读过《Babel, or The Necessity of Violence》 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕
救命这本书的设定！一个由语言和翻译学构成的魔法世界，支撑起一个不断发展、贪婪扩张的庞大帝国，几个年轻学者试图用自己渺小的身躯扭转滚滚碾过的历史车轮，主角的弧光非常完整，他从无知到和平主义到暴力抗争的发展转折点都很明确，小团体里另外三个角色以及秘密组织Hermes成员的形象也很鲜明。正如这本书小标题所言，它最终讨论的点是“暴力的必要性”，即对抗暴力不能一味诉诸和平的方式，这本身就是一个很悲壮的议题，在这本书里的表现方式也足够惨烈和黑暗……另外这本书奇幻的表现方式是基于翻译，作者展现出非常敏捷的语源学和翻译学知识运用，也相当有意思
Babel, or The Necessity of Violence [Book] Douban Goodreads Fantastika
8.4 (10 ratings)
author:
R. F Kuang
publishing house:
Harper Voyager
2022
- 8
other title:
Babel
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?
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?