Week 10 - Babel17

                                                  

         I can see why it has won some literary prizes back in its day. It packs quite a lot of ideas for the number of pages it has. Most of those ideas relate to language and communication, but there is also weapon development, faster than light navigation, genetic enhancement, a bit of battle action and a memorable trip through a dystopian city peopled with oddball characters, both alive and incorporate. It centers around a woman called Rydra Wong who is a gifted poet and linguist in a far future where an alliance of humans and aliens is at war with other aliens. She is approached by the military to decode a strange language that appears to be being used to sabotage weapons and ships across the galaxy. Delany’s prose is beautiful and filled with energy, the plot also whips you along through huge drama and betrayals, but then there’s also poetry and moments of reflection on societal norms and the self. It’s a clever book. To read something so playful in language, so inventive in language, is a treat. To read something so intelligent regarding language, to decide what language is important and how it becomes important and why different languages may possibly lead to different cultural ideas is also a treat. To have it wrapped in a wonderful bundle of book full of spies and adventure was more than I could’ve asked for. One of my most interesting reads yet I want to say. I really liked the style of the author and they way he wrote so it was an easier read for me to follow along and the fun-packed adventures made it the kind of book where you don’t want to stop reading.