02323nam a22002177a 450000500170000000800410001702000220005804000100008005000190009010000220010924500860013126000380021730000220025552015170027765000440179465000460183865500300188494200120191499900170192695201620194320260202172146.0260202b        |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  a978-0-06-302143-3  cHSLRC  aFIC bK83 2022  aKuang, R.F960248  aBabel or the necessity of violence:ban arcane history of the Oxford/cR.F. Kuang  aNew York:bHarper Voyager,cc2022  a542 pages;c20 cm  a"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?"cProvided by publisher  a Alternative histories (Fiction)960249  aAnti-imperialist movements Fiction960250  aHistorical fiction960251  2lcccBK  c98644d98644  00102lcc40708FICaHSLRCbHSLRCcFICd2026-02-02g595.00l3oFIC K83 2022pHS15062q2026-07-14r2026-05-30 10:08:16s2026-05-30t1v595.00w2026-02-02yBK