Babel-17

by

Paperback, 173 pages

English language

Published March 26, 1966 by Ace Books.

OCLC Number:
617016

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(2 reviews)

During an interstellar war one side develops a language, Babel-17, that can be used as a weapon. Learning it turns one into an unwilling traitor as it alters perception and thought. This is discovered by the starship captain Rydra Wong. She is recruited to discover how the enemy are infiltrating and sabotaging strategic sites.

17 editions

reviewed Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

Linguistic Sci-Fi

Some fiction centers around plot, and while Babel-17's plot is truly captivating, the thoughts and ideas intermingled with it are what kept me reading the book and affected my thought process. Which is precisely one of the important themes of the book: how much does the language affect who we are? Could we imagine a language that when spoken or thought would change the way one perceives the world? As if this alone wouldn't be exciting, Delany bases off his work on Plato's Dialogues - making firm connection to philosophy.

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Subjects

  • Linguistics
  • Alien language
  • Espionage