to a distant world. Spellbinding and smart, both novels are testimony to Delany鈥檚 vast and singular talent.
Babel-17, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year, is a fascinating tale of a famous poet bent on deciphering a secret language that is the key to the enemy鈥檚 deadly force, a task that requires she travel with a splendidly improbable crew to the site of the next attack. For the first time, Babel-17 is published as the author intended with the short novel Empire Star, the tale of Comet Jo, a simple-minded teen thrust into a complex galaxy when he鈥檚 entrusted to carry a vital message to a distant world. Spellbinding and smart, both novels are testimony to Delany鈥檚 vast and singular talent.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
62 people are currently reading
2,292 people want to read
About the author
Samuel R. Delany
280听books2,166听followersSamuel Ray Delany, also known as "Chip," is an award-winning American science fiction author. He was born to a prominent black family on April 1, 1942, and raised in Harlem. His mother, Margaret Carey Boyd Delany, was a library clerk in the New York Public Library system. His father, Samuel Ray Delany, Senior, ran a successful Harlem undertaking establishment, Levy & Delany Funeral Home, on 7th Avenue, between 1938 and his death in 1960. The family lived in the top two floors of the three-story private house between five- and six-story Harlem apartment buildings. Delany's aunts were Sadie and Bessie Delany; Delany used some of their adventures as the basis for the adventures of his characters Elsie and Corry in the opening novella Atlantis: Model 1924 in his book of largely autobiographical stories Atlantis: Three Tales.
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. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nev猫r每on series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. 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. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
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. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nev猫r每on series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. 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. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
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December 30, 2019
Until something is named, it doesn't exist.
Does thought create language? Or does language create thought?
Mind-opening science fiction about language and its power.
Does thought create language? Or does language create thought?
Mind-opening science fiction about language and its power.
August 8, 2012
Problems of linguistics, translation, communication, cast into sharp relief by a future expanded beyond only earth's human languages and a protagonist whose pattern recognition skills, particularly in human interactions, border on telepathy. This is always at its best when riffing off of the major thematic concerns of language and meaning, which are fortunately well-worked into the fabric of the novel, as the very speech patterns and off-handed body-language descriptions of have key plot-points to convey. The purity of the philosophic conceptions is arguably a little bogged down in places by absurd and marginally necessary sci-fi adventure conceits, but even these are a good playground/structure for the ideas (except in a few places where purely plot-driven concerns actually seem to dilute the ideas a bit). Otherwise, they're often justifiably entertaining in their own right, and link up into a deft compact mystery story.
Written, amazingly, when Delany was only 23, already his 6th published novel. Not quite up to Dhalgren, of course, but much better than Nova, which looks almost ordinary when viewed between these two others.
The b-side is a novella referenced within the main narative, which Delaney apparently wrote in 10 days to fund a trip to Europe, a fast, witty fable about a boy chosen to deliver a message he does not know. Despite this, it's only a deceptively simplex tale with decidedly multiplex designs, neat post-modern flourishes, contorted plotting that leaves quite a lot of space for the reader to poke about and form connections. However, there're parts I'll never understand: namely how such a thing could be composed in under two weeks, the same month that Delany finished writing a work as different as Babel-17.
Written, amazingly, when Delany was only 23, already his 6th published novel. Not quite up to Dhalgren, of course, but much better than Nova, which looks almost ordinary when viewed between these two others.
The b-side is a novella referenced within the main narative, which Delaney apparently wrote in 10 days to fund a trip to Europe, a fast, witty fable about a boy chosen to deliver a message he does not know. Despite this, it's only a deceptively simplex tale with decidedly multiplex designs, neat post-modern flourishes, contorted plotting that leaves quite a lot of space for the reader to poke about and form connections. However, there're parts I'll never understand: namely how such a thing could be composed in under two weeks, the same month that Delany finished writing a work as different as Babel-17.
October 8, 2014
Empire Star is the "short side" of Babel-17, flip Babel-17 upside-down and over and there's Empire Star, ready to be read. It's apparently the way Delany originally wanted it published but it never happened.
With Empire Star I can see more clearly the rollicking, adventurous, humorous sides of Delany's writing. It's a coming of age type of novella starring Comet Jo on his journey to deliver an important (though as yet unknown to him) message to Empire Star (which ends up being the sort of mystical heart of the universe). He's a simplex person from a simplex world and the journey charts his progress into a multiplex character. A simplex person is a one-sided person, a simple person who accepts everything at face value, rarely asks questions or questions anything, and sits pat on firm conclusions; but a simplex can also be very intelligent, just not multifaceted (Dubya and others come to my mind). A multiplex person takes nothing at face value, questions everything, accepts no final answer or conclusion, and basically sees the world through a variety of lenses that never settle into a single picture; but a multiplex is not necessarily an intellectual, just a person with an expanded mind.
This journey from simplex to multiplex appeared to be the main point of the novella, but there were other themes as well, like a final flourish in the form of a riff on Eternal Return or circular time. Delany obviously had a great time writing this, which according to a note he did in 10 days in 1965 to finance a trip to Europe.
* * * * * * * * *
There was an odd static quality to Babel-17, even despite all the space travel and fighting. This static quality stemmed from the fact that while reading this book I felt like a space traveller inside Delany鈥檚 head (space travel probably does have an odd static quality 鈥� confined in a pod, few if any reference points whizzing by). This readerly space-travelling pod-confinement inside Delany鈥檚 head was a result of the novel itself being a big mental puzzle, or rather the embodiment of an intellectual problem (on deep issues of language and its relation to reality and identity) posed by then solved by Delany. In this way Babel-17 is like a high-brow thesis in the language of science fiction. This novel, more than most, benefits greatly from the reader being able to hold the whole novel in its entirety in one鈥檚 head as an object to be contemplated once completed. Then one can see more clearly the knotted up thorny quality of the problem (which is the bulk of the book after all) as opposed to just the unloosening freedom of the solution at the end.
I鈥檓 sorry I can鈥檛 say more, but Delany is one of those authors who obsessively deals with the same brainy themes in book after book, so it helps to read a few to really grasp what he鈥檚 up to, and as this is only my first (completed), please tune in for more once I read more.
With Empire Star I can see more clearly the rollicking, adventurous, humorous sides of Delany's writing. It's a coming of age type of novella starring Comet Jo on his journey to deliver an important (though as yet unknown to him) message to Empire Star (which ends up being the sort of mystical heart of the universe). He's a simplex person from a simplex world and the journey charts his progress into a multiplex character. A simplex person is a one-sided person, a simple person who accepts everything at face value, rarely asks questions or questions anything, and sits pat on firm conclusions; but a simplex can also be very intelligent, just not multifaceted (Dubya and others come to my mind). A multiplex person takes nothing at face value, questions everything, accepts no final answer or conclusion, and basically sees the world through a variety of lenses that never settle into a single picture; but a multiplex is not necessarily an intellectual, just a person with an expanded mind.
This journey from simplex to multiplex appeared to be the main point of the novella, but there were other themes as well, like a final flourish in the form of a riff on Eternal Return or circular time. Delany obviously had a great time writing this, which according to a note he did in 10 days in 1965 to finance a trip to Europe.
* * * * * * * * *
There was an odd static quality to Babel-17, even despite all the space travel and fighting. This static quality stemmed from the fact that while reading this book I felt like a space traveller inside Delany鈥檚 head (space travel probably does have an odd static quality 鈥� confined in a pod, few if any reference points whizzing by). This readerly space-travelling pod-confinement inside Delany鈥檚 head was a result of the novel itself being a big mental puzzle, or rather the embodiment of an intellectual problem (on deep issues of language and its relation to reality and identity) posed by then solved by Delany. In this way Babel-17 is like a high-brow thesis in the language of science fiction. This novel, more than most, benefits greatly from the reader being able to hold the whole novel in its entirety in one鈥檚 head as an object to be contemplated once completed. Then one can see more clearly the knotted up thorny quality of the problem (which is the bulk of the book after all) as opposed to just the unloosening freedom of the solution at the end.
I鈥檓 sorry I can鈥檛 say more, but Delany is one of those authors who obsessively deals with the same brainy themes in book after book, so it helps to read a few to really grasp what he鈥檚 up to, and as this is only my first (completed), please tune in for more once I read more.
June 2, 2017
I think some of my favorite SF/Fantasy stories are the ones that give language a special place in the universe. Bene Gesserit witches commanding people with "the Voice." Wizards in the world of Earthsea practicing magic by knowing something's "true name." Add to that list "Babel-17," a language so analytically precise it can give you telepathic-like abilities. At the heart of this fictional language is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which (in my crude layman's simplification) is the idea that your language shapes who you are and how you see not only the world, but yourself. This intriguing idea immediately brought to mind the movie "Arrival" from last year, which was based on a SF story with similar themes. Others have noted the same, and view "Babel-17" as a kind of literary seed for such material.
The usual hallmarks of a great Delany story are all here: an idea/theme that draws you in, eerie poetic interludes, and trangressive sexual relationships. Someone even has sex with a ghost. I know that sounds like something invented just to give conservatives a conniption fit, but the overall effect is an odd beauty, a celebration of the strange and weird that reminds you of how much of what we think is strange and weird is rooted in mere familiarity. At one point Delany has a prudish customers officer accompany the main characters into the wild and raucous "transport" section of a city, where they must recruit their remaining crew members. In-story, his presence is explained by the need for him to process what is essentially their paperwork, but he also acts as a stand-in for us, the reader. Because he is unfamiliar with the ways of "transport" life, everything he sees shocks and appalls him, and at one point he calls some of the characters perverts. But over time he realizes that his reaction is nothing more than prejudice:
"I saw a bunch of the weirdest, oddest people I had ever met in my life, who thought different, and acted different, and even made love different. And they made me laugh, and get angry, and be happy, and be sad, and excited, and even fall in love a little myself....And they didn't seem so weird or strange anymore."
It's a story-telling technique Delany employed in "Nova" as well, and it's very effective. Explanatory dialogue can be given in a natural way, and a larger emotional idea is conveyed as well.
"Empire Star" is short story, less than a hundred pages, which apparently Delany originally wanted packaged with "Babel-17," but ended up getting published separately. It is briefly mentioned in "Babel-17" as a series of books the characters are familiar with, making it part of that interesting genre of fictional works within fictional works. Delany seems to like doing this; I once wrote down all the "fake books" mentioned in "Dahlgren." It adds just the right amount of meta-flavor to his worlds, and I love it.
Anyway, for such a brief story, "Empire Star" manages to be surprisingly good. The ending resolves itself rather abruptly through the magic of timey-wimey science, but it works with the almost fairy-tale hectic pace. It whirs by so fast you might miss some of the heavier themes involving slavery and the nature of intelligence, as well as this little exchange which I particularly liked, and which I think captures some of the tone of it all:
"I remember," Jo said, putting down the ocarina, "when Charona was trying to explain it to me, she asked me what was the most important thing there was. If I asked them that, I know what they would have said: their blasted dictionary, or encyclopedia, or whatever it is."
"Very good. Anyone who can give a nonrelative answer to that question is simplex."
"I said jhup," Jo recalled wistfully.
"They're in the process of cataloguing all the knowledge in the universe."
"That's more important than jhup, I suppose," Jo said.
"From a complex point of view, perhaps. But from a multiplex point of view, they're about the same. First of all, it's a rather difficult task. When last I heard, they were already up to the B's, but I'm sure they don't have a thing on Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavdqx."
"What's...well, what you said?"
"It's the name for a rather involved set of deterministic moral evaluations taken through a relativistic view of the dynamic moment. I was studying it some years back."
"I wasn't familiar with the term."
"I just made it up. But what it stands for is quite real, and well worth an article. I don't think they could even comprehend it. But from now on, I shall refer to it as Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavdqx, and there are two of us who know the word now--so it's valid."
"I guess I get the point."
"Besides, cataloguing all knowledge, even all available knowledge, while admirable, is...well, the only word is simplex."
"Why?"
"One can learn all one needs to know; or one can learn what one wants to know. But to learn all one wants to know, which is what the Geodesic Survey Station is doing, even falls apart semantically."
The usual hallmarks of a great Delany story are all here: an idea/theme that draws you in, eerie poetic interludes, and trangressive sexual relationships. Someone even has sex with a ghost. I know that sounds like something invented just to give conservatives a conniption fit, but the overall effect is an odd beauty, a celebration of the strange and weird that reminds you of how much of what we think is strange and weird is rooted in mere familiarity. At one point Delany has a prudish customers officer accompany the main characters into the wild and raucous "transport" section of a city, where they must recruit their remaining crew members. In-story, his presence is explained by the need for him to process what is essentially their paperwork, but he also acts as a stand-in for us, the reader. Because he is unfamiliar with the ways of "transport" life, everything he sees shocks and appalls him, and at one point he calls some of the characters perverts. But over time he realizes that his reaction is nothing more than prejudice:
"I saw a bunch of the weirdest, oddest people I had ever met in my life, who thought different, and acted different, and even made love different. And they made me laugh, and get angry, and be happy, and be sad, and excited, and even fall in love a little myself....And they didn't seem so weird or strange anymore."
It's a story-telling technique Delany employed in "Nova" as well, and it's very effective. Explanatory dialogue can be given in a natural way, and a larger emotional idea is conveyed as well.
