Book
Babel : or the necessity of violence : an arcane history of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
Published [2022] by Harper Voyager, New York, NY
ISBN 9780063021426
Bib Id 1175739
Copyright 2022
Edition First edition.
Description xii, 544 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
More Details
Leader
cam a22 i 4500
ISBN
9780063021426 (hardcover) $28.00
0063021420
9780063021433 (paperback) $20.00
0063021439
Call #
FIC Kuang
Title
Babel : or the necessity of violence : an arcane history of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
Varying Form of Title
Babel : an arcane history
Edition
First edition.
Publication Information
[2022] by Harper Voyager, New York, NY :
Copyright Date
©2022
Description
xii, 544 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Summary
"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?"--Amazon.com.
Genre/Form
Alternative histories (Fiction).
Fantasy fiction
Fantasy fiction
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