Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution
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?
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
4,3
★★★★☆601 betyg
4,5
★★★★☆574 betyg
Recensioner skrivs bara av personer med aktiv prenumeration som betygsatt boken.
So many references so you learn a lot! It’s accessible dark academia, found family, antic-colonialist and kinda makes you want to become a translator as well
Adelina
5
5
It was definitly not what I expected! I had a very good time listening to it and thought it raises a lot of important topics everyone should read about. There were several plottwists that really got me.
Alicia
4
5
Wow, det var en tung bok att ta sig igenom! Jag gav nästan upp flera gånger gånger. Det tog mig en hel månad att bli klar, även med ljudboken. Ibland tyckte jag att den var så djup, insiktsfull, lärorik och spännande. Däremot kom jag bort mig ganska många gånger. Jag tycker att den ska läsas som en fysisk bok och kanske till och med mer än en gång. Jag är lite orolig att jag missat några viktiga punkter. På det hela taget älskade jag hur lärorik den var
Ninette
3
5
I really wanted to like this book, the idea of translation as a form of magic was fascinating. However, the book is too long and the author keeps explaining how racism and colonialism are bad and doesn’t trust the reader to understand anything without repetition and preaching.
Satu
2
4
från 59 kr/mån
Fyll ditt liv med berättelser