"Empire Star" is short story, less than a hundred pages, which apparently Delany originally wanted packaged with "Babel-17," but ended up getting published separately. It is briefly mentioned in "Babel-17" as a series of books the characters are familiar with, making it part of that interesting genre of fictional works within fictional works. Delany seems to like doing this; I once wrote down all the "fake books" mentioned in "Dahlgren." It adds just the right amount of meta-flavor to his worlds, and I love it.
Anyway, for such a brief story, "Empire Star" manages to be surprisingly good. The ending resolves itself rather abruptly through the magic of timey-wimey science, but it works with the almost fairy-tale hectic pace. It whirs by so fast you might miss some of the heavier themes involving slavery and the nature of intelligence, as well as this little exchange which I particularly liked, and which I think captures some of the tone of it all:
"I remember," Jo said, putting down the ocarina, "when Charona was trying to explain it to me, she asked me what was the most important thing there was. If I asked them that, I know what they would have said: their blasted dictionary, or encyclopedia, or whatever it is."
"Very good. Anyone who can give a nonrelative answer to that question is simplex."
"I said jhup," Jo recalled wistfully.
"They're in the process of cataloguing all the knowledge in the universe."
"That's more important than jhup, I suppose," Jo said.
"From a complex point of view, perhaps. But from a multiplex point of view, they're about the same. First of all, it's a rather difficult task. When last I heard, they were already up to the B's, but I'm sure they don't have a thing on Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavdqx."
"What's...well, what you said?"
"It's the name for a rather involved set of deterministic moral evaluations taken through a relativistic view of the dynamic moment. I was studying it some years back."
"I wasn't familiar with the term."
"I just made it up. But what it stands for is quite real, and well worth an article. I don't think they could even comprehend it. But from now on, I shall refer to it as Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavdqx, and there are two of us who know the word now--so it's valid."
"I guess I get the point."
"Besides, cataloguing all knowledge, even all available knowledge, while admirable, is...well, the only word is simplex."
"Why?"
"One can learn all one needs to know; or one can learn what one wants to know. But to learn all one wants to know, which is what the Geodesic Survey Station is doing, even falls apart semantically."
July 31, 2017
and among others have taken the central conceit further and to greater plot extent, but here there is the pure revelry in language and thought.
With all the posthuman influences and their subversive ideas for 1966--the group marriages that suggest a homosexual component, the body modification--the thing that jarred me was a brief warfare discussion with disturbing relevance today: a secondary explosion delayed some hours after the first. Just enough time for rescue workers to descend upon the site.
With all the posthuman influences and their subversive ideas for 1966--the group marriages that suggest a homosexual component, the body modification--the thing that jarred me was a brief warfare discussion with disturbing relevance today: a secondary explosion delayed some hours after the first. Just enough time for rescue workers to descend upon the site.
January 11, 2010
"This book was formative for me. I read it in elementary school, and the powerful message it conveyed about how the language you know shapes the way you are able to think affects me to this day. It's science fiction, won a Nebula Award, reads more like poetry than prose at various points, and isn't for everyone - but if it's for you, it's powerful."
November 18, 2023
Um pequeno alerta: Li Babel-17. N茫o li Estrela Imperial.
Escrito em poucas semanas e publicado em 1966, quando o autor tinha vinte e tr锚s anos, Babel-17 茅 um jorro impar谩vel de ideias. Mesmo com mais de 50 anos, ainda 茅 um livro com grande frescor. O mundo ficcional criado por ele 茅 tremendamente vivo, repleto de coisas que t锚m um jeito cyberpunk que estava muito adiante do ambiente em que ele vivia. Com tanta misturada ao mesmo tempo, n茫o 茅 exatamente um livro f谩cil e tem algumas coisas que at茅 podem ser inc么modas.
Dito isso, em um livro de 274 p谩ginas h谩 tanta coisa que 茅 at茅 mesmo dif铆cil escolher por onde come莽ar.
Dentre tantas escolhas poss铆veis, fico com a premissa b谩sica do livro: a nossa mente, o nosso modo de pensar e ver o mundo s茫o moldados de acordo com a l铆ngua que falamos?
Existe uma hip贸tese chamada Sapir-Whorf que prop玫e exatamente isso.
Do ponto de vista cient铆fico, seria bastante complexo examin谩-la com detalhes. Existem muitas vari谩veis e o debate acad锚mico 茅 bastante acirrado. As implica莽玫es pol铆ticas, diga-se, s茫o enormes.
De qualquer modo, se pode dizer que existe uma vers茫o mais forte da hip贸tese, ou seja, a l铆ngua determina como se pensa, e uma mais fraca, a l铆ngua influencia como se pensa. A segunda 茅 aceita em alguma medida.
As implica莽玫es na nossa vida pr谩tica, mesmo da vers茫o mais fraca, s茫o imensas. 脡 claro, por茅m, que 茅 o uso da vers茫o mais forte que tem mais apelo ficcional, como 茅 o caso aqui em Babel-17
Na Fic莽茫o Cient铆fica, a hip贸tese (tamb茅m conhecida como relativismo lingu铆stico) tem sido utilizada com alguma frequ锚ncia. Lembro de dois casos.
O primeiro 鈥� em que ela 茅 explicitamente apresentada 鈥� 茅 鈥淎 hist贸ria da sua vida鈥�, de Ted Chiang. Esse conto se transformou no bom 鈥淎 Chegada鈥�, filme de Denis Villeneuve.
O segundo 茅 o 1984, de George Orwell. 脡 verdade que o Orwell em nenhum momento trata da hip贸tese, mas 茅 evidente que a novil铆ngua, o idioma que est谩 sendo elaborado, tem o prop贸sito de moldar o jeito com que as pessoas pensam: o Partido deseja um mundo com uma l铆ngua mais restrita, em que n茫o existem palavras. Isso impediria que sequer se pudesse pensar em certos conceitos. Se n茫o existe uma palavra para, digamos, 鈥榣ivro鈥�, se poderia chegar ao ponto em que o conceito 鈥榣ivro鈥� desaparecesse.
A personagem principal do Delany questiona em certo momento: 鈥淪e n茫o h谩 nenhuma palavra para algo, como se pensa nesse algo?鈥�
Resumindo. a partir do momento em que existe uma palavra para algo, pensar naquele algo se torna poss铆vel. A partir do momento em que se pensa em algo, a percep莽茫o do mundo e o modo como se pensa passam a ser outros. 脡 como se s贸 se pudesse sentir prazer com a desgra莽a alheia a partir do momento em que se aprendesse alem茫o e a palavra 鈥榮chadenfreude鈥� se tornasse parte do nosso vocabul谩rio.
O Delany escolhe a vers茫o forte da teoria porque exatamente a mais interessante do ponto de vista ficcional.
Aprender Babel-17 tem esse poder transformacional. Quem a conhece se torna outra pessoa. 脡 a arma perfeita que est谩 sendo utilizada pelos invasores (quem s茫o eles?) para destruir alvos militares vitais da Alian莽a.
鈥淧ensar em Babel-17 era como ver de repente todo o trajeto dentro da 谩gua at茅 o fundo de um po莽o que, um momento atr谩s, voc锚 acreditava ter apenas alguns metros de profundidade. Ela cambaleou, tonta鈥�.
E como enfrentar uma arma como essas? Rydra Wong, que aos 26 anos 茅 a poeta mais popular das 5 gal谩xias 茅 a convocada para a miss茫o de encontrar uma solu莽茫o. Conhecedora de l铆nguas terr谩queas e alien铆genas e possuidora de uma capacidade quase telep谩tica, junta uma tripula莽茫o e parte em uma busca pela resposta.
Enfim, um livro bem interessante, que exige um tanto do leitor. N茫o 茅 para qualquer leitor de FC, mas a quantidade vertiginosa de ideias nos faz tamb茅m abrir um pouco a cabe莽a a respeito das potencialidades do g锚nero.
Por fim, uma 煤ltima reflex茫o interessante: 鈥淎 maioria dos livros did谩ticos diz que a l铆ngua 茅 um mecanismo para expressar o pensamento. Mas l铆ngua 茅 pensamento. O pensamento 茅 informa莽茫o com forma. A forma 茅 a l铆ngua. A forma desta l铆ngua 茅... incr铆vel. Quando voc锚 aprende outra l铆ngua, voc锚 aprende a maneira como outras pessoas veem o mundo, o universo. E quando vejo essa l铆ngua, come莽o a ver... demais鈥�.
Escrito em poucas semanas e publicado em 1966, quando o autor tinha vinte e tr锚s anos, Babel-17 茅 um jorro impar谩vel de ideias. Mesmo com mais de 50 anos, ainda 茅 um livro com grande frescor. O mundo ficcional criado por ele 茅 tremendamente vivo, repleto de coisas que t锚m um jeito cyberpunk que estava muito adiante do ambiente em que ele vivia. Com tanta misturada ao mesmo tempo, n茫o 茅 exatamente um livro f谩cil e tem algumas coisas que at茅 podem ser inc么modas.
Dito isso, em um livro de 274 p谩ginas h谩 tanta coisa que 茅 at茅 mesmo dif铆cil escolher por onde come莽ar.
Dentre tantas escolhas poss铆veis, fico com a premissa b谩sica do livro: a nossa mente, o nosso modo de pensar e ver o mundo s茫o moldados de acordo com a l铆ngua que falamos?
Existe uma hip贸tese chamada Sapir-Whorf que prop玫e exatamente isso.
Do ponto de vista cient铆fico, seria bastante complexo examin谩-la com detalhes. Existem muitas vari谩veis e o debate acad锚mico 茅 bastante acirrado. As implica莽玫es pol铆ticas, diga-se, s茫o enormes.
De qualquer modo, se pode dizer que existe uma vers茫o mais forte da hip贸tese, ou seja, a l铆ngua determina como se pensa, e uma mais fraca, a l铆ngua influencia como se pensa. A segunda 茅 aceita em alguma medida.
As implica莽玫es na nossa vida pr谩tica, mesmo da vers茫o mais fraca, s茫o imensas. 脡 claro, por茅m, que 茅 o uso da vers茫o mais forte que tem mais apelo ficcional, como 茅 o caso aqui em Babel-17
Na Fic莽茫o Cient铆fica, a hip贸tese (tamb茅m conhecida como relativismo lingu铆stico) tem sido utilizada com alguma frequ锚ncia. Lembro de dois casos.
O primeiro 鈥� em que ela 茅 explicitamente apresentada 鈥� 茅 鈥淎 hist贸ria da sua vida鈥�, de Ted Chiang. Esse conto se transformou no bom 鈥淎 Chegada鈥�, filme de Denis Villeneuve.
O segundo 茅 o 1984, de George Orwell. 脡 verdade que o Orwell em nenhum momento trata da hip贸tese, mas 茅 evidente que a novil铆ngua, o idioma que est谩 sendo elaborado, tem o prop贸sito de moldar o jeito com que as pessoas pensam: o Partido deseja um mundo com uma l铆ngua mais restrita, em que n茫o existem palavras. Isso impediria que sequer se pudesse pensar em certos conceitos. Se n茫o existe uma palavra para, digamos, 鈥榣ivro鈥�, se poderia chegar ao ponto em que o conceito 鈥榣ivro鈥� desaparecesse.
A personagem principal do Delany questiona em certo momento: 鈥淪e n茫o h谩 nenhuma palavra para algo, como se pensa nesse algo?鈥�
Resumindo. a partir do momento em que existe uma palavra para algo, pensar naquele algo se torna poss铆vel. A partir do momento em que se pensa em algo, a percep莽茫o do mundo e o modo como se pensa passam a ser outros. 脡 como se s贸 se pudesse sentir prazer com a desgra莽a alheia a partir do momento em que se aprendesse alem茫o e a palavra 鈥榮chadenfreude鈥� se tornasse parte do nosso vocabul谩rio.
O Delany escolhe a vers茫o forte da teoria porque exatamente a mais interessante do ponto de vista ficcional.
Aprender Babel-17 tem esse poder transformacional. Quem a conhece se torna outra pessoa. 脡 a arma perfeita que est谩 sendo utilizada pelos invasores (quem s茫o eles?) para destruir alvos militares vitais da Alian莽a.
鈥淧ensar em Babel-17 era como ver de repente todo o trajeto dentro da 谩gua at茅 o fundo de um po莽o que, um momento atr谩s, voc锚 acreditava ter apenas alguns metros de profundidade. Ela cambaleou, tonta鈥�.
E como enfrentar uma arma como essas? Rydra Wong, que aos 26 anos 茅 a poeta mais popular das 5 gal谩xias 茅 a convocada para a miss茫o de encontrar uma solu莽茫o. Conhecedora de l铆nguas terr谩queas e alien铆genas e possuidora de uma capacidade quase telep谩tica, junta uma tripula莽茫o e parte em uma busca pela resposta.
Enfim, um livro bem interessante, que exige um tanto do leitor. N茫o 茅 para qualquer leitor de FC, mas a quantidade vertiginosa de ideias nos faz tamb茅m abrir um pouco a cabe莽a a respeito das potencialidades do g锚nero.
Por fim, uma 煤ltima reflex茫o interessante: 鈥淎 maioria dos livros did谩ticos diz que a l铆ngua 茅 um mecanismo para expressar o pensamento. Mas l铆ngua 茅 pensamento. O pensamento 茅 informa莽茫o com forma. A forma 茅 a l铆ngua. A forma desta l铆ngua 茅... incr铆vel. Quando voc锚 aprende outra l铆ngua, voc锚 aprende a maneira como outras pessoas veem o mundo, o universo. E quando vejo essa l铆ngua, come莽o a ver... demais鈥�.
