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

PenPaperDice@buecher.pnpde.social reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Die Notwendigkeit von Gewalt

5 stars

Babel kommt mit einer spannenden Prämisse. Das Buch spielt in England des 19. Jahrhunderts einer alternativen Zeit und eine der stärksten Treiber für Innovationen sind "magische" Silberbarren. So fand man heraus, dass über Linguistik und Gravuren von verwandten Wörtern in unterschiedlichen Sprachen die Barren die Realität verändern können.

Das Buch folgt Robin Swift, einem chinesischen Jungen, der von Professor Lovell mit nach England genommen wird, nachdem seine Familie an Cholera starb und fast er selbst auch. Die Geschichte verfolgt seine Vorbereitung auf Oxford, das Zentrum des Wissens und Heimat des königlichen Instituts der Übersetzungen.

Robin lernt Freunde kennen, aber auch immer weiter die Zahnräder der Welt wie z.B. die Auswirkungen des Kolonialismus und Kapitalismus.

Besonders gefallen hat mir der Schreibstil. Er erzählt die Geschichte spannend, aber vermittelte mir auch leicht den akademischen Charakter. So gibt es kurze Erklärungen zu Wortpaaren, Fußnoten und Echtwelt-Einspielungen. Durch die Augen von Robin lernen wir …

Babel kommt mit einer spannenden Prämisse. Das Buch spielt in England des 19. Jahrhunderts einer alternativen Zeit und eine der stärksten Treiber für Innovationen sind "magische" Silberbarren. So fand man heraus, dass über Linguistik und Gravuren von verwandten Wörtern in unterschiedlichen Sprachen die Barren die Realität verändern können.

Das Buch folgt Robin Swift, einem chinesischen Jungen, der von Professor Lovell mit nach England genommen wird, nachdem seine Familie an Cholera starb und fast er selbst auch. Die Geschichte verfolgt seine Vorbereitung auf Oxford, das Zentrum des Wissens und Heimat des königlichen Instituts der Übersetzungen.

Robin lernt Freunde kennen, aber auch immer weiter die Zahnräder der Welt wie z.B. die Auswirkungen des Kolonialismus und Kapitalismus.

Besonders gefallen hat mir der Schreibstil. Er erzählt die Geschichte spannend, aber vermittelte mir auch leicht den akademischen Charakter. So gibt es kurze Erklärungen zu Wortpaaren, Fußnoten und Echtwelt-Einspielungen. Durch die Augen von Robin lernen wir die Vorzüge und gleichzeitig den Horror von Wohlstand des 19. Jahrhunderts kennen. Ich denke, die Aussage von Rebecca Roanhorse "A Masterpiece" ist nicht unbedingt übertrieben.

Ich hab noch Yellowface auf meiner Leseliste, aber bin nun auch gespannt auf weitere Romane der Autorin. :-)

Mysteriarch reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Ends with a bang!

4 stars

What initially starts off as an imperfect blend of Tart's The Secret History and a low fantasy setting akin to Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell slowly shifts to its actual subject: colonialism. Seen through the lens, not of white saviours nor the faraway colonial subjects, but of it's unique product: people of both worlds, forcefully transplanted, with all the twisted allegiances that come with it. The last third act of the book explodes into a study about struggle and violence, the interwoven working of class and empire, in a way that is seldomly seen in (Western) fiction literature and for this fact alone this book deserves praise and commendation.

Otts reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Some Promise, But Disappointing (like me!)

2 stars

I really wanted to like this. And I did until just after Robin gets into Oxford. Maybe it’s because so much resonated with my own life and studies, I didn’t need to be lectured to as much as he did—I get it, girl. My frustration may just be disappointment in my younger self.

What is going on with editors these days? It did NOT need to be this long. The magical system rooted in translation was pretty cool. Dark Academia fails me again.

enne📚 reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Babel

5 stars

This is a historical novel about a small group of scholars (mostly of color) in Oxford in the 1830's, with an added fantastical element of magical silver powered by language and translations. Historically, it covers a modified industrial revolution, British colonialism, opium wars with China, and even gets into the Luddites, all impacted and warped by the British empire being powered by silver. What I especially appreciated is that the magic silver mostly just exacerbated issues and functioned as a metaphor for power in all of these historical situations; this is not a book about historical divergence due to magic but rather a book where the magic is used as a metaphor to reexamine things in a fresh light.

The idea of magic silver here powered by translations is just so well done. Scholars (and thus language) are extracted from colonies to power silver magic as a parallel to other …

This is a historical novel about a small group of scholars (mostly of color) in Oxford in the 1830's, with an added fantastical element of magical silver powered by language and translations. Historically, it covers a modified industrial revolution, British colonialism, opium wars with China, and even gets into the Luddites, all impacted and warped by the British empire being powered by silver. What I especially appreciated is that the magic silver mostly just exacerbated issues and functioned as a metaphor for power in all of these historical situations; this is not a book about historical divergence due to magic but rather a book where the magic is used as a metaphor to reexamine things in a fresh light.

The idea of magic silver here powered by translations is just so well done. Scholars (and thus language) are extracted from colonies to power silver magic as a parallel to other resource extraction. The scholars are ultimately not really wanted for who they are but for the utility of what they know. And, I also love the detail that the empire is eating its own tail by its continual expansion and globalization weakening the magic. It reminds me a little of Yoon Ha Lee's Phoenix Extravagant where the magic system itself was intricately tied to colonial resource extraction.

