Babel
Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
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4.1 • 308 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES AND #1 NYT BESTSELLER
‘One for Philip Pullman fans’
THE TIMES
‘This one is an automatic buy’
GLAMOUR
‘Ambitious, sweeping and epic’
EVENING STANDARD
‘Razor-sharp’
DAILY MAIL
‘An ingenious fantasy about empire’
GUARDIAN
'Literary super-stardom doesn't seem too far out of her reach now'
THE HERALD
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.
Oxford, 1836.
The city of dreaming spires.
It is the centre of all knowledge and progress in the world.
And at its centre is Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. The tower from which all the power of the Empire flows.
Orphaned in Canton and brought to England by a mysterious guardian, Babel seemed like paradise to Robin Swift.
Until it became a prison…
But can a student stand against an empire?
An incendiary new novel from award-winning author R.F. Kuang about the power of language, the violence of colonialism, and the sacrifices of resistance.
'A masterpiece that resonates with power and knowledge. BABEL is a stark picture of the cruelty of empire, a distillation of dark academia, and a riveting blend of fantasy and historical fiction – a monumental achievement’
Samantha Shannon, author of THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE
R.F. Kuang’s book ‘Babel’ was a New York Times bestseller w/c 11-09-2022.
About the author
Rebecca F. Kuang is a Marshall Scholar, Chinese-English translator, and the Astounding Award-winning and the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author of the Poppy War trilogy and the forthcoming Babel. Her work has won the Crawford Award and the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Woven into Babel, a thrilling work of fantasy, is an astute dissection of the nature of exploitation. The resulting book is both entertaining and thought-provoking, with relevance for the present day despite its 19th-century setting. Much of the action takes place in Oxford, in the lead-up to the First Opium War. Robin Swift is taken from his home in China after the death of his mother, raised in England by a cold guardian, and then sent to a prestigious Oxford translators’ institute whose magical silver-work facilitates much of modern life—and for which he has been groomed apparently since birth. Here, he is forced to reckon with what this work, in the service of the Empire, really means for the rest of the world. He must decide, too, what lengths he will go to in order to fight the violence of the current world order. Will he embrace violence himself? It’s a dramatic story of shifting allegiances, of twists and betrayals, and of a search for the right thing to do, however unpleasant it may be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kuang (the Poppy War trilogy) underwhelms with a didactic, unsubtle take on dark academia and imperialism. After the unnamed protagonist's mother dies in 1830s Canton, he dubs himself Robin Swift at the urging of professor Richard Lovell, an Oxford sinologist who tutors Mandarin-speaking Robin to become a student at Babel, Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation. Robin falls in love with Oxford and his cohort: witty Calcutta-born Ramiz Rafi Mirza; secretive Haitian-born Victorie Desgraves; and self-righteous Brighton-born Letitia Price. Together they learn the magical process of capturing in silver the linguistic nuances lost in translation—and along the way uncover the process's ties to imperialism. This brilliant, ambitious concept falters in execution, reading more like a postcolonial social history than a proper novel. The narrative is frequently interrupted by lectures on why imperialism is bad, not trusting the reader or the plot itself enough to know that this message will be clear from the events as they unfold. Kuang assumes an audience that disagrees with her, and the result keeps readers who are already aware of the evils of racism and empire at arm's length. The characters, meanwhile, often feel dubiously motivated. Readers will be drawn in by the fascinating, linguistic magic system and righteous stance, but many will come away frustrated.
Customer Reviews
Absolutely the best book
This book was a thrill to read, with characters I would die for. The writing is so satisfying, I thought it would be out if my league but it’s made me feel smarter just reading and expanding my understanding. The world building is beautiful and felt I could create a very vivid image of their world. Just a stunning book and hope more come out!
Tedious
Really enjoyed the start. However the plotting became preposterous and the arguments longwinded. I ran out of interest long before the end but fought through to last page.
What a super book
Great read and an unusual story idea. Well worth a read.