Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' RevolutionInstant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War “Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out.” -- Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide… Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - quondame - LibraryThingA readable reliably paced story, with interesting and attractive characters to follow and nasty villains and systems. It is a hate letter to British Imperialism as seen by the privileged but visually ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - ScoLgo - LibraryThingAfter being disappointed in The Poppy War, I decided to give the author another go and ended up liking this more than I expected. It's a bit of a slow burn with deep dives into the meaning of words in ... Read full review
Contents
Chapter TwentyOne | |
Chapter TwentyTwo | |
Chapter TwentyThree | |
Chapter TwentyFour | |
Chapter TwentyFive | |
Chapter TwentySix | |
Chapter TwentySeven | |
Chapter TwentyEight | |
Chapter Nine | |
Chapter | |
Chapter Eleven | |
Chapter Twelve | |
Chapter Nineteen | |
Chapter Twenty | |
Chapter TwentyNine | |
Chapter Thirty | |
Chapter ThirtyTwo | |
Chapter ThirtyThree | |
Epilogue | |
Acknowledgements | |
Other editions - View all
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford ... R. F. Kuang No preview available - 2022 |
Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford ... R.F. Kuang No preview available - 2022 |
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution |
| Author | R. F. Kuang |
| Publisher | HarperCollins, 2022 |
| ISBN | 0063021447, 9780063021440 |
| Length | 560 pages |
| Subjects | › › Fiction / Alternative History Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy Fiction / Fantasy / Epic Fiction / Fantasy / Historical Fiction / Literary |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |