Audible
English language
Published by HarperAudio.
Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
Audible
English language
Published by HarperAudio.
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 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.
Babel is the world's center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's …
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 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.
Babel is the world's center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's quest to colonize everything it encounters.
Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports 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?