Babel, or the Necessity of Violence

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence

Author	R. F. Kuang
Language	English
Genre	Speculative fiction
Set in	Oxford, England, 1836
Publisher	Harper Voyager
Publication date	August 23, 2022
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print, digital
Pages	545
ISBN	9780063021426 Hardcover

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution is a 2022 novel of speculative fiction by R. F. Kuang. It debuted at the first spot on The New York Times Best Seller list, and won Blackwell's Books of the Year for Fiction in 2022 and the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Thematically similar to The Poppy War, Kuang's first book series, the book criticizes British imperialism, capitalism, and the complicity of academia in perpetuating and enabling them.

Babel is set in an alternate-reality 1830s England in which Britain's global economic and colonial supremacy are fueled by the use of magical silver bars. Their power comes from capturing what is "lost in translation" between words in different languages that have similar, but not identical, meanings. Silver bars inscribed with such 'match-pairs' can increase industrial and agricultural production, improve the accuracy of bullets, heal injuries, and more. To create and harness this power, Oxford University created the Royal Institute of Translation, nicknamed "Babel", where scholars work to find match-pairs. The plot is focused on four new students at the institute, their growing awareness that their academic efforts maintain Britain's imperialist supremacy, their debate over how to prevent the Opium War, and the use of violence.

Plot

An orphan from Canton is adopted by Richard Lovell, a Babel professor, and takes the English name Robin Swift. Lovell has Robin tutored in Latin and Greek as well as Mandarin in order to prepare him for admission to Babel. It quickly becomes apparent that Lovell is Robin's biological father, but neither is willing to discuss this out loud. One day, Robin embarrasses Lovell by being late to one of his lessons and is brutally beaten and threatened with being returned to Canton to live in poverty. Nevertheless, Robin excels in his studies and, after seven years, is accepted into Babel.

Robin quickly befriends the other members of his first-year cohort: Ramy from Calcutta, Victoire from Haiti, and Letty, a white British admiral's daughter. There they learn that the effectiveness of translating European languages into English is diminishing and that "exotic" languages like Mandarin, Haitian Creole, and Arabic are considered the future of translation magic. In his first week, Robin encounters Griffin, his elder half-brother—another half-Chinese son of Professor Lovell—who recruits him into the Hermes Society, a clandestine organization seeking to undermine Britain's silver supremacy. Griffin explains to Robin how Babel exploits the languages of foreign nations only in order to solidify the British Empire's dominance over them. Robin goes along with Griffin's plans, abetting thefts of silver bars to aid Hermes, but remains conflicted, torn between his distaste for British colonial excess and inequality and his potential comfortable future as an imperial translator. This tension leads him to eventually break contact with Griffin and Hermes in his third year at Oxford.

Robin, Ramy, Victoire, and Letty join Lovell on a sea-trip to Canton to act as translators in the escalating conflict between the Qing Dynasty and British Empire over the Qing refusal to allow free trade or opium to enter China. Robin witnesses the contempt the British have for the Chinese and, after meeting with Lin Zexu, the official sent to stop the opium trade, and witnessing an opium den firsthand, he refuses to be a part of any British project there. When Lin burns the stockpile of confiscated opium, the Babel affiliates depart for England. On shipboard, Lovell again browbeats Robin in a racist tirade for his supposed complicity with the Qing. However, Robin, for the first time, refuses to back down, and kills Lovell by using a silver bar to blow a hole in his chest. Ramy, Victoire, and Letty help Robin dispose of the body and hide their crime.

Once they return to Britain, they discover in Lovell's effects that the negotiations in China were a sham; Lovell and others were only trying to create a pretext for war, allowing Britain to seize China's stockpiles of silver. Letty walks in on Robin, Ramy, and Victoire discussing Hermes business, but she swears to stand by them after they explain their experiences of discrimination and the scale of British imperial atrocity. The group contacts Hermes, whose members opt to lobby Parliament and whip up public opposition to war with China with a pamphlet campaign. Griffin confides in Robin that he believes only violence can bring the empire down and teaches Robin to use firearms. However, Letty betrays them and, as the police raid the Hermes headquarters, shoots and kills Ramy.

