Babel, or The Necessity of Violence

So this is what people mean when the talk about a tour de force. I???m writing this review fresh off of finishing the book so it???s likely not as encompassing as it could be, but here we go.

Robin Swift is taken from his home in Canton by the British professor Lovell, and gets dropped in a life that will prepare him to become a translator at Babel, the Oxfordian translation institute, where masters of language use their words to inscribe silver bars with magic. Magic used to help run the country smoothly, to guide its machinery and strengthen its roads and safeguard its people. So they are told. So they believe. Until Robin becomes involved with an underground group of ex-students, among which Lovell???s former ward, who are trying to expose and unmake Babel???s full influence on the country and the world.

“Translation, from time immemorial, has been the
facilitator of peace. Translation makes possible
communication, which in turn makes possible the
kind of diplomacy, trade, and cooperation between foreign peoples that brings wealth and prosperity to all.”

It took me a while to get into this one. It???s a big book. It unfolds slowly. But over the course of its 500+ pages it becomes clear how masterfully Kuang broadens the scope - or shows you how big it???s always been - shifting from intimate to earth-shattering (and back).

The shape this took is wonderfully executed too. It is a history of a period that did not actually happen, but completely woven into the world that did so the two blend easily and without question. The use of (translator???s) footnotes works well and never takes you out of the story, instead becomes an integrated part of the narrative. I love etymology and translation and the puzzles it presents, so naturally the heavy focus on both the depth and the width of languages were a delight.

“Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?”

And this book is difficult to read. It is dark academia turned inside out, exposing its innards to you. It deals with (among others) colonialism, abuse, grief, revolution, violence, and the cost of knowledge, and does so in detail and with the weight these things demand. It makes this a book to dig your teeth into. It deserves your full attention.

A high recommendation. An immediate favourite of 2022.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book after wishing for it on Netgalley. All opinions are my own.