May 9, 2020
Eu fiquei boiando em alguns momentos, mas ao mesmo tempo eu estava encantada! Foi uma leitura deliciosa, um prato cheio para quem gosta de lingu铆stica, essas paradas.
A protagonista 茅 uma poeta, telepata, com uma habilidade incr铆vel para aprender novos idiomas. E eu amei a for莽a que d茫o para a linguagem nessa hist贸ria, a poeta 茅 uma das protagonistas, porque o protagonismo mesmo 茅 dado para a linguagem.
Um livro com uma vibe "A chegada", mas com muito mais a莽茫o! Amei!
A protagonista 茅 uma poeta, telepata, com uma habilidade incr铆vel para aprender novos idiomas. E eu amei a for莽a que d茫o para a linguagem nessa hist贸ria, a poeta 茅 uma das protagonistas, porque o protagonismo mesmo 茅 dado para a linguagem.
Um livro com uma vibe "A chegada", mas com muito mais a莽茫o! Amei!
June 12, 2022
I read the first 2 pages of Empire Star (the bonus novella) and I made the executive decision to DNF it because Babel-17 was so good & I was not getting the same ~vibes~ from Empire Star. If you aren't a huge fan of sci-fi you'll probably still enjoy Babel-17 because it's kind of genius and also feels wayyy ahead of its time.
March 1, 2021
Love.
鈥淭he thing was multicolored, multifaceted, multiplexed, and me.鈦�
I鈥檓 Jewel.鈥� - Empire Star by Samuel R. Delany鈦�
鈦�
I picked up this volume collecting Samuel Delany鈥檚 novels Babel-17 and Empire Star after the former was nominated for SFF Book Club. Babel-17 was my first Delany a few years ago, and it鈥檚 one I鈥檝e since recommended consistently as a great starting place for his work, so I was thrilled to revisit it.
鈦�
Upon rereading, my Babel-17 love has only grown stronger. This novel follows a poet named Rydra Wong investigating an alien language believed to be a key weapon in an ongoing war. It was especially exciting to revisit after reading Delany鈥檚 memoir, The Motion of Light in Water, which covers the time period in which he wrote these two stories. At the time, Delany was in a three person relationship with his wife and another man who lived with them. Depictions of that bleed onto the page in the descriptions of the tripled Navigators and Rydra鈥檚 former tripled relationship. Book club also yielded new insights, after it was mentioned that one of Rydra鈥檚 partners鈥� names, Muels Aranlyde, is an anagram for Samuel R. Delany, I also noticed the name of the third member of the triple, Fobo Lombs, is likewise an anagram of Delany and Hacker鈥檚 then partner, Bob Folsom! 鈦ｂ仯
With the plot already sketched in my mind, I took more note in this read of the structural choices Delany makes. He immerses the reader in the story in surprising visceral ways, like a scene where a single pages-long sentence is intercut with quick sentence asides. As I stumbled on where to pause and read these inset sentences it emphasized the frenzy of Rydra鈥檚 mind as the pace of her thoughts outstripped the pace of her actions when she begins to think in Babel-17. I love the ideas that Delany plays with in this novel, how language forms and constricts our thoughts and concept of ourselves and our world, and I even more wholeheartedly recommend it than before.鈦�
Reading Empire Star right after Babel-17 was such a delight, providing the full effect of the 鈥榥ovel within a novel鈥� situation going on here, since Empire Star and 鈥渢he 鈥楥omet Jo鈥� books鈥� appear in Babel-17 as the writings of Rydra鈥檚 partner, Muels Aranlyde of the Delany anagram. This warmly convoluted novella tells the story of a simplex boy named Comet Jo from a backwater planet who鈥檚 conscripted by a dying stranger to deliver an unspecified message to a distant star. The message comes along with the crystalized form of a multiplex consciousness that also serves as the book鈥檚 narrator, Jewel. I was so charmed by the book鈥檚 third person omniscient narration that鈥檚 peppered with Jewel鈥檚 sudden first person intrusions. Much of the book feels like a wacky adventure, but it deals also with heavy themes, notably the high cost of slavery. I loved Delany鈥檚 exploration of the complex cycle of time, and how parts of our stories belong to ourselves but others belong to history. This book is brain-bending and brilliant, and very much stands alone, but I think reading it right after Babel-17 provides the finest experience.
鈥淭he thing was multicolored, multifaceted, multiplexed, and me.鈦�
I鈥檓 Jewel.鈥� - Empire Star by Samuel R. Delany鈦�
鈦�
I picked up this volume collecting Samuel Delany鈥檚 novels Babel-17 and Empire Star after the former was nominated for SFF Book Club. Babel-17 was my first Delany a few years ago, and it鈥檚 one I鈥檝e since recommended consistently as a great starting place for his work, so I was thrilled to revisit it.
鈦�
Upon rereading, my Babel-17 love has only grown stronger. This novel follows a poet named Rydra Wong investigating an alien language believed to be a key weapon in an ongoing war. It was especially exciting to revisit after reading Delany鈥檚 memoir, The Motion of Light in Water, which covers the time period in which he wrote these two stories. At the time, Delany was in a three person relationship with his wife and another man who lived with them. Depictions of that bleed onto the page in the descriptions of the tripled Navigators and Rydra鈥檚 former tripled relationship. Book club also yielded new insights, after it was mentioned that one of Rydra鈥檚 partners鈥� names, Muels Aranlyde, is an anagram for Samuel R. Delany, I also noticed the name of the third member of the triple, Fobo Lombs, is likewise an anagram of Delany and Hacker鈥檚 then partner, Bob Folsom! 鈦ｂ仯
With the plot already sketched in my mind, I took more note in this read of the structural choices Delany makes. He immerses the reader in the story in surprising visceral ways, like a scene where a single pages-long sentence is intercut with quick sentence asides. As I stumbled on where to pause and read these inset sentences it emphasized the frenzy of Rydra鈥檚 mind as the pace of her thoughts outstripped the pace of her actions when she begins to think in Babel-17. I love the ideas that Delany plays with in this novel, how language forms and constricts our thoughts and concept of ourselves and our world, and I even more wholeheartedly recommend it than before.鈦�
Reading Empire Star right after Babel-17 was such a delight, providing the full effect of the 鈥榥ovel within a novel鈥� situation going on here, since Empire Star and 鈥渢he 鈥楥omet Jo鈥� books鈥� appear in Babel-17 as the writings of Rydra鈥檚 partner, Muels Aranlyde of the Delany anagram. This warmly convoluted novella tells the story of a simplex boy named Comet Jo from a backwater planet who鈥檚 conscripted by a dying stranger to deliver an unspecified message to a distant star. The message comes along with the crystalized form of a multiplex consciousness that also serves as the book鈥檚 narrator, Jewel. I was so charmed by the book鈥檚 third person omniscient narration that鈥檚 peppered with Jewel鈥檚 sudden first person intrusions. Much of the book feels like a wacky adventure, but it deals also with heavy themes, notably the high cost of slavery. I loved Delany鈥檚 exploration of the complex cycle of time, and how parts of our stories belong to ourselves but others belong to history. This book is brain-bending and brilliant, and very much stands alone, but I think reading it right after Babel-17 provides the finest experience.
October 16, 2022
October 2022:
Rating: 4 stars
These were a slog to get through the second time. Still objectively well written and Delany鈥檚 lifelong themes are present, but what a slog. Empire Star twist still tugs the heart even if the strings are blatant, cliched, and underdeveloped.
Aug 6, 2015:
Rating: 5 stars
Review: In 50 or 100 or 200 years, The Complete Works of Samuel R Delany will be as important a tome as The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is today.
Rating: 4 stars
These were a slog to get through the second time. Still objectively well written and Delany鈥檚 lifelong themes are present, but what a slog. Empire Star twist still tugs the heart even if the strings are blatant, cliched, and underdeveloped.
Aug 6, 2015:
Rating: 5 stars
Review: In 50 or 100 or 200 years, The Complete Works of Samuel R Delany will be as important a tome as The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is today.
July 18, 2019
Delany seems to have a positive reputation among sci-fi writer pioneers & this is my first introduction to his work. I liked both stories.
At times, I had some difficulty following the narrative in Babel-17.
Interesting to read some older sci-fi & I'm intrigued to read some more earlier sci-fi by Black writers.
At times, I had some difficulty following the narrative in Babel-17.
Interesting to read some older sci-fi & I'm intrigued to read some more earlier sci-fi by Black writers.
March 30, 2019
In a coruscating epistolary critique of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, innocuously titled "Letter to Q鈥斺€�" in the 2005 collection About Writing, Samuel R. Delany tabulates what he sees as the many flaws of Morrison's classic first novel. The gravamen of his indictment is that Morrison so indulges miscegenation-anxiety and sex-panic that her book becomes ideologically akin to Birth of a Nation and George Lincoln Rockwell. In passing, though, he notes more mildly that the novel is also informed by "feminist clich茅s." As this champion of the cultural left does not want to be thought of as anti-feminist, he clarifies:
Delany was writing in 1997. In his own early work, the spectacularly inventive science-fiction novels that made his name in the 1960s, when he was only in his 20s, we can detect a number of fresh and vital concepts that have perhaps become merely popular or middlebrow clich茅s in our own day. (He also claims in the Morrison piece: "Popularity is always a conservative phenomenon.")
Perhaps the most famous of these novels, the one most clearly united around a central idea, is 1966's Babel-17. The novel is set in a future marked by interstellar war between the Alliance and the Invaders. Its heroine is the brilliant young celebrity poet, linguist, and starship captain Rydra Wong, herself traumatized and orphaned by the war. Asked by an Alliance general to translate intercepted Invader transmissions in a strange code called Babel-17, Rydra assembles a team and sets off for space.
Because starships need to be staffed by polyamorous trios and by the consciousnesses of the deceased (or, in the book's lingo, "discorporate"), Rydra must recruit her crew from the demimonde inhabited by those in "Transport," i.e., space travelers, a kind of science-fictional bohemia looked down on in the novel's world by the squares and normies who work in "Customs." In the novel's first quarter, Delany is clearly more interested in exploring this futuristic East Village鈥攁nd dramatizing a Customs Officer, a stodgy straight white male, lose his resistance to its polymorphous blandishments鈥攖han he is in the plot's supposedly central star wars.
But eventually Rydra's ship, the aptly-named Rimbaud, is captured due to a mysterious traitor onboard. Our heroes end up on another spacecraft at an aristocratic dinner party eventually broken up鈥攊n a passage of delicious decadence鈥攂y terrorist sabotage. Better than quoting the text alone, I will quote Ted Gioia's amusing on it:
Rydra, meanwhile, realizes that Babel-17 is a language, a language of extraordinarily dense precision, of words as vast idea complexes. Thinking in it and speaking it allow her to perceive reality as a concatenation of such fine-grained patterns that her cognitive abilities become nearly superhuman. She also falls in love with the Butcher, an amnesiac violent convict whose own speech is bereft of the words "I" or "you." At the novel's moral center, they stroll amid the discorporate while the compassionate poet teaches the Butcher that these shifters, which express both personhood and relation, are the indispensable key to morality:
In the course of things, we learn that Babel-17 is a weaponized Invader language that made Rydra herself turn traitor because, for all its preternatural precision, it too lacks the first and second person. (This is a clue to the Butcher's real identity: an Alliance spy turned by the Invaders using Babel-17.) The novel ends with the promise that Rydra and the Butcher can bring cosmic peace by endowing Babel-17's cognitive power with their own moral energy, their insistence that "I" and "you" matter.
The overall narrative is, I suspect, a meta-text about literature itself, which is why the novel's protagonist is a poet (an excellent one: Delany supplies poetry by Marilyn Hacker, his then-wife, as Rydra's work). Literature combines visionary precision in the transmission of sensations and ideas with a moral commitment to the inner lives of individuals, of "you" and "me." We already have the pacifying Babel-17 portended by the novel's conclusion, the words that join ethics to knowledge: it is Babel-17. If this novel, written during wartime, did not bring peace, it at least implies that a change in how we speak or write is all that can lastingly end war.
With that thesis in mind, we can return to Delany's later distinction between concepts and clich茅s: in this brief novel, we get at least three concepts that were rare in popular fiction at midcentury, but which have since become commonplace.
First is the replacement of the white man as ingenious, omni-competent space-captain with a woman of color. Second is the future as bohemia, a place of erupting micro-individualisms where stellar citizens find their fulfillment in biological transformations and sexual configurations that were still relegated, in the middle 20th century, to the vast "closet" of certain urban quarters. Finally, Delany represents language as absolutely determining thought and experience; the language you speak and write constrains what you can know, believe, and even perceive鈥攍ike so much 20th-century thought, Babel-17 presents language as first philosophy.
As such concepts grow familiar in popular culture, as they pass from the hands of inventors to those of imitators, their flaws and unanticipated consequences become more and more obvious.
The race and gender diversification of heroism is of course unobjectionable and welcome, but is such heroism as Rydra's, with its seemingly limitless physical and mental and moral perfection, sans any tragic flaw, really proper to serious narrative, irrespective of race and gender? Maybe it works for "young adults," though even for them it's probably misleading and infantilizing; profound fiction, even when it has white male heroes, requires more complex characters as protagonists.
