Throughout Nova we are presented with notion that cultural identity is breaking down. Of course, in the 32nd century, planets are as different as cities are now. But it is clear that Delaney is commenting on the spread of information technology and the globalization it causes. At first we hear what a tragedy it is, that interplanetary society weakens cultural bonds, but at the end of the book we are presented with a different view. Katin says this to the Mouse: "You've collected the ornamentations a dozen societies have left us over the ages and made them inchoately yours. You're the product of those tensions that clashed in the time of [Ashton] Clark and you resolve them on your syrynx..." It is possible that the Mouse represents a new kind of space culture, but I fail to see how he carries with him much of the old culture. The Mouse never seems to come to terms with his Gypsy identity. This is suggested as one of the few remaining unchanged cultures, and Mouse has completely rejected it, apart from the cursory wearing of a ring. Whatever the cultures of the 32nd century may be, they do not seem to well represent the cultures of the 20th. Upper class society, in both Draco and the Pleiades, is clearly western: whatever Von Ray's ancestry may be, he is quite definitely culturally white. And as for the rest of the crew, Lynceos and Idas, though they may be black, (or albino, but they are both essentially the same so no matter.) are not in any way culturally black. They again represent a new culture. Tyy is Asian, but again seems culturally western, except for the Pleiades accent, which sounds exotic but is not at all linked to a race. Clearly Delaney has constructed a future without racial identity. When Greg Tate said that "the race of these characters is not at the core of their cultural identity," he could very easily have been looking at the characters of Nova. Not having read any other Delaney books, I can't really comment on his claim that he later books would better satisfy Tate. It is interesting that Delaney says he follows James Baldwin's view that "white" is not a race. To what group then does he ascribe the western cultural identity which dominated Nova?