Babel-17

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany is a novel that I was looking forward to reading. I had even planned out specific times where I could completely devote myself to pouring over the pages and absorbing all the little details, a luxury I haven't always had time for this semester. The reason why I was so anxious to start this novel was because I'm really interested in the concept of languages. The fact that we as a species, over the span of how many years, were able to create thousands of different dialects with which to communicate with is extremely fascinating to me. So, clearly, the choice novel for me was one about this fantastical “evil language”. I was prepared to be thrown head first into the world where Rydra Wong and the rest of the characters exist. Or, at least, I thought I was. I'll admit to stumbling over the first few chapters of the novel, trying desperately to grasp what was happening. It's strange, now that I think about it, that the novel was like another language to me. What I appreciated was Delanay's fairly simple, straightforward writing style. I think that, should he have tried to write in a more “typical sci-fi” style, where the author can go on for paragraphs at a time about a certain piece of equipment or machinery, along with the complex and thought-out world that we are so quickly brought into, then the novel would just be another two-dollar paperback in a bin somewhere. The familiar language of the text was the foothold I used to get a grasp on what I was reading, most of the time. I didn't finish the novel, but I did get about half-way through. I neither liked, nor disliked what I had read, and that's probably why I stopped. At some time later, I'd like to go back and reread it with the knowledge I have now. I definitely think that Babel-17 is something that is made to be read more than once. My favorite section that I read was the part about the “siren” woman, who cast her hypnotic spell over the male narrator. It was written with such a sophisticated style, with the lack of definite dialogue, that it stuck out in the back of my mind for weeks. Not to be a cliché animation student or anything, but I was reminded of the scene in Disney's Princess and the Frog, where Tiana sings in the sugar mill, and the style changes from the typical Disney to something much more flat, and highly stylized.