Babel
Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
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4.7 • 23 Ratings
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- €7.49
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
Unexpected
I started reading Babel without knowing much about it. The plot sounded interesting, but it didn’t give away too much about what the book was actually going to be about. So I went into it pretty much blind—and I’m actually really glad I did.
While the beginning was a bit of a slow burn, the author did an incredible job going into detail—exploring the characters, their emotions, and everything that was unfolding. I really appreciated how she wove in all the complex ideas she wanted to address. She also did a great job of showing different sides of humanity and touching on issues that still feel very relevant to our world today.
As the story progressed, it slowly turned into one of those books I just couldn’t put down. I needed to know how it was going to end and how the characters were going to deal with the situations they found themselves in. This wasn’t a lighthearted or whimsical fantasy—it was more grounded, with just a touch of fantasy layered over a very realistic and historical backdrop. I really enjoyed how the book dealt with emotions, consequences, relationships, and the messiness of life in such a raw and real way.
I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll keep things vague—but I loved how everything came full circle in the end. While I might’ve wanted a slightly different approach at the beginning, I’m honestly really satisfied with the direction the author took and how everything ultimately came together.
Excellent world and character creation
Good