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. 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
ISBN-13: 9780063021426
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 08/23/2022
Pages: 560
Sales rank: 3,740
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.90(d)
Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, 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, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.
The story of Babel does not have a single, definitive conclusion. The text itself is open to interpretation, and different people may find different meanings in it.
The Alpha's Warlock In "The Alpha's Warlock," the narrative centers around two main characters: Alpha Kael,…
embracing imperfections Let’s talk about something that touches each of our lives in one way…
The Cold War: A Tense Standoff Introduction The Cold War was not just a period…
The Birth of Bitcoin Introduction In a world where traditional finance often feels cumbersome and…
The Broken Mute’s Revenge In "The Broken Mute's Revenge," the story revolves around a young…
Introduction Imagine a classroom where students take the reins of their own education, setting their…
This website uses cookies.