Griffin breaks Victoire and Robin out of prison, but is killed during the escape. The pair decide that only force can hope to succeed, and resolve to capture Babel's college tower. They enter the college, recruiting a few of the students and faculty while expelling the rest. They start removing the resonance rods that allow the translation magic across Britain to function, throwing the country into disarray, and announce their intent to continue doing so until their demands for peace with China are met. They attract supporters among radicals and reformers, who fortify Oxford against the British army. After weeks of sabotage, culminating with the destruction of Westminster Bridge, Letty arrives to plead with them to surrender, promising that the army will raid the tower at dawn. Robin, spiraling into despair since Canton, resolves to destroy the tower and its contents and render its silver useless for future enchantment. Victoire escapes into hiding, and Robin and the remaining Babel scholars destroy the tower with themselves inside, crippling the Silver Industrial Revolution and leaving the future of the British Empire uncertain.

Characters

Robin Swift: The main character. His mother's family were formerly merchants driven to poverty by his uncle's opium addiction. Able to pass for white in certain lights, Robin feels conflicted by his desire to be accepted by Babel and his father, Professor Lovell, and his growing understanding that the system they perpetuate is indefensibly immoral.

Ramiz Rafi "Ramy" Mirza: A Muslim Indian student from Kolkata and Robin's best friend and roommate.

Letitia "Letty" Price: The daughter of a British former admiral and Victoire's roommate.

Victoire Desgraves: A Haitian student raised in France and Letty's roommate.

Professor Richard Lovell: A professor of Chinese and committed imperialist. Cold and unyielding, he fathered both Griffin and Robin to create bilingual Chinese students for Babel.

Mrs. Piper: Lovell's kindly housekeeper and a mother figure to Robin.

Griffin Harley: Robin's half-brother by their shared father. Member of the Hermes Society. Similar in personality and mannerism to their father, Griffin is brutal and fully committed to bring the British Empire down by any means necessary.

Reception

Reviews

Babel debuted in September 2022 at the top spot on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction. It was generally well received, including starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus Reviews. Booklist called the novel "engaging" and "richly descriptive," while Kirkus said it was "ambitious and powerful while displaying a deep love of language and literature". Kirkus further called it "an expansive, sympathetic, and nevertheless scathing critique of Western imperialism and how individuals are forced to make their peace with the system and survive or to fight back and face the consequences." Amal El-Mohtar, writing for The New York Times Book Review wrote, "Babel derives its power from sustaining a contradiction, from trying to hold in your head both love and hatred for the charming thing that sustains itself by devouring you."

Critics discussed Kuang's attempt to complicate the modern understanding of academia in the 1830s, including the research and footnotes she placed throughout the novel. The Guardian said, "This is a scholarly book by a superb scholar," noting that "the pages are heavy with footnotes; not the more usual whimsical ones ... but academic notes, hectoring and preachy." The review remarked that the characters "are pretentious, but vulnerable too, and the balance is lovely". Similarly, the Chicago Review of Books highlighted how Babel "educates and urges us to reframe—to (re)translate—the dominant narrative of what the West calls its civilization." They called the novel "brilliant both in concept and execution, ... a page-turner with footnotes, a thriller with a higher purpose, a Bildungsroman where the stakes matter." Library Journal echoed the sentiment, writing about how Kuang "prompts readers to question the ethics of both empire and academia."

There were also qualified or negative reviews. Paste noted that Babel is "a meticulously researched period piece, a primal scream from the traditionally unheard." However, they added, "its determination to make sure its (admittedly important) message is heard, means a significant chunk of this doorstopper's 500+ pages feels didactic and lecture-y, rather than fully transformative." Publishers Weekly negatively reviewed the novel, saying, "Kuang underwhelms with a didactic, unsubtle take on dark academia and imperialism." They explained, the "narrative is frequently interrupted by lectures on why imperialism is bad, not trusting the reader or the plot itself enough to know that this message will be clear from the events as they unfold. Kuang assumes an audience that disagrees with her, and the result keeps readers who are already aware of the evils of racism and empire at arm's length. The characters, meanwhile, often feel dubiously motivated."

Awards and honors

Amazon, Kirkus Reviews, NPR, and The Washington Post named Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence one of the best fantasy books of the year. Barnes & Noble named it one of the top ten books of the year, regardless of genre.

Awards for Babel

Year	Award	Result	Ref.
2022	Blackwell's Books of the Year for Fiction	Winner
	Goodreads Choice Award for Fantasy	Nominee
	Waterstones Book of the Year	Shortlist
	Nebula Award for Best Novel	Winner