Babel Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

Ein Meisterwerk der hervorragenden Autorin R. F. Kuang. Vereint die Magie der Sprache mit der Geschichte des Kolonialismus im Oxford der 1830er Jahre. Ein herausragend recherchierter Fantasyroman.

After her fantasy series inspired by ancient China and its history, R.F Kuang takes her work to the West. Babel is primarily set in alternative version of mid 19th century England, specificially the college town of Oxford. The story´s protagonist, Robin Swift, was born under a different name in Canton. After his family die from a mysterious disease, his life is saved by an English professor and a magical silver bar. The man, named Lovell, gives him his new name and takes him to England where he is raised with the goal of going to Oxford. This version of Oxford is home to the Royal Institute of Translation, also known under the name Babel. Babel educates young people from all over the world in the art of translation, because in this world, the power of words isn´t just a concept, it is a fact: engraved in silver bars, foreign words and their translation have the power to change reality. When Robin comes to Babel and meets his three classmates - the white daughter of an army man, a black haitian girl raised in France and a boy from India - he soon has to face the reality of being a person of color in a white society. Babel isn´t a story that is read easily. The magic of silver working is a thinly veiled metaphor for the Industrial Revolution and the exploitation of non-white people in England and her colonies. But it´s exactly this heaviness, both topically and stylistically, is what makes it such an important book. Too often, stories of the Industrial Revolution are focused on the oppressed white worker labouring in growing cities. And while those stories are important and certainly deserve to be told, they shouldn´t overshadow the stories of the people of colour who were exploited by the Western countries for centuries.

Not gonna lie, as my first dark academia book, I thought this might bore me and would not be abel to keep me in it's grasp but oh boy, was I wrong! I was really invested in Robins story and eventho it has a certain.. length.. to it I really enjoyed it!