Babel-17

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Samuel R. Delany: Babel-17 (Paperback, 1999, Gollancz)

Paperback, 193 pages

Publié 8 novembre 1999 par Gollancz.

ISBN :
978-1-85798-805-5
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(2 critiques)

18 éditions

a publié une critique de Babel-17 (Sphere science fiction) par Samuel R. Delany

Part pulp, part high-brow

Aucune note

A confusing mix when it comes to tone, this story reads mostly as a pulpy space opera, except for those moments where it launches into complicated discussions of linguistics and grammar.

Rydra Wong is a poet with such a great knack for learning languages that it borders on telepathy (body language is a language too, after all), and she uses her talent to decode the messages of the Invaders who, as the name suggests, are at war with her society.

I'm not a linguist, but I believe that the scientific theories on which the premise of this book is based have been debunked , which didn't help my suspension of disbelief. Personally, I was much more interested in another idea Delany introduced: discorporate people. Basically, in the future we prove that ghosts do exist, we just haven't yet developed the technology needed to perceive them. Without technological intervention we simply …

a publié une critique de Babel-17 par Samuel R. Delany (The Gregg Press science fiction series)

None

Babel-17 is an interesting novel that knows how connect the seemingly distant worlds of linguistics, logic and programming languages - with an appreciated dose of space invaders, spies and fights.

This piece of fiction won the Nebula prize in the 1967, in a tie with Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon"

I could deeply appreciate its concepts as I'm currently also learning about these same topics, and the book also made me think of "Arrival" and others Ted Chieng's stories - yet the universe created by Delany is sometimes hard to picture, probably because of the extent use of peculiar words which globally hindered my experience as a non native reader.

Sujets

  • Science Fiction