Similarly, the future spread of bohemia further supports the novel's ethic. If the mutual recognition of "you" and "I" is the basis of morality, then we should want each other to flourish to the best of our potential and desire. Delany portrays his novel's demimonde of polyamory and bio-engineering as a society that alone allows this flourishing. When the square Customs Officer, whom Rydra had introduced to bohemia, trepidatiously but excitedly returns to get a dragon implanted in his shoulder, he is counseled by Rydra's own therapist:
The mundane corollary here would be getting a tattoo, a practice still confined in the '60s to the disreputable or d茅class茅; but we can easily read an even more forward-looking subtext about gender and sexual identity into these words.
Surely only a troglodyte could object to today's broad social spread of self-transformation at every level from epidermis to pronoun, but the move of these once-fringe practices into the mainstream may suggest their inseparability (which need not be a problem) from other cultural discourses that value the individual over the social. Something like "the culture of neoliberalism," on the eve of whose triumph Delany was then writing, may be one and indivisible, a thought that only libertarians seem willing to entertain, because it disrupts everyone else's narratives, which tend to sunder economic from sexual laissez-faire. In Delany's imagination, "I" and "you" are interpenetrated and perfectly balanced, but most societies seem, outside of beautifully experimental science fictions, to elevate one over the other.
Far more pernicious in political practice is this novel's thesis on language. The idea that language is absolutely constitutive of consciousness, after being vulgarized and garbled, becomes today's argument that language is literally a vector of violence, that words have power to obliterate identity, to deal irrecoverable psychic wounds. But if this is true, then the basis of democratic, liberal society falls away, because the point of such a society is to sublimate literal violence into discourse and dispute, to use language as a field wherein extra-linguistic reality may be recognized, interpreted, and only then imaginatively transformed. If words are weapons, then all we have are weapons. The social becomes a scramble of all against all, a zero-sum contest to control reality, which language has the putatively absolute power to do. Far from bringing peace, the claim that language speaks us rather than the reverse promises only war.
In "Letter to Q鈥斺€�," criticizing Toni Morrison for what he regards as her racism and homophobia and all-around crypto-fascist essentialism, Delany argues that she has betrayed the mission of the novel as a literary form, because the novel exists to tell us
A materialist, Delany rejects evil and good and the soul as metaphysical entities, whereas the Catholic gnostic Morrison certainly does not, nor do many great novelists who fall afoul of Delany's basically Marxist commitments, from Dostoevsky to Coetzee. (By the way: 1997, the year Delany wrote his criticism of The Bluest Eye, was also the year Morrison published her late, underrated masterpiece, : in this novel, she seems to take Delany's side against her own younger self and to recant the implicit ethno-nationalism and inverted colorism of her early fiction.)
For Delany, there is no soul, only society, and since language is the social system underpinning all others, transforming it transforms us. It's so flattering a worldview for writers and intellectuals that they can hardly resist it. Some days, I can't resist it myself. Yet Delany writes like someone who knows that language exists in dynamic tension with what is outside it. If it didn't, the work of converting "sensations and ideas" (the phrase is from Pater, a writer Delany and I both admire) into words would not be so difficult and newness could never even find articulation. Foreshadowing cyberpunk, Rydra compares language to code and language-speakers to computers, but can a computer reprogram itself? Can a machine running a program be an "I" or a "you"?
As an often pulpy product of a very young writer, Babel-17 is not a great novel, nor even exactly a good one: its characters, including Rydra, are very sketchy, and the narrative feels unbalanced because Delany is so taken with almost every aspect of its world except the war on which the plot is ostensibly centered.
Delany's style, though, is as elegantly involute, as pregnant with implication, as modernist poetry or the best science fiction that preceded him. This gives this novel its odd tone, combining urban decadence with futurist didacticism, as if Robert A. Heinlein had re-written Nightwood (Delany often claims both Barnes and Heinlein as influences, despite his awareness that their rather different but decisive conservative convictions clash with his own leftism鈥攖hough both certainly advocate in their fiction for sexual openness).
Babel-17 is better than a merely good novel; it is a profligately imagined one, a book that gives you more ideas per line than many more mature performances would dare. If Delany, like his compeers Dick and Le Guin, are read today not alongside other science fiction writers but among the postmodern experimentalists of their time, such as Borges, Pynchon, and Nabokov, this stylistic extravaganza and generation of concepts (that were not yet clich茅s) is the reason why.
Consider this extraordinary passage, with which I'll conclude, combining the philosophy of language with the most poignantly personal recollections, a passage worthy of the writer it names in turning ideas into dialogue and drama:
I do not mean feminist concepts; I mean clich茅s鈥攑hrases and images from which the ideas that once made them rich and quick have been drained by repetition, easy emotions鈥攏egative or positive鈥攁nd critical exhaustion.
Delany was writing in 1997. In his own early work, the spectacularly inventive science-fiction novels that made his name in the 1960s, when he was only in his 20s, we can detect a number of fresh and vital concepts that have perhaps become merely popular or middlebrow clich茅s in our own day. (He also claims in the Morrison piece: "Popularity is always a conservative phenomenon.")
Perhaps the most famous of these novels, the one most clearly united around a central idea, is 1966's Babel-17. The novel is set in a future marked by interstellar war between the Alliance and the Invaders. Its heroine is the brilliant young celebrity poet, linguist, and starship captain Rydra Wong, herself traumatized and orphaned by the war. Asked by an Alliance general to translate intercepted Invader transmissions in a strange code called Babel-17, Rydra assembles a team and sets off for space.
Because starships need to be staffed by polyamorous trios and by the consciousnesses of the deceased (or, in the book's lingo, "discorporate"), Rydra must recruit her crew from the demimonde inhabited by those in "Transport," i.e., space travelers, a kind of science-fictional bohemia looked down on in the novel's world by the squares and normies who work in "Customs." In the novel's first quarter, Delany is clearly more interested in exploring this futuristic East Village鈥攁nd dramatizing a Customs Officer, a stodgy straight white male, lose his resistance to its polymorphous blandishments鈥攖han he is in the plot's supposedly central star wars.
But eventually Rydra's ship, the aptly-named Rimbaud, is captured due to a mysterious traitor onboard. Our heroes end up on another spacecraft at an aristocratic dinner party eventually broken up鈥攊n a passage of delicious decadence鈥攂y terrorist sabotage. Better than quoting the text alone, I will quote Ted Gioia's amusing on it:
Over the course of this novel, Delany presents the full range of action scenarios, from hand-to-hand combat to full-scale spaceship battles. But even in the midst of combat, he finds a way to employ his experimental techniques. Delany's description听 of a terrorist attack at an official dinner is one of the strangest fight scenes in sci-fi history, with more attention lavished on the food than fighting. "The fruit platters were pushed aside by the emerging peacocks, cooked, dressed and reassembled with sugared heads, tail feathers swaying....Tureens of caldo verde crowded the wine basins鈥�.Fruit rolled over the edge." It's as if the NY Times had fired its war correspondents and replaced them with restaurant reviewers.
Rydra, meanwhile, realizes that Babel-17 is a language, a language of extraordinarily dense precision, of words as vast idea complexes. Thinking in it and speaking it allow her to perceive reality as a concatenation of such fine-grained patterns that her cognitive abilities become nearly superhuman. She also falls in love with the Butcher, an amnesiac violent convict whose own speech is bereft of the words "I" or "you." At the novel's moral center, they stroll amid the discorporate while the compassionate poet teaches the Butcher that these shifters, which express both personhood and relation, are the indispensable key to morality:
"Are they the same word for the same thing, that they are interchangeable?"
"No, just...yes! They both mean the same sort of thing. In a way, they're the same."
"Then you and I are the same."
Risking confusion, she nodded.
"I suspect it. But you鈥�" he pointed to her鈥�"have taught me." He touched himself.
"And that's why you can't go around killing people. At least you better do a hell of a lot of thinking before you do."
In the course of things, we learn that Babel-17 is a weaponized Invader language that made Rydra herself turn traitor because, for all its preternatural precision, it too lacks the first and second person. (This is a clue to the Butcher's real identity: an Alliance spy turned by the Invaders using Babel-17.) The novel ends with the promise that Rydra and the Butcher can bring cosmic peace by endowing Babel-17's cognitive power with their own moral energy, their insistence that "I" and "you" matter.
The overall narrative is, I suspect, a meta-text about literature itself, which is why the novel's protagonist is a poet (an excellent one: Delany supplies poetry by Marilyn Hacker, his then-wife, as Rydra's work). Literature combines visionary precision in the transmission of sensations and ideas with a moral commitment to the inner lives of individuals, of "you" and "me." We already have the pacifying Babel-17 portended by the novel's conclusion, the words that join ethics to knowledge: it is Babel-17. If this novel, written during wartime, did not bring peace, it at least implies that a change in how we speak or write is all that can lastingly end war.
With that thesis in mind, we can return to Delany's later distinction between concepts and clich茅s: in this brief novel, we get at least three concepts that were rare in popular fiction at midcentury, but which have since become commonplace.
First is the replacement of the white man as ingenious, omni-competent space-captain with a woman of color. Second is the future as bohemia, a place of erupting micro-individualisms where stellar citizens find their fulfillment in biological transformations and sexual configurations that were still relegated, in the middle 20th century, to the vast "closet" of certain urban quarters. Finally, Delany represents language as absolutely determining thought and experience; the language you speak and write constrains what you can know, believe, and even perceive鈥攍ike so much 20th-century thought, Babel-17 presents language as first philosophy.
As such concepts grow familiar in popular culture, as they pass from the hands of inventors to those of imitators, their flaws and unanticipated consequences become more and more obvious.
The race and gender diversification of heroism is of course unobjectionable and welcome, but is such heroism as Rydra's, with its seemingly limitless physical and mental and moral perfection, sans any tragic flaw, really proper to serious narrative, irrespective of race and gender? Maybe it works for "young adults," though even for them it's probably misleading and infantilizing; profound fiction, even when it has white male heroes, requires more complex characters as protagonists.
Similarly, the future spread of bohemia further supports the novel's ethic. If the mutual recognition of "you" and "I" is the basis of morality, then we should want each other to flourish to the best of our potential and desire. Delany portrays his novel's demimonde of polyamory and bio-engineering as a society that alone allows this flourishing. When the square Customs Officer, whom Rydra had introduced to bohemia, trepidatiously but excitedly returns to get a dragon implanted in his shoulder, he is counseled by Rydra's own therapist:
"Actually," Dr. T'mwarba went on, "it's psychologically important to feel in control of your body, that you can change it, shape it."
The mundane corollary here would be getting a tattoo, a practice still confined in the '60s to the disreputable or d茅class茅; but we can easily read an even more forward-looking subtext about gender and sexual identity into these words.
Surely only a troglodyte could object to today's broad social spread of self-transformation at every level from epidermis to pronoun, but the move of these once-fringe practices into the mainstream may suggest their inseparability (which need not be a problem) from other cultural discourses that value the individual over the social. Something like "the culture of neoliberalism," on the eve of whose triumph Delany was then writing, may be one and indivisible, a thought that only libertarians seem willing to entertain, because it disrupts everyone else's narratives, which tend to sunder economic from sexual laissez-faire. In Delany's imagination, "I" and "you" are interpenetrated and perfectly balanced, but most societies seem, outside of beautifully experimental science fictions, to elevate one over the other.
Far more pernicious in political practice is this novel's thesis on language. The idea that language is absolutely constitutive of consciousness, after being vulgarized and garbled, becomes today's argument that language is literally a vector of violence, that words have power to obliterate identity, to deal irrecoverable psychic wounds. But if this is true, then the basis of democratic, liberal society falls away, because the point of such a society is to sublimate literal violence into discourse and dispute, to use language as a field wherein extra-linguistic reality may be recognized, interpreted, and only then imaginatively transformed. If words are weapons, then all we have are weapons. The social becomes a scramble of all against all, a zero-sum contest to control reality, which language has the putatively absolute power to do. Far from bringing peace, the claim that language speaks us rather than the reverse promises only war.
In "Letter to Q鈥斺€�," criticizing Toni Morrison for what he regards as her racism and homophobia and all-around crypto-fascist essentialism, Delany argues that she has betrayed the mission of the novel as a literary form, because the novel exists to tell us
that evil (like good) is a manifestation of social systems, not individuals, and thus individuals, both the good ones and the bad ones, if they move into new social systems they are unused to, can be changed by them if they stay there.
A materialist, Delany rejects evil and good and the soul as metaphysical entities, whereas the Catholic gnostic Morrison certainly does not, nor do many great novelists who fall afoul of Delany's basically Marxist commitments, from Dostoevsky to Coetzee. (By the way: 1997, the year Delany wrote his criticism of The Bluest Eye, was also the year Morrison published her late, underrated masterpiece, : in this novel, she seems to take Delany's side against her own younger self and to recant the implicit ethno-nationalism and inverted colorism of her early fiction.)
For Delany, there is no soul, only society, and since language is the social system underpinning all others, transforming it transforms us. It's so flattering a worldview for writers and intellectuals that they can hardly resist it. Some days, I can't resist it myself. Yet Delany writes like someone who knows that language exists in dynamic tension with what is outside it. If it didn't, the work of converting "sensations and ideas" (the phrase is from Pater, a writer Delany and I both admire) into words would not be so difficult and newness could never even find articulation. Foreshadowing cyberpunk, Rydra compares language to code and language-speakers to computers, but can a computer reprogram itself? Can a machine running a program be an "I" or a "you"?
