Babel

Audrey Xia

Contrary to popular opinion, I do read books published in the recent years. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution (seriously. Did anyone know this is the full title of this book??) by R. F. Kuang is a fantasy dark academia novel that came out in 2022. It received critical acclaim immediately upon its release, and it’s not at all difficult to see why.

Set in an alternate 1830s England, this book is a harsh critique of British imperialism, the hypocrisy of academia and systematic oppression of the minorities. It is meticulously researched (no doubt due to Kuang’s background as an academic), both on the history and culture, and on linguistics and translation, which is the biggest theme of the novel. Almost 30% of the book are lectures, explanations and theories on language and meaning, which sounds boring, but Kuang has a gift for making these sound fascinating and gripping.

The story is almost exclusively from the point of view of Robin Swift, a half-Chinese boy born in Canton and brought to England to study translation in Oxford, in the most prestigious fictional college called Babel. As a foreign student in England myself, I find that I could relate to many of his experience and problems – identity, relationship to my mother tongue, even specific instances of racism, etc. This made my reading experience very immersive, and I particularly enjoyed the slower-paced first half which was just him and his friends’ lives in Oxford.

The characters are built well, each complex and different, which are explained and backed up by their specific experiences. The web of their relationships is also intriguing, I definitely wanted to see more of this explored. The plot picked up pace nearer the end, the ending beautifully idealistic. An excellent, easy read overall — 4/5.

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