Babel : : or the Necessity of Violence : an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	On Hold Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 05-05-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 05-04-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 04-14-2024
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 04-09-2024
Pittsfield Adult Books 2-week checkout	Express Shelf Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	2-week checkout	Due 05-04-2024
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 05-06-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 05-01-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 05-22-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Kuang, R. F.	4-week checkout	Due 05-16-2024

"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?"--Amazon.com.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Liguists are heroes submitted by atpierce on June 9, 2023, 12:24pm A fascinating read. Set in a fictitious Victorian england where there is magic in those things that are "lost in translation" between languages. This book ticks a lot of boxes -- a fun historical fiction/fantasy read, but also a book that will get you thinking about imperialism and social justice.

The connection between colonialism and academe submitted by tuttlium on June 14, 2023, 1:03pm I loved this book so much. The main character is brought from Canton/Guangzhou to a fantasy/historical Oxford to become a scholar of language. The plot is driven by his ambivalence about Oxford -- while he loves the scholarly work and feels at home there in many ways, he also recognizes the institution and the people within it for their oppression and collusion with/support of colonization in China and elsewhere. RF Kuang's works are both erudite and tightly plotted. I stayed up way too late reading this one to see how it would end.

Incredible submitted by jschell42 on July 2, 2023, 10:41am Such an incredible novel that weaves together magical realism, colonialism, histories of language and translation, and more. Don't be intimidated by the length, once it gets going, it really flies by.

Good, but sometimes a slow burn submitted by brendjac on July 23, 2023, 3:49pm Reading this was a bit of a slog at times, owing primarily to the often-dense tangents of etymology and political theory. However, I think it’s a testament to Kuang’s writing prowess that she manages to make it work anyhow. I certainly appreciated reading a historical fantasy book that actually engages meaningfully with racism, colonialism, and how those forces collide within the people consumed by empire. Definitely a worthwhile read, but it’s not quick or light to say the least.