As an often pulpy product of a very young writer, Babel-17 is not a great novel, nor even exactly a good one: its characters, including Rydra, are very sketchy, and the narrative feels unbalanced because Delany is so taken with almost every aspect of its world except the war on which the plot is ostensibly centered.
Delany's style, though, is as elegantly involute, as pregnant with implication, as modernist poetry or the best science fiction that preceded him. This gives this novel its odd tone, combining urban decadence with futurist didacticism, as if Robert A. Heinlein had re-written Nightwood (Delany often claims both Barnes and Heinlein as influences, despite his awareness that their rather different but decisive conservative convictions clash with his own leftism鈥攖hough both certainly advocate in their fiction for sexual openness).
Babel-17 is better than a merely good novel; it is a profligately imagined one, a book that gives you more ideas per line than many more mature performances would dare. If Delany, like his compeers Dick and Le Guin, are read today not alongside other science fiction writers but among the postmodern experimentalists of their time, such as Borges, Pynchon, and Nabokov, this stylistic extravaganza and generation of concepts (that were not yet clich茅s) is the reason why.
Consider this extraordinary passage, with which I'll conclude, combining the philosophy of language with the most poignantly personal recollections, a passage worthy of the writer it names in turning ideas into dialogue and drama:
Words are names for things. In Plato鈥檚 time things were names for ideas鈥攚hat better description of the Platonic ideal? But were words names for things, or was that just a bit of semantic confusion? Words were symbols for听whole听categories of things, where a name was put to a single object: a name on something that requires a symbol jars, making humor. A symbol on something that takes a name jars, too: a memory that contained a torn window shade, his liquored breath, her outrage, and crumpled clothing wedged behind a chipped, cheap night table, 鈥淎ll right,听woman, come here!鈥� and she had whispered, with her hands achingly tight on the brass bar, 鈥淢y听name听is听Rydra!鈥� An individual, a thing apart from its environment, and apart from the things in that environment; an individual was a type of thing for which symbols were inadequate, and so names were invented.
March 9, 2021
This rating/review is for Empire Star only, since it doesn't seem to exist separately on goodreads.
I...loved it, I think? It was a really, really weird book and only a really weird guy could've written it. But it was short enough to make the weirdness okay, and as I was reading it I kept going back and forth between 3 stars and 5. I honestly can't decide if it was okay or if it was fantastic. So I'm going with 4.
I...loved it, I think? It was a really, really weird book and only a really weird guy could've written it. But it was short enough to make the weirdness okay, and as I was reading it I kept going back and forth between 3 stars and 5. I honestly can't decide if it was okay or if it was fantastic. So I'm going with 4.
December 12, 2020
3.5
Babel-17: 3
Fun discussion of language with a bit too much going on without investing in character. Love the linguistics, the protagonist, and the style. Interesting discussion of linguistic relativism, cultural relativism, and the odder parts of our social realm.
Empire Star: 4
This. Is. Fun. Started as a bit of a paint-by-numbers sci-fi narrative with some style, and it becomes wilder and wilder until it breaks into high concept nonlinearity. So entertaining, but it also is unafraid to handle slavery. The Lll are depressing, quite literally as their protection makes anyone nearby sad, and the discussion of their liberation is major. The novella discusses the fallibility of empathy (Natalie Diaz's quote continues to be relevant), the ways in which white people have to see white pain caused by black pain to incite action, the dehumanization and utilization of slaves, etc. It's highly political, and yet there is also a larger scale discussion of intelligence versus "simplex, complex, and multiplex" thinking, which leads to a dialogue about class, race, etc.
It was fun seeing how these two stories interact. Certain characters (Ron, Lump, Brass, etc.) overlap and the Empire Star is referenced in both. I don't feel like there's much of a narrative/thematic effect to this, but I enjoyed these being clear connections due to this purposeful bundling.
Babel-17: 3
Fun discussion of language with a bit too much going on without investing in character. Love the linguistics, the protagonist, and the style. Interesting discussion of linguistic relativism, cultural relativism, and the odder parts of our social realm.
Empire Star: 4
This. Is. Fun. Started as a bit of a paint-by-numbers sci-fi narrative with some style, and it becomes wilder and wilder until it breaks into high concept nonlinearity. So entertaining, but it also is unafraid to handle slavery. The Lll are depressing, quite literally as their protection makes anyone nearby sad, and the discussion of their liberation is major. The novella discusses the fallibility of empathy (Natalie Diaz's quote continues to be relevant), the ways in which white people have to see white pain caused by black pain to incite action, the dehumanization and utilization of slaves, etc. It's highly political, and yet there is also a larger scale discussion of intelligence versus "simplex, complex, and multiplex" thinking, which leads to a dialogue about class, race, etc.
It was fun seeing how these two stories interact. Certain characters (Ron, Lump, Brass, etc.) overlap and the Empire Star is referenced in both. I don't feel like there's much of a narrative/thematic effect to this, but I enjoyed these being clear connections due to this purposeful bundling.
August 31, 2023
*** 3.2 STARS ***
Babel 17 started off great. Upon reading Babel 17 and Rydra Wong speaking about perception changing based on what language you speak, I was all in. Unfortunately, Delany forgot to write a plot. Delany wrote some good world-building, but in the end, the world-building felt like a MacGuffin. The story just didn't go anywhere.
Probably my favourite part of Babel 17 was the main character, Rydra Wong. She felt believable and interesting. I really enjoyed the book whenever Rydra was speaking about language and the perception of reality a language can have on a person.
Babel 17 reminded me of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, but without the richness of detail; and nowhere-near-as-good plot.
Babel 17 started off great. Upon reading Babel 17 and Rydra Wong speaking about perception changing based on what language you speak, I was all in. Unfortunately, Delany forgot to write a plot. Delany wrote some good world-building, but in the end, the world-building felt like a MacGuffin. The story just didn't go anywhere.
Probably my favourite part of Babel 17 was the main character, Rydra Wong. She felt believable and interesting. I really enjoyed the book whenever Rydra was speaking about language and the perception of reality a language can have on a person.
Babel 17 reminded me of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, but without the richness of detail; and nowhere-near-as-good plot.
April 21, 2009
If I could give this 0 stars, I would have. And to think I suggested this to our book club. I was embarrassed. I never was into sci-fi and thought this would be a great first entry because it was about language. Oh, it was so bad!
January 10, 2008
An extremely creative book that has stuck with me despite the fact that I was not smart enough to understand most of it.
December 19, 2019
Resenha de Babel - 17:
Comunica莽茫o 茅 uma palavra que envolve ser capaz de interagir com pessoas. Isso pode ser feito atrav茅s da fala, de gestos, de express玫es. A comunica莽茫o s贸 茅 conclu铆da quando os dois lados conseguem se entender mutuamente. Esse 茅 um dos temas de Babel-17, um cl谩ssico da fic莽茫o cient铆fica que finalmente chega ao Brasil pelas m茫os da Editora Morro Branco. Ficamos muito tempo 贸rf茫os de Samuel R. Delany, um dos grandes mestres da fic莽茫o cient铆fica e algu茅m que consegue falar de temas contempor芒neos, mesmo o livro tendo sido escrito h谩 algumas d茅cadas atr谩s. Aviso logo que Babel-17 茅 uma leitura dif铆cil, uma fic莽茫o cient铆fica dura onde as informa莽玫es n茫o est茫o sempre claras para o leitor. Exige pensar fora da narrativa e relacionar com outros assuntos; exige reflex茫o e ligar os pontos por n贸s mesmos. Por essa raz茫o, n茫o 茅 um livro para qualquer leitor. Contudo, se voc锚 for capaz de ultrapassar essa barreira inicial, vai perceber toda a genialidade do autor. Muito antes de A Chegada, filme baseado no conto de Ted Chiang, onde um grupo de cientistas tenta decifrar uma linguagem alien铆gena estranha, Rydra Wong procurava entender o que era Babel-17.
A narrativa do livro 茅 em terceira pessoa, visto do ponto de vista de Rydra. Acompanhamos sua jornada onde ela vai empregar uma tripula莽茫o bem diferente de seres. Ficamos sabendo que os terr谩queos est茫o em guerra com os Invasores, alien铆genas que parecem estar atacando a Terra e outros planetas. A Terra faria parte de uma Alian莽a de planetas. Bem, nesse ponto eu senti que as coisas n茫o ficaram muito claras. Delany n茫o explica bem o que acontece no contexto geral, deixando para o leitor juntar as pe莽as do quebra-cabe莽as. S贸 que informa莽玫es essenciais n茫o s茫o ditas, o que pode confundir bastante. A protagonista 茅 uma especialista em diferentes idiomas e c贸digos, al茅m de ser uma poetisa. Ela 茅 chamada para entender uma mensagem que est谩 sendo captada pelos sensores da Terra em uma linguagem que recebe o nome de Babel-17. Ao mesmo tempo estranhos incidentes e sabotagens acontecem em v谩rios pontos da Alian莽a, precedidos de uma mensagem em Babel-17. Uma miss茫o secund谩ria de Rydra 茅 investigar a rela莽茫o entre esses dois pontos.
Delany tem uma forma de escrita muito precisa aqui. 脡 at茅 curioso examinar a diferen莽a entre o que ele escreve aqui e Estrela Imperial onde a prosa 茅 mais po茅tica. Em alguns momentos, o autor assume at茅 um tom professoral, explicando as nuances do estudo de l铆nguas e c贸digos. Assumimos sempre que a comunica莽茫o precisa acontecer atrav茅s da fala; isso 茅 o senso comum. Mas, a verdade 茅 que esta pode acontecer mesmo quando as pessoas n茫o falam o mesmo idiomas, bastando que a mensagem enunciada seja compreendida pelo outro. Abaixo eu retomo melhor essa ideia. A narrativa segue uma linha bem simples de in铆cio, meio e fim. No come莽o somos apresentados ao contexto e ao problema a ser resolvido. O desenvolvimento coloca um obst谩culo para Rydra at茅 o momento em que ela conhece Jebel Tariq e o Carniceiro. E o fim 茅 o fechamento mesmo da narrativa, deixando poucos ganchos. Nesse sentido a hist贸ria 茅 bem fechadinha, com apenas algumas coisas podendo ser exploradas (mais no relativo ao mundo onde a hist贸ria se passa). Tem um momento clim谩tico quase no final que 茅 incr铆vel e vai agradar aos f茫s de scifi.
Diferentes aspectos da comunica莽茫o s茫o exploradas aqui: a diferen莽a de idiomas, a capacidade para interagir com o diferente e a aus锚ncia de si. Vou come莽ar pelo 贸bvio que 茅 o tema central da hist贸ria: Babel-17. Sempre acreditamos que idiomas falados precisam ter alguma rela莽茫o com qualquer um dos que s茫o falados no mundo. E temos centenas de idiomas espalhados por todo mundo, desde idiomas fon茅ticos at茅 movimentos com a boca como os empregados por uma tribo que vive na Nam铆bia e usa estalos para se comunicar. Mas, isso n茫o significa o mesmo para alien铆genas. Eles podem empregar m茅todos incompreens铆veis para n贸s, seres humanos. Infelizmente, terei que usar essa compara莽茫o, mas no conto que originou A Chegada, Chiang faz com que a protagonista, ao compreender o idioma dos alien铆genas, consiga enxergar o futuro (de certa forma). Aqui, a no莽茫o 茅 semelhante. 脌 medida em que Rydra vai compreendendo Babel-17, ela vai se dando conta de que o universo 茅 mais complexo do que ela imaginava. O simples entendimento dessa linguagem amplia a mente dela para a compreens茫o do todo.
Ao mesmo tempo temos a pr贸pria Rydra que lida com suas inseguran莽as e sua dificuldade de falar com outras pessoas. Vemos quando ela interage com Mocky o quanto ela luta para refor莽ar uma ideia de controle e comando. Mesmo ela n茫o estando certa de suas inten莽玫es, ela vai crescendo ao longo da narrativa e lidando com uma tripula莽茫o que ela mesma escolheu. O que come莽a como um grupo de pessoas estranhas umas para as outras vai criando la莽os e passando a confiar na habilidade de Rydra. No final, a efici锚ncia da equipe 茅 铆mpar, mesmo eles estando em outra nave que n茫o a Rimbaud, sua espa莽onave inicial.
Tenho tamb茅m que destacar a ideia dos tr锚s navegadores. A necessidade de serem tr锚s e n茫o apenas um. Nem vou comentar muito a respeito porque o motivo para isto 茅 t茫o legal que eu prefiro deixar para voc锚s lerem na narrativa. Mas, fato 茅 que os tr锚s precisam ter um contato muito pr贸ximo e normalmente isso acaba redundando em uma rela莽茫o de teor sexual. Na narrativa, Rydra encontra dois dos tr锚s (um deles havia morrido h谩 algum tempo atr谩s e Rydra precisa buscar um substituto para a fun莽茫o de n煤mero 1). Dos tr锚s temos um n煤mero 2 mais experiente e um n煤mero 3 inseguro. E eles querem que o n煤mero 1 seja uma mulher e que seja capaz de se relacionar com os 2. Mas, como encontrar algu茅m que consiga lidar com personalidades t茫o diferentes? Rydra acaba inovando e obrigando os dois a se esfor莽ar para conhecer melhor Mollya. Ela vai oferecer o que eles querem, mas com uma esp茅cie de bola curva para eles. Achei a op莽茫o sensacional e realmente os obrigou a conhecer melhor a pessoa que entrou para o grupo.
