November 25, 2023 
Reviewed by:
G. Connor Salter, Professional Writing alumnus from Taylor University, Upland, IN.
Title:
Night Operation
Author:
Publisher:
Publication Date:
October 1, 2008
Format:
Paperback
Length:
80 pages
OVERVIEW
Written by C.S. Lewis’ lifelong friend Owen Barfield, this sci-fi novella written in the 1970s imagines a stark future. The planet’s surface has been decimated. People live underground in controlled communities with no access to books and limited information about the terrorist attacks that rendered the world above unlivable. However, things start to change for three young men when one of them gets rare access to the forbidden library. Books allow them to see how language evolved over time, opening up their minds to a new worldview. Then they must decide if it’s worth taking the risk to see if the outside is really as dangerous as the authorities say.
Barfield had a variety of themes in common with his fellow Inklings (Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and others). One thing that was unique to him was his passion for studying how language impacts how humans perceive the world. In nonfiction books like History in English Words, he argued that the words we use don’t just change how we describe the world, but how we understand it. Consider, for example, how many words ancient Greek has for different kinds of love, while modern English has only one.
The emphasis on language makes Night Operation a surprising book. Essentially, it’s dystopian fiction, but it argues that the thing we need to be concerned about is not dictators who accomplish everything by might (as in The Hunger Games) but those who start by removing the tools (books, language) we use to think. In a time when library censorship and lack of education about the past are both increasing, this lesson couldn’t be more important.
Barfield also produces some surprising predictions about future tech in his dystopia. There are discussions about terrorist attacks, robot technology creating widely available sex bots, and how these factors create a frightened human society replacing human needs with artificial substitutes.
A fascinating sci-fi story about what makes an educated society, the path to dictatorship, and what humans need to grow.
ASSESSMENT
Rating (1 to 5 stars)
5 stars
Suggested Audience:
Adult readers who enjoy sci-fi stories that consider potential futures, the value of human learning, and what separates humanity from machines.
Christian Impact
Barfield considers various aspects of what makes people human, all connected to an essentially Judeo-Christian worldview.
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[…] much it reminded me of a friend of C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and especially Barfield’s novella Night Operation. He was very interested in how language changes (what he called the evolution of consciousness), […]