It's a slow-building book that doesn't pull its punches about colonialism, racism, white folks siding with the establishment, or (as the subtitle to the book directly informs you) the necessity of violence. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

snowka reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

A postcolonial, antiracist Harry Potter

4 stars

Kuang's story surprises. This coming-of-age (and coming-of-revolution) story introduces us to a world where the the 19th-century Industrial Revolution is made possible not by steam and worker oppression but by the magical powers of translation and colonial exploitation. The experiences of the protagonist, a Cantonese boy that adopts the English name Robin Swift, lead us to an imagined Oxford that is as intriguing as Hogwarts but that has sins that Kuang not only does not whitewash, but makes the centerpiece of her novel. The historical notes and especially the etymological explanations are fascinating, if occasionally pedantic. Once you get your head around this world and how it works, you'll want to hang on to the end to see how a postcolonial critique during the height of the British Empire can possibly turn out.

Sami Sundell reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Kääntäjät kolonialismia vastaan

3 stars

Nautin kovasti R. F. Kuangin Poppy War -trilogiasta, ja Babel on odottanut jo jonkin aikaa hyllyssä lukemista.

Ensi alkuun tuntui, että odotukset täyttyivät. Tapani mukaan en lukenut kirjasta edes takakantta, joten koko kirjan lähtökohta tuli yllätyksenä. Ajatus käännösten merkityseroista maailmaa pyörittävänä käyttövoimana oli toisaalta vitsikäs mutta toisaalta antoi vallan käyttökelpoisen tavan käsitellä kolonialistista yhteiskuntaa. Kuangin kerronta vei tarinaa eteenpäin kuin juna.

Jossain vaiheessa jännite kuitenkin katosi. Kirja oli alusta loppuun sujuvaa luettavaa, mutta viimeinen kolmannes on lähinnä loppukliimaksin odottamista, jossa tuntuu, että mitään merkittävää ei tapahdu. Tämä ei tietenkään pidä paikkaansa - kyllähän kirjassa tapahtuu, paljonkin, mutta tunteet, joita lukiessa voisi kuvitella heräävän, jäävät syttymättä.

Lopussa hiukan pedataan siihen suuntaan, että kirjalle voisi tulla myös jatkoa, mutta Kuang on ilmeisesti ilmoittanut, että toista kirjaa ei ole luvassa. Yllä kirjoittamastani huolimatta se ehkä hivenen harmittaa.

Sharyl reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This memorable novel is both ingeniously creative and importantly timely in its message. R.F. Kuang weaves together a story that injects magical realism into a novel that is both historical and revisionist. That is, this is a story that asks us to imagine the road not taken at a certain time in history, and the ethics of the decisions of those in power–and question how and why such power came to be, in the first place.

I felt that the characters were well-developed and realistically complex, making it possible for the reader to feel the emotion in their stories. The plot was also well crafted and paced.

Instead of summarizing the plot, I want to simply recommend this novel, which I knew nothing about before I started reading. Part of the magic, for me, was simply reading on to discover the shape of the world as it is created by …

This memorable novel is both ingeniously creative and importantly timely in its message. R.F. Kuang weaves together a story that injects magical realism into a novel that is both historical and revisionist. That is, this is a story that asks us to imagine the road not taken at a certain time in history, and the ethics of the decisions of those in power–and question how and why such power came to be, in the first place.

I felt that the characters were well-developed and realistically complex, making it possible for the reader to feel the emotion in their stories. The plot was also well crafted and paced.

Instead of summarizing the plot, I want to simply recommend this novel, which I knew nothing about before I started reading. Part of the magic, for me, was simply reading on to discover the shape of the world as it is created by this author.

Bravo!

duck reviewed Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

Review of 'Babel' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It was good, really good. The characters were interesting and three dimensional and enjoyable, the setting and plot was engaging and high stakes, and the translation lectures were tailor made for language nerds like me.

However, don’t do like I did and go into this expecting a fantasy novel. This is, mostly, historical fiction with a magic system reskinning technological progress in Victorian England.

This is not a knock on it, though, saying that it’s superfluous; it has a very interesting, if specific effect on the reader’s relationship with the world. It moves all of the varied goods and services that imperial Britain used to maintain power over their colonies into one spot and one profession: Oxford translators. As I see it, the silver magic system mostly exists to move the political center of Britain into this area. And I enjoyed it if only for this facet, if not for …

It was good, really good. The characters were interesting and three dimensional and enjoyable, the setting and plot was engaging and high stakes, and the translation lectures were tailor made for language nerds like me.

However, don’t do like I did and go into this expecting a fantasy novel. This is, mostly, historical fiction with a magic system reskinning technological progress in Victorian England.

This is not a knock on it, though, saying that it’s superfluous; it has a very interesting, if specific effect on the reader’s relationship with the world. It moves all of the varied goods and services that imperial Britain used to maintain power over their colonies into one spot and one profession: Oxford translators. As I see it, the silver magic system mostly exists to move the political center of Britain into this area. And I enjoyed it if only for this facet, if not for all the other symbolism it brings to the table.

However, I think it’s easy to be misled as a reader, that you will be seeing imaginative “what if?”s that are the bread and butter of alternate history fantasy novels.

To sum up, I recommend giving this novel a try if you are at all interested in Victorian England, in translation/linguistics, or just enjoy a really good, tragic, character driven story.