Mas, claro, um dos pontos altos de Babel-17 茅 o Carniceiro e a rela莽茫o que ele estabelece com Rydra. Aqui, a habilidade de Delany brilha. Vou dar leves, mas muito leves spoilers aqui. O Carniceiro 茅 um personagem que n茫o consegue usar os pronomes eu e voc锚. Sim, podem ler com aten莽茫o. Ele n茫o usa mesmo. Toda vez que ele vai se referir a si mesmo, o personagem apenas bate no peito. Acaba se referindo a outras pessoas na terceira pessoa. Percebendo a situa莽茫o dele, Rydra tenta ensin谩-lo a diferen莽a entre eu e voc锚 e o personagem tem uma enorme dificuldade para isso. Frequentemente ele vai se confundir a quem est谩 se referindo. O curioso 茅 que isso acaba criando algumas situa莽玫es estranhas em que o leitor precisa desconfiar daquilo que est谩 sendo dito. N茫o porque o narrador n茫o 茅 confi谩vel, mas porque este n茫o sabe dizer com precis茫o aquilo que est谩 dizendo. Isso nos obriga a confiar mais na cena e no contexto do que nos di谩logos. Quando eu li a primeira vez achei o trecho truncado, mas quando deu o estalo e eu voltei as p谩ginas para reler as passagens, parece que o mar se abriu.
A forma como o Carniceiro cresce na narrativa com o passar do tempo 茅 incr铆vel. E eu achei que ele seria s贸 as m茫os de Tariq, aquele cara que faz o servi莽o sujo. Mas, as camadas dele v茫o se revelando pouco a pouco e ele vai ganhando uma riqueza de detalhes. O que se torna uma rela莽茫o de ensinamento para Rydra vai se transformando em sua miss茫o 脿 medida em que detalhes sobre Babel-17 v茫o se cruzando com o subplot do Carniceiro. Sua rela莽茫o com ele vai se tornando um crescimento e amadurecimento para Rydra.
Babel-17 茅 genial. Como obra de fic莽茫o cient铆fica, toca em pontos sens铆veis como a dificuldade dos seres humanos em se comunicar uns com os outros, a facilidade que temos de julgar outras pessoas e o fato de ainda sermos muito jovens na medida de tempo universal. N茫o 茅 uma leitura simples, mas 茅 recompensadora no sentido de que vai nos fazer refletir sobre determinados assuntos e abrir nossas mentes para outras possibilidades. S贸 tenho a aplaudir a Morro Branco pela coragem em trazer Babel-17 para o Brasil, um hard scifi de extrema qualidade e por apresentar a muitos leitores a riqueza da escrita de Samuel R. Delany, um monstro do g锚nero. Agora, 茅 esperar para que a editora traga outros dois cl谩ssicos do autor: Nova e Dhalgren.
Resenha de Estrela Imperial:
Deixa eu respirar antes de fazer esta resenha. Porque ela 茅 dif铆cil de se colocar em palavras. Estrela Imperial 茅 um belo exemplo de como compor uma hist贸ria que se autorreferencia. Escrever hist贸rias c铆clicas n茫o 茅 algo f谩cil. Desde a era dos grandes livros sagrados, muitos autores tentaram compor este tipo de narrativa. Mas, sempre ficam furos ou problemas de coer锚ncia narrativa. Isso faz com que a hist贸ria tenha contradi莽玫es ou situa莽玫es internas fazendo o leitor entender a exist锚ncia de algo n茫o batendo. Delany consegue criar uma narrativa estruturalmente perfeita. A gente pode reclamar que a narrativa n茫o 茅 t茫o boa ou os personagens n茫o s茫o t茫o interessantes, mas a escrita 茅 PER-FEI-TA.
Antes de mais nada, vamos tirar o elefante da sala. A narrativa 茅 em primeira pessoa. E n茫o 茅 contada por Cometa Jo, mas por Joia, uma esp茅cie de dispositivo inteligente que fica no bolso de Jo. Mas, como tudo nessa narrativa, nada 茅 t茫o simples quanto parece. Isso porque Delany usa uma s茅rie de met谩foras e prosopopeias ao longo da hist贸ria. Coisas podem ter vida, objetos podem ser narradores. Assim como Babel-17, 茅 uma leitura que vai exigir maturidade do leitor. Mas, no caso de Estrela Imperial o problema 茅 mais grave porque estamos diante de uma escrita mais po茅tica. Existe um cuidado do autor com o que ele est谩 apresentando nas p谩ginas. Cada par谩grafo tem mais de uma interpreta莽茫o poss铆vel. Os temas n茫o est茫o claramente delineados. O tempo funciona at茅 de forma diferente nessa narrativa. Lendo um artigo de Jo Walton sobre o tema (mat茅ria em ingl锚s, link aqui) ela chama essa dobra no espa莽o de tempo helicoidal. Basta eu dizer que assim que voc锚 terminar de ler, voc锚 vai querer reler para entender melhor determinados acontecimentos de um ponto de vista de eles j谩 terem acontecido.
O narrador 茅 totalmente n茫o confi谩vel. Isso porque Joia n茫o vai te dar todas as informa莽玫es naquele instante. E muita coisa vai ficar realmente incompreens铆vel simplesmente porque o leitor n茫o disp玫e de todas as informa莽玫es. E, tudo bem! Confie em Delany. Ele vai te dar as respostas assim que elas forem necess谩rias. Assim como Joia vai fornecer as informa莽玫es para Jo quando achar que precisa. Esse tempo helicoidal provoca uma esp茅cie de leitura de tr谩s para frente. Por esse motivo, a primeira leitura vai parecer truncada e estranha. Esse 茅 um livro que te obriga a rel锚-lo para esclarecer os pontos. E Delany faz isso de uma forma sensacional.
Cometa Jo vai passar por uma jornada de amadurecimento por toda a narrativa. Vamos ver que o personagem tem dificuldades para aceitar a si mesmo e qual 茅 o seu papel no universo. Quando ele recebe a miss茫o de levar uma mensagem at茅 Estrela Imperial, ele sente que se tornou uma pessoa especial. Mas, com o passar do tempo, os acontecimentos v茫o colocando o personagem em perspectiva e fazendo com que ele ponha os p茅s no ch茫o. Ou seja, esta n茫o 茅 uma jornada do her贸i, n茫o temos um escolhido pelo destino. Delany quebra esse clich锚 ao nos colocar diante de um personagem que 茅 comum. Sua mensagem vai ser importante a partir das li莽玫es que ele vai aprendendo. S茫o as pessoas com quem ele interage 茅 que v茫o lhe fornecendo pistas daquilo que ele deve realizar. Jo vai deixar uma marca indel茅vel na vida dessas pessoas, n茫o porque ele 茅 sensacional, mas porque ele aprende algo com cada um. Se pararmos para refletir 茅 quase como nossas vidas. Nenhum de n贸s 茅 um escolhido; somos pessoas que vivem exist锚ncias comuns. Mas, quando nos empenhamos em uma tarefa podemos deixar marcas na vida dos outros.
Temos que falar sobre os LLL. S茫o alien铆genas respons谩veis por terraformar planetas. Representam um recurso imprescind铆vel para os seres que habitam a gal谩xia. Mas, para isso, se torna necess谩rio escravizar os LLL. 脡 curioso pensar que em nenhum momento Delany usa de viol锚ncia ou tortura para representar a situa莽茫o destes seres. Apenas que eles se tornam objetos e que os donos ficam tristes ao empreg谩-los. O autor est谩 demonstrando que a escravid茫o vai al茅m do fato de algu茅m ser violado e violentado. Afinal, escravid茫o 茅 a perda da capacidade de ir e vir. E 茅 isso o que estes seres deixam de ter: liberdade. Jo vai se ver envolvido na tarefa de libert谩-los. Se ele vai conseguir ou n茫o, a铆 j谩 se trata de um outro assunto.
Senti que faltou um momento clim谩tico na narrativa. N茫o temos um grande acontecimento marcando o final, apenas as revela莽玫es sendo feitas. De um ponto de vista pr谩tico 茅 como se a narrativa seguisse um ritmo suave e constante por todo o livro, o que 茅 algo ruim. Normalmente, hist贸rias costumam ter picos estruturais, com momentos de 谩pice e outros de decl铆nio. Aqui n茫o temos isso. A estrutura segue uma s茅rie de idas e vindas em que Jo chega at茅 os lugares, conhece pessoas, descobre algumas coisas e depois segue em frente. Os personagens tamb茅m n茫o s茫o cativantes. Eles s茫o um meio para nos entregar a mensagem, como 茅 a miss茫o de Jo.
Estrela Distante 茅 uma narrativa mais madura de Samuel R. Delany. Ele d谩 uma aula de escrita para autores que buscam entender determinadas ferramentas mais avan莽adas. Temos um personagem desejando descobrir a si mesmo e o quanto ele pode fazer para mudar o mundo. Ele vai se ver envolvido em uma trama para libertar uma ra莽a alien铆gena com a capacidade de terraformar planetas. Mas, no final da jornada, ele vai descobrir o quanto de si mesmo restou e o quanto ele evoluiu como pessoa.
Comunica莽茫o 茅 uma palavra que envolve ser capaz de interagir com pessoas. Isso pode ser feito atrav茅s da fala, de gestos, de express玫es. A comunica莽茫o s贸 茅 conclu铆da quando os dois lados conseguem se entender mutuamente. Esse 茅 um dos temas de Babel-17, um cl谩ssico da fic莽茫o cient铆fica que finalmente chega ao Brasil pelas m茫os da Editora Morro Branco. Ficamos muito tempo 贸rf茫os de Samuel R. Delany, um dos grandes mestres da fic莽茫o cient铆fica e algu茅m que consegue falar de temas contempor芒neos, mesmo o livro tendo sido escrito h谩 algumas d茅cadas atr谩s. Aviso logo que Babel-17 茅 uma leitura dif铆cil, uma fic莽茫o cient铆fica dura onde as informa莽玫es n茫o est茫o sempre claras para o leitor. Exige pensar fora da narrativa e relacionar com outros assuntos; exige reflex茫o e ligar os pontos por n贸s mesmos. Por essa raz茫o, n茫o 茅 um livro para qualquer leitor. Contudo, se voc锚 for capaz de ultrapassar essa barreira inicial, vai perceber toda a genialidade do autor. Muito antes de A Chegada, filme baseado no conto de Ted Chiang, onde um grupo de cientistas tenta decifrar uma linguagem alien铆gena estranha, Rydra Wong procurava entender o que era Babel-17.
A narrativa do livro 茅 em terceira pessoa, visto do ponto de vista de Rydra. Acompanhamos sua jornada onde ela vai empregar uma tripula莽茫o bem diferente de seres. Ficamos sabendo que os terr谩queos est茫o em guerra com os Invasores, alien铆genas que parecem estar atacando a Terra e outros planetas. A Terra faria parte de uma Alian莽a de planetas. Bem, nesse ponto eu senti que as coisas n茫o ficaram muito claras. Delany n茫o explica bem o que acontece no contexto geral, deixando para o leitor juntar as pe莽as do quebra-cabe莽as. S贸 que informa莽玫es essenciais n茫o s茫o ditas, o que pode confundir bastante. A protagonista 茅 uma especialista em diferentes idiomas e c贸digos, al茅m de ser uma poetisa. Ela 茅 chamada para entender uma mensagem que est谩 sendo captada pelos sensores da Terra em uma linguagem que recebe o nome de Babel-17. Ao mesmo tempo estranhos incidentes e sabotagens acontecem em v谩rios pontos da Alian莽a, precedidos de uma mensagem em Babel-17. Uma miss茫o secund谩ria de Rydra 茅 investigar a rela莽茫o entre esses dois pontos.
Delany tem uma forma de escrita muito precisa aqui. 脡 at茅 curioso examinar a diferen莽a entre o que ele escreve aqui e Estrela Imperial onde a prosa 茅 mais po茅tica. Em alguns momentos, o autor assume at茅 um tom professoral, explicando as nuances do estudo de l铆nguas e c贸digos. Assumimos sempre que a comunica莽茫o precisa acontecer atrav茅s da fala; isso 茅 o senso comum. Mas, a verdade 茅 que esta pode acontecer mesmo quando as pessoas n茫o falam o mesmo idiomas, bastando que a mensagem enunciada seja compreendida pelo outro. Abaixo eu retomo melhor essa ideia. A narrativa segue uma linha bem simples de in铆cio, meio e fim. No come莽o somos apresentados ao contexto e ao problema a ser resolvido. O desenvolvimento coloca um obst谩culo para Rydra at茅 o momento em que ela conhece Jebel Tariq e o Carniceiro. E o fim 茅 o fechamento mesmo da narrativa, deixando poucos ganchos. Nesse sentido a hist贸ria 茅 bem fechadinha, com apenas algumas coisas podendo ser exploradas (mais no relativo ao mundo onde a hist贸ria se passa). Tem um momento clim谩tico quase no final que 茅 incr铆vel e vai agradar aos f茫s de scifi.
Diferentes aspectos da comunica莽茫o s茫o exploradas aqui: a diferen莽a de idiomas, a capacidade para interagir com o diferente e a aus锚ncia de si. Vou come莽ar pelo 贸bvio que 茅 o tema central da hist贸ria: Babel-17. Sempre acreditamos que idiomas falados precisam ter alguma rela莽茫o com qualquer um dos que s茫o falados no mundo. E temos centenas de idiomas espalhados por todo mundo, desde idiomas fon茅ticos at茅 movimentos com a boca como os empregados por uma tribo que vive na Nam铆bia e usa estalos para se comunicar. Mas, isso n茫o significa o mesmo para alien铆genas. Eles podem empregar m茅todos incompreens铆veis para n贸s, seres humanos. Infelizmente, terei que usar essa compara莽茫o, mas no conto que originou A Chegada, Chiang faz com que a protagonista, ao compreender o idioma dos alien铆genas, consiga enxergar o futuro (de certa forma). Aqui, a no莽茫o 茅 semelhante. 脌 medida em que Rydra vai compreendendo Babel-17, ela vai se dando conta de que o universo 茅 mais complexo do que ela imaginava. O simples entendimento dessa linguagem amplia a mente dela para a compreens茫o do todo.
Ao mesmo tempo temos a pr贸pria Rydra que lida com suas inseguran莽as e sua dificuldade de falar com outras pessoas. Vemos quando ela interage com Mocky o quanto ela luta para refor莽ar uma ideia de controle e comando. Mesmo ela n茫o estando certa de suas inten莽玫es, ela vai crescendo ao longo da narrativa e lidando com uma tripula莽茫o que ela mesma escolheu. O que come莽a como um grupo de pessoas estranhas umas para as outras vai criando la莽os e passando a confiar na habilidade de Rydra. No final, a efici锚ncia da equipe 茅 铆mpar, mesmo eles estando em outra nave que n茫o a Rimbaud, sua espa莽onave inicial.
Tenho tamb茅m que destacar a ideia dos tr锚s navegadores. A necessidade de serem tr锚s e n茫o apenas um. Nem vou comentar muito a respeito porque o motivo para isto 茅 t茫o legal que eu prefiro deixar para voc锚s lerem na narrativa. Mas, fato 茅 que os tr锚s precisam ter um contato muito pr贸ximo e normalmente isso acaba redundando em uma rela莽茫o de teor sexual. Na narrativa, Rydra encontra dois dos tr锚s (um deles havia morrido h谩 algum tempo atr谩s e Rydra precisa buscar um substituto para a fun莽茫o de n煤mero 1). Dos tr锚s temos um n煤mero 2 mais experiente e um n煤mero 3 inseguro. E eles querem que o n煤mero 1 seja uma mulher e que seja capaz de se relacionar com os 2. Mas, como encontrar algu茅m que consiga lidar com personalidades t茫o diferentes? Rydra acaba inovando e obrigando os dois a se esfor莽ar para conhecer melhor Mollya. Ela vai oferecer o que eles querem, mas com uma esp茅cie de bola curva para eles. Achei a op莽茫o sensacional e realmente os obrigou a conhecer melhor a pessoa que entrou para o grupo.
Mas, claro, um dos pontos altos de Babel-17 茅 o Carniceiro e a rela莽茫o que ele estabelece com Rydra. Aqui, a habilidade de Delany brilha. Vou dar leves, mas muito leves spoilers aqui. O Carniceiro 茅 um personagem que n茫o consegue usar os pronomes eu e voc锚. Sim, podem ler com aten莽茫o. Ele n茫o usa mesmo. Toda vez que ele vai se referir a si mesmo, o personagem apenas bate no peito. Acaba se referindo a outras pessoas na terceira pessoa. Percebendo a situa莽茫o dele, Rydra tenta ensin谩-lo a diferen莽a entre eu e voc锚 e o personagem tem uma enorme dificuldade para isso. Frequentemente ele vai se confundir a quem est谩 se referindo. O curioso 茅 que isso acaba criando algumas situa莽玫es estranhas em que o leitor precisa desconfiar daquilo que est谩 sendo dito. N茫o porque o narrador n茫o 茅 confi谩vel, mas porque este n茫o sabe dizer com precis茫o aquilo que est谩 dizendo. Isso nos obriga a confiar mais na cena e no contexto do que nos di谩logos. Quando eu li a primeira vez achei o trecho truncado, mas quando deu o estalo e eu voltei as p谩ginas para reler as passagens, parece que o mar se abriu.
A forma como o Carniceiro cresce na narrativa com o passar do tempo 茅 incr铆vel. E eu achei que ele seria s贸 as m茫os de Tariq, aquele cara que faz o servi莽o sujo. Mas, as camadas dele v茫o se revelando pouco a pouco e ele vai ganhando uma riqueza de detalhes. O que se torna uma rela莽茫o de ensinamento para Rydra vai se transformando em sua miss茫o 脿 medida em que detalhes sobre Babel-17 v茫o se cruzando com o subplot do Carniceiro. Sua rela莽茫o com ele vai se tornando um crescimento e amadurecimento para Rydra.
Babel-17 茅 genial. Como obra de fic莽茫o cient铆fica, toca em pontos sens铆veis como a dificuldade dos seres humanos em se comunicar uns com os outros, a facilidade que temos de julgar outras pessoas e o fato de ainda sermos muito jovens na medida de tempo universal. N茫o 茅 uma leitura simples, mas 茅 recompensadora no sentido de que vai nos fazer refletir sobre determinados assuntos e abrir nossas mentes para outras possibilidades. S贸 tenho a aplaudir a Morro Branco pela coragem em trazer Babel-17 para o Brasil, um hard scifi de extrema qualidade e por apresentar a muitos leitores a riqueza da escrita de Samuel R. Delany, um monstro do g锚nero. Agora, 茅 esperar para que a editora traga outros dois cl谩ssicos do autor: Nova e Dhalgren.
Resenha de Estrela Imperial:
Deixa eu respirar antes de fazer esta resenha. Porque ela 茅 dif铆cil de se colocar em palavras. Estrela Imperial 茅 um belo exemplo de como compor uma hist贸ria que se autorreferencia. Escrever hist贸rias c铆clicas n茫o 茅 algo f谩cil. Desde a era dos grandes livros sagrados, muitos autores tentaram compor este tipo de narrativa. Mas, sempre ficam furos ou problemas de coer锚ncia narrativa. Isso faz com que a hist贸ria tenha contradi莽玫es ou situa莽玫es internas fazendo o leitor entender a exist锚ncia de algo n茫o batendo. Delany consegue criar uma narrativa estruturalmente perfeita. A gente pode reclamar que a narrativa n茫o 茅 t茫o boa ou os personagens n茫o s茫o t茫o interessantes, mas a escrita 茅 PER-FEI-TA.
Antes de mais nada, vamos tirar o elefante da sala. A narrativa 茅 em primeira pessoa. E n茫o 茅 contada por Cometa Jo, mas por Joia, uma esp茅cie de dispositivo inteligente que fica no bolso de Jo. Mas, como tudo nessa narrativa, nada 茅 t茫o simples quanto parece. Isso porque Delany usa uma s茅rie de met谩foras e prosopopeias ao longo da hist贸ria. Coisas podem ter vida, objetos podem ser narradores. Assim como Babel-17, 茅 uma leitura que vai exigir maturidade do leitor. Mas, no caso de Estrela Imperial o problema 茅 mais grave porque estamos diante de uma escrita mais po茅tica. Existe um cuidado do autor com o que ele est谩 apresentando nas p谩ginas. Cada par谩grafo tem mais de uma interpreta莽茫o poss铆vel. Os temas n茫o est茫o claramente delineados. O tempo funciona at茅 de forma diferente nessa narrativa. Lendo um artigo de Jo Walton sobre o tema (mat茅ria em ingl锚s, link aqui) ela chama essa dobra no espa莽o de tempo helicoidal. Basta eu dizer que assim que voc锚 terminar de ler, voc锚 vai querer reler para entender melhor determinados acontecimentos de um ponto de vista de eles j谩 terem acontecido.
O narrador 茅 totalmente n茫o confi谩vel. Isso porque Joia n茫o vai te dar todas as informa莽玫es naquele instante. E muita coisa vai ficar realmente incompreens铆vel simplesmente porque o leitor n茫o disp玫e de todas as informa莽玫es. E, tudo bem! Confie em Delany. Ele vai te dar as respostas assim que elas forem necess谩rias. Assim como Joia vai fornecer as informa莽玫es para Jo quando achar que precisa. Esse tempo helicoidal provoca uma esp茅cie de leitura de tr谩s para frente. Por esse motivo, a primeira leitura vai parecer truncada e estranha. Esse 茅 um livro que te obriga a rel锚-lo para esclarecer os pontos. E Delany faz isso de uma forma sensacional.
Cometa Jo vai passar por uma jornada de amadurecimento por toda a narrativa. Vamos ver que o personagem tem dificuldades para aceitar a si mesmo e qual 茅 o seu papel no universo. Quando ele recebe a miss茫o de levar uma mensagem at茅 Estrela Imperial, ele sente que se tornou uma pessoa especial. Mas, com o passar do tempo, os acontecimentos v茫o colocando o personagem em perspectiva e fazendo com que ele ponha os p茅s no ch茫o. Ou seja, esta n茫o 茅 uma jornada do her贸i, n茫o temos um escolhido pelo destino. Delany quebra esse clich锚 ao nos colocar diante de um personagem que 茅 comum. Sua mensagem vai ser importante a partir das li莽玫es que ele vai aprendendo. S茫o as pessoas com quem ele interage 茅 que v茫o lhe fornecendo pistas daquilo que ele deve realizar. Jo vai deixar uma marca indel茅vel na vida dessas pessoas, n茫o porque ele 茅 sensacional, mas porque ele aprende algo com cada um. Se pararmos para refletir 茅 quase como nossas vidas. Nenhum de n贸s 茅 um escolhido; somos pessoas que vivem exist锚ncias comuns. Mas, quando nos empenhamos em uma tarefa podemos deixar marcas na vida dos outros.
Temos que falar sobre os LLL. S茫o alien铆genas respons谩veis por terraformar planetas. Representam um recurso imprescind铆vel para os seres que habitam a gal谩xia. Mas, para isso, se torna necess谩rio escravizar os LLL. 脡 curioso pensar que em nenhum momento Delany usa de viol锚ncia ou tortura para representar a situa莽茫o destes seres. Apenas que eles se tornam objetos e que os donos ficam tristes ao empreg谩-los. O autor est谩 demonstrando que a escravid茫o vai al茅m do fato de algu茅m ser violado e violentado. Afinal, escravid茫o 茅 a perda da capacidade de ir e vir. E 茅 isso o que estes seres deixam de ter: liberdade. Jo vai se ver envolvido na tarefa de libert谩-los. Se ele vai conseguir ou n茫o, a铆 j谩 se trata de um outro assunto.
Senti que faltou um momento clim谩tico na narrativa. N茫o temos um grande acontecimento marcando o final, apenas as revela莽玫es sendo feitas. De um ponto de vista pr谩tico 茅 como se a narrativa seguisse um ritmo suave e constante por todo o livro, o que 茅 algo ruim. Normalmente, hist贸rias costumam ter picos estruturais, com momentos de 谩pice e outros de decl铆nio. Aqui n茫o temos isso. A estrutura segue uma s茅rie de idas e vindas em que Jo chega at茅 os lugares, conhece pessoas, descobre algumas coisas e depois segue em frente. Os personagens tamb茅m n茫o s茫o cativantes. Eles s茫o um meio para nos entregar a mensagem, como 茅 a miss茫o de Jo.
Estrela Distante 茅 uma narrativa mais madura de Samuel R. Delany. Ele d谩 uma aula de escrita para autores que buscam entender determinadas ferramentas mais avan莽adas. Temos um personagem desejando descobrir a si mesmo e o quanto ele pode fazer para mudar o mundo. Ele vai se ver envolvido em uma trama para libertar uma ra莽a alien铆gena com a capacidade de terraformar planetas. Mas, no final da jornada, ele vai descobrir o quanto de si mesmo restou e o quanto ele evoluiu como pessoa.
November 28, 2020
The textures that Delany conjures out of his prose always makes me smile. These two shorter works are testaments to his imaginative mind. Discorporate navigators, multiplex computer blobs, a genetically enhanced space pilot made to resemble a lion; it's all here. He's still honing in his plotting at this point, but the text shines brightly on the page with rich, strange and brilliant concepts, characters and worlds to explore. These two stories revolve around the concepts of communication, and I guess you could argue that they're mirrors to each other? But I just see them as two exemplary conceptual explorations that Delany would carry with him to Nova, my favorite of his.
January 10, 2025
babel-17 has everything that has always endeared me to the genre. Every single sentence alludes to a broader universe. A bewildering society that you have to piece together line by line. Whose customs, fears, and dreams are made known to you by characters that very much speak their own language.
If you enjoyed Dune or Hyperion and the way in which they just thrust you upon a brand new world without a map, then you'll find a lot to love here.
NB: Empire Star (the short story alluded to in babel-17) is a bit weaker, and less composed than the above. Still, very much worthwhile especially if you enjoyed the narrative style of babel-17
If you enjoyed Dune or Hyperion and the way in which they just thrust you upon a brand new world without a map, then you'll find a lot to love here.
