Essay by Ted Gioia
Babel-17
by Samuel R. Delany
|
Even as science fiction authors became more daring
in the 1960s, few found ways of reconciling the leading
experimental tendencies of the day with the demands
of genre fiction. In the world of literary fiction, novelists
were stretching syntax and semantics, engaging in fanciful
wordplay and moving
beyond the time-honored
conventions of narrative
structure. In science fiction,
in contrast, authors were
enlivening their tales with
more expansive plot lines—
embracing sociological and
religious themes and bor-
rowing heavily from current
thinking about mythology
and psychology—yet the
language of their stories still
betrayed sci-fi's pulp fiction
roots. The leading science fiction authors might construct
elaborate spaceships or time machines….but were usually
afraid to tinker with sentence structures.
Except for Samuel R. Delany. Delany had grand ambitions
for science fiction. A prodigy who started writing in his
teens, and had published seven sci-fi novels before the age
of 25, Delany aimed not only to broaden the themes of
genre lit but also its language. Sometimes his prose took
on the fanciful qualities of poetry, at other times he wrote
in a stream-of-consciousness style or even experimented with
the way the words were presented on the page. Not all of
his risk-taking paid off—his most famous novel, Dhalgren,
is like Ulysses' evil twin—but at his best, Delany was one of
the great visionaries of sci-fi, taking genre fiction to places
it had never been before.
Related Reviews
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Nova by Samuel R. Delany
Babel-17, written around the time of Delany's 23rd birthday,
still stands out as one of the most successful attempts to
mix the language games of modernists and postmodernists
with a taut science fiction plot line. Delany achieves this
by making linguistics a key part of his plot—an unusual
move for any novelist, highbrow or lowbrow, but very
much in keeping with sci-fi's absorption of the human
sciences during this period. As a result, the unconventional
sentences and page layouts that often seem gratuitous in
other Delany books not only fit seamlessly here, but are
even essential to the unfolding story.
Our chief protagonist, Rydra Wong is a poet, skilled linguist
and intergalactic literary celebrity…and, yes, a starship
captain in her spare time. Leading characters in Delany's
stories often come across as extensions of the author, and
like her creator, Wong is obsessed with the way meaning
is conveyed in language. Because of her knack with words,
Wong has been enlisted by the military to assist in breaking
a code called Babel-17. This code has been detected on
radio transmissions that are invariably timed to coincide
with acts of sabotage at various parts of the galaxy.
Wong soon realizes that Babel-17 is not a code, but a
language, and a peculiar one at that. Is it a kind of
communicative music? Is it a more precise logical
framework for concepts? Is it a type of computer language,
but designed for people instead of machines? Is it a
linguistic tool for brainwashing? Or is it simply an
evolutionary dead-end, destroying those who use it too
much? For once, Delany has a legitimate excuse to
integrate his musings on words and extravagant
phraseology into a sci-fi thriller, and though Chomsky
might not approve of the theoretical orientation of this
tale—which violates his theory of generative grammar at
every turn—Delany both enlightens and entertains. The
result is one of the landmarks of linguistic sci-fi, setting
the foundation for later works such as Stanislaw Lem's
His Master's Voice, China Miéville's Embassytown, Ted
Chiang's "Understand" and Don DeLilllo's Ratner's Star.
If the idea of linguistic science fiction leaves you
apprehensive, rest assured that Delany successfully
integrates his story of language and translation into a
fast-paced adventure story—not always a given with
this author. In order to unravel the intricacies of
Babel-17, Wong needs to set out in a spaceship, and is
soon caught up in the ongoing galactic conflict between
the Alliance and the Invaders. 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
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….Fruit rolled over the edge." It's as if
the NY Times had fired its war correspondents and
replaced them with restaurant reviewers.
The same distinctive Delany-esqe mixture of combat
and unusual language stands out in his big battle scene
—here, for inexplicable reasons, the military commander
relies on psychoanalytical jargon for all his strategizing
and communications to the troops. I found this inspired
bit of doggerel strangely appealing: "Neurotics advance.
Maintain contact to avoid separation anxiety….Let the
criminally insane schiz out….Neurotics proceed with
delusions of grandeur….Stimulate severe depression,
noncommunicative, with repressed hostility….Commence
the first psychotic episode…."
As such passages may suggest, readers need to make
allowances for this author's eccentricities. And there are
many quirks here, as you might expect from a writer
who proclaims Let the criminally insane schiz out. Be
forewarned: If you are waiting for Delany to explain
why he makes a soldier talk like Sigmund Freud or
worries more about the food than the fatalities at a
bloody banquet or has put some incongruous bit of
poetry in the middle of his story…you will be waiting
in vain. He forces you to construct with your own
interpretation—if you can.
Almost every one of Delany’s novels could have been
named Stranger in a Strange Book. But here the strangeness
works. Even today many doubt that genre conventions
can coexist with literary experimentation. Babel-17 is a
corrective to that skepticism, an avant-garde space opera
that sets its own terms of engagement and played a key
role in reinventing science fiction during a period of
transition and transgression. A half-century later, the
tables have turned, and highbrow literary authors are
now trying to assimilate aspects of genre fiction. It's to
Delany’s credit that, even in this changed environment,
this brash novel still can serve as a touchstone and role
model.
Publication date: March 31, 2012
Ted Gioia writes on music, literature and popular culture. His
latest book is Love Songs: The Hidden History, published by
Oxford University Press.
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Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
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