NB: Empire Star (the short story alluded to in babel-17) is a bit weaker, and less composed than the above. Still, very much worthwhile especially if you enjoyed the narrative style of babel-17
October 16, 2022
Honestly, I don鈥檛 have a ton of thoughts about this one. I enjoyed the first half of Babel-17 far more than the second half but I never really felt anything other than 鈥渨ell, this is fine鈥�.
I really liked Empire Star though! I really liked the evolution of the main character and I thought the story was just more interesting than Babel-17.
I really liked Empire Star though! I really liked the evolution of the main character and I thought the story was just more interesting than Babel-17.
August 22, 2024
Well, that was unique!
And quite progressive for its time. Even today.
Plenty of reviews detailing what makes this book (and author) stand out, so I won鈥檛 go too much into it.
But I will mention one thing that I didn鈥檛 see mentioned elsewhere; the writing assumes intelligence. The author expects you to be able to read in between the lines, across the lines, under the lines and above the lines.
He expects you to be able to connect the dots, and I found that very refreshing.
Definitely reading more from this strange author!
And quite progressive for its time. Even today.
Plenty of reviews detailing what makes this book (and author) stand out, so I won鈥檛 go too much into it.
But I will mention one thing that I didn鈥檛 see mentioned elsewhere; the writing assumes intelligence. The author expects you to be able to read in between the lines, across the lines, under the lines and above the lines.
He expects you to be able to connect the dots, and I found that very refreshing.
Definitely reading more from this strange author!
January 27, 2025
enjoyably confusing
June 27, 2024
Maybe easy to be harsher in hindsight and I can appreciate this as the OG of this type of story, but I just felt there are more interesting and more elegant uses of these same themes in later sci-fi work. Still very interesting though.
January 11, 2022
Both stories in this volume were excellent. Intellectual sci-fi for sure, but after having read (and struggled) with Dhalgren several years back, reading this book was a walk in the park! I kept waiting for the narrative to completely de-rail, but at age 24 Delany must not have fully acquired the mind-shredding tendencies he would display in his later works.
January 24, 2024
Samuel R. Delaney books always suck me in and then leave me scratching my head somewhere in the middle. In "Babel-17" the moment came when two characters have a telepathic encounter, and it is hard to tell what is actually happening. In "Empire Star" the circular time travel element reminded me of the Monkees' movie "Head" in that when you see the end in sight, the beginning may arrive. Interesting concepts but hard to navigate.
April 2, 2024
I've become convinced that winning a major award like the Oscars or the Hugo or Nebula means the book or movie was actually the WORST of the nominees rather than the best...cynical I know, but Oppenheimer did beat Killers of the Flower Moon, and Everything Everywhere All at Once did beat T脕R. Maybe awards have always worked that way, even for science fiction books in the 1960s.
I was excited for this book because it did win the Nebula and was nominated for the Hugo, and also because Samuel Delany seems like a genuinely kickass artist with a really cool vision. But Babel-17 is boring. There's no plot or character--ok, not that uncommon in science fiction. There's no world building--ok, weird...but ok. There's nothing really going on at all. I would finish entire chapters and think to myself "I don't know what I was just reading." Does the book even have words?
People seem to like Babel-17 purely for its discussion of language and semiotics. You could argue that that isn't enough to write a novel. I would argue that you're wrong; I would love to read a novel about semiotics. But Babel-17 doesn't say enough about them. It spends pages and pages talking about other irrelevant and boring things. I am genuinely shocked that people like the book for its linguistic discussion, because what discussion are they talking about? Discussed where? I can't agree more with the review on 欧宝娱乐 that says "Babel-17 is a mysterious language that does...something...somehow."
DNF after 120 pages
I was excited for this book because it did win the Nebula and was nominated for the Hugo, and also because Samuel Delany seems like a genuinely kickass artist with a really cool vision. But Babel-17 is boring. There's no plot or character--ok, not that uncommon in science fiction. There's no world building--ok, weird...but ok. There's nothing really going on at all. I would finish entire chapters and think to myself "I don't know what I was just reading." Does the book even have words?
People seem to like Babel-17 purely for its discussion of language and semiotics. You could argue that that isn't enough to write a novel. I would argue that you're wrong; I would love to read a novel about semiotics. But Babel-17 doesn't say enough about them. It spends pages and pages talking about other irrelevant and boring things. I am genuinely shocked that people like the book for its linguistic discussion, because what discussion are they talking about? Discussed where? I can't agree more with the review on 欧宝娱乐 that says "Babel-17 is a mysterious language that does...something...somehow."
DNF after 120 pages
January 1, 2021
I have decided to have integrity and count these together because this is the edition i read
EMPIRE STAR: This is actually the other side of Babel17 packaged as one book, and normally according to my rules I would not count this separately but it's december 29th so we are getting down to the wire. I don't feel guilty considering I did not count the berserk deluxe editions separately which if I had would put me at 4 books ahead.
I already finished a book today and was going to leave it at that, but again kai was pestering me to read this as she had read it yesterday. I said i had to do other tasks, but she wanted this enough that she followed me around while i did laundry and whatnot and she read the whole thing out loud. She did an excellent performance with different voices and accents. My favorite character by far was Lump.
As always with interstellar inception time loop type of stories I probably need to read this again to make proper sense of it. Though because this was kai's second time reading in two days she was catching stuff herself this go-around and told them to me at the end, so maybe I don't need that. I thought this was a comic in Babel 17 but I sitll appreciated the tie ins. How does the time loop stuff work with rydra wong's relationship with the fictional author? I have also not really had something this confusing presented in audio format, whether read aloud or on audiobook. I wonder how I would have fared if Kai had not just read it.
you could read this book or watch this clip
BABEL 17 : I kept getting distracted thinking about the fact that Sam Delany wrote this at age 23 while being a MEGAHOTTIE! In my mind all Sam Delany books and Cowboy Bebop take place in the same universe. I really liked how Rydra was the opposite of every empath. readers of my reviews (lol at me acting like ppl 1) read these and 2) have my reviewcanon on file in their brain) know my feelings on empaths. She was like no i dont have powers i am just very observant and good at pattern recognition.
I bought this for kai for her bday and she read it yesterday and has been PESTERING ME SO MUCH that it was difficult to enjoy reading and is difficult to write a review
Random thoughts I had throughout
-kept thinking of various conversations i've had recently. my last roommate and kai and i would have the "color conversation" about that one video that explains how colors are determined by language. We had this same conversation so many times (not in a boring way) that it got to the point where when someone would veer close to bringing up anything about colors we had to shut it down right away or we would stay up too late
-My sister was talking about sommeliers two days ago and asking if they taste more and I was telling her that based off the wine classes I've been forced to take at work I am pretty postive the whole thing is not that they have more taste buds or taste "more" but that they have a shared vocabulary to describe tastes and therefore can identify more tastes
-lonely man going to a part of the city where people still know how to communicate comment on p. 194 remind me of debates about stan twitter and appropriation of aave .
-convo kai and i had while watching meek mill footage;yearning
-the other day i found one of the bleakest subreddits i've seen. it's girls who use incel terminology in their desparate and unironic quest to become a Stacy...(they literally say that). These girls are obsessed with things about their appearance that I have literally never heard of. Their big thing for determining beauty is "philtrum length". I have never in my life thought about my or anyone elses philtrum, I did not even know what that was, and it got me thinking about how if I spent more time on that sub and learned what the "pretty" philtrum length would that change how i look at other people's and my own face? It probably would and I am happier not knowing!
-I am trying to get back into Ballet after a long hiatus and so I took two zoom classes to determine what would be best for easing back in: beginner and gentle adult. Though both have about the same level of complexity for combinations and difficulty in movement, the class flow was like night and day because of the difference in language. The beginner class necessarily had to spend what felt to me like endless time explaining stuff, while for the gentle adult class the teacher can just say the combo and the class can do the exercise immediately because we have a shared terminology. getting into any hobby always feels like learning to read and then it is so magical when you do learn it all and can be so much more efficient
-language that forms between close friends or couples or families
-i think my friends @radia and @soph would like this book. in another life i would have studied linguistics
-interesitng how subject-object was such a big deal and also cases (can barely comprehend what case means) verb tense which is what i am always fascinated by with other languages bc of conception of time was not brought up as much
-sorry this is totally incoherent this is for my own memory purposes
-also hot that the poems are all by Marilyn Hacker. In my mind she and Sam Delany have a Kehlani-Jayvughn-Adeya arrangement
-among us
-The part where she figures out how to unravel the netting and then applies that to the battle formations... the ways patterns in our regular life that are due to our language/way of thinking show up in other contexts. could go on all day but this applies to weaving and binaries
-why do we have such boring body mods when it could be limitless
-was a bit bored at the space battles but otherwise loved reading it and as always love the city and dinner scenes
-loved stuff like the discorporate entitites and the makeup of the ships crew
kai will not stop tlaking to me so i cant even finish this shes singing nonsesne right now ok i liked this a lot i am looking forward to reading empire star
EMPIRE STAR: This is actually the other side of Babel17 packaged as one book, and normally according to my rules I would not count this separately but it's december 29th so we are getting down to the wire. I don't feel guilty considering I did not count the berserk deluxe editions separately which if I had would put me at 4 books ahead.
I already finished a book today and was going to leave it at that, but again kai was pestering me to read this as she had read it yesterday. I said i had to do other tasks, but she wanted this enough that she followed me around while i did laundry and whatnot and she read the whole thing out loud. She did an excellent performance with different voices and accents. My favorite character by far was Lump.
As always with interstellar inception time loop type of stories I probably need to read this again to make proper sense of it. Though because this was kai's second time reading in two days she was catching stuff herself this go-around and told them to me at the end, so maybe I don't need that. I thought this was a comic in Babel 17 but I sitll appreciated the tie ins. How does the time loop stuff work with rydra wong's relationship with the fictional author? I have also not really had something this confusing presented in audio format, whether read aloud or on audiobook. I wonder how I would have fared if Kai had not just read it.
you could read this book or watch this clip
BABEL 17 : I kept getting distracted thinking about the fact that Sam Delany wrote this at age 23 while being a MEGAHOTTIE! In my mind all Sam Delany books and Cowboy Bebop take place in the same universe. I really liked how Rydra was the opposite of every empath. readers of my reviews (lol at me acting like ppl 1) read these and 2) have my reviewcanon on file in their brain) know my feelings on empaths. She was like no i dont have powers i am just very observant and good at pattern recognition.
I bought this for kai for her bday and she read it yesterday and has been PESTERING ME SO MUCH that it was difficult to enjoy reading and is difficult to write a review
Random thoughts I had throughout
-kept thinking of various conversations i've had recently. my last roommate and kai and i would have the "color conversation" about that one video that explains how colors are determined by language. We had this same conversation so many times (not in a boring way) that it got to the point where when someone would veer close to bringing up anything about colors we had to shut it down right away or we would stay up too late
-My sister was talking about sommeliers two days ago and asking if they taste more and I was telling her that based off the wine classes I've been forced to take at work I am pretty postive the whole thing is not that they have more taste buds or taste "more" but that they have a shared vocabulary to describe tastes and therefore can identify more tastes
-lonely man going to a part of the city where people still know how to communicate comment on p. 194 remind me of debates about stan twitter and appropriation of aave .
-convo kai and i had while watching meek mill footage;yearning
-the other day i found one of the bleakest subreddits i've seen. it's girls who use incel terminology in their desparate and unironic quest to become a Stacy...(they literally say that). These girls are obsessed with things about their appearance that I have literally never heard of. Their big thing for determining beauty is "philtrum length". I have never in my life thought about my or anyone elses philtrum, I did not even know what that was, and it got me thinking about how if I spent more time on that sub and learned what the "pretty" philtrum length would that change how i look at other people's and my own face? It probably would and I am happier not knowing!
-I am trying to get back into Ballet after a long hiatus and so I took two zoom classes to determine what would be best for easing back in: beginner and gentle adult. Though both have about the same level of complexity for combinations and difficulty in movement, the class flow was like night and day because of the difference in language. The beginner class necessarily had to spend what felt to me like endless time explaining stuff, while for the gentle adult class the teacher can just say the combo and the class can do the exercise immediately because we have a shared terminology. getting into any hobby always feels like learning to read and then it is so magical when you do learn it all and can be so much more efficient
-language that forms between close friends or couples or families
-i think my friends @radia and @soph would like this book. in another life i would have studied linguistics
-interesitng how subject-object was such a big deal and also cases (can barely comprehend what case means) verb tense which is what i am always fascinated by with other languages bc of conception of time was not brought up as much
-sorry this is totally incoherent this is for my own memory purposes
-also hot that the poems are all by Marilyn Hacker. In my mind she and Sam Delany have a Kehlani-Jayvughn-Adeya arrangement
-among us
-The part where she figures out how to unravel the netting and then applies that to the battle formations... the ways patterns in our regular life that are due to our language/way of thinking show up in other contexts. could go on all day but this applies to weaving and binaries
-why do we have such boring body mods when it could be limitless
-was a bit bored at the space battles but otherwise loved reading it and as always love the city and dinner scenes
-loved stuff like the discorporate entitites and the makeup of the ships crew
kai will not stop tlaking to me so i cant even finish this shes singing nonsesne right now ok i liked this a lot i am looking forward to reading empire star
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