Babel by R.F. Kuang

Published 2022 · 203,543 words · about 19 hours at an average pace · Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

How hard is Babel to read?

Babel scores 65 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 70 out of 100
Kuang incorporates historical terms related to 19th-century Oxford and the British Empire, such as "compradors," "lascar contract," and "silver-gilded tureen." The text also includes words and phrases in French, Latin, and Chinese, reflecting the multilingual environment of the characters and settings. While not as dense as Moby-Dick, the vocabulary requires sustained effort to fully grasp.
Sentence structure: 60 out of 100
The sentences in Babel are generally clear and navigable, though some can be lengthy and contain multiple clauses, especially in descriptive passages and author's notes. While not approaching the complexity of James or Faulkner, the syntax demands more attention than straightforward contemporary fiction. The author balances longer sentences with shorter, more direct ones to maintain readability.
Abstraction: 68 out of 100
Babel blends concrete narrative elements with philosophical and theoretical considerations. The story explores themes of colonialism, language, and cultural identity, prompting readers to contemplate broader societal issues. While not as purely abstract as The Waste Land, the novel delves deeper into complex ideas than a purely plot-driven story.
Information density: 72 out of 100
The novel packs a significant amount of historical and cultural detail into each chapter. Readers must absorb information about 19th-century Oxford, the British Empire, and the intricacies of language and translation. The author provides rich descriptions and explores multiple plotlines, requiring sustained attention from the reader.
Narrative indirection: 60 out of 100
The narrative relies on some degree of inference, particularly regarding the motivations and true nature of Professor Lovell. Readers must piece together information about his past and his intentions for Robin. However, the story is largely told directly, without the extreme ambiguity found in works like Pedro Páramo.
Symbolic density: 78 out of 100
Silver operates as a central symbol throughout the novel, representing both the power and the corruption of the British Empire. Language itself becomes a symbol of cultural dominance and the loss of identity. The Royal Institute of Translation—Babel—functions as a potent symbol of the complex relationship between language, power, and colonialism, approaching the symbolic weight of the green light in The Great Gatsby.
Ironic distance: 65 out of 100
The novel maintains a degree of ironic distance, particularly in its portrayal of the British Empire and its institutions. While the narrative engages with the characters' experiences, it also offers a critical perspective on the historical context. This creates a gap between the surface narrative and the author's underlying critique.
Resolution withholding: 70 out of 100
While the main plot points are resolved, Babel leaves some questions unanswered and invites readers to consider the long-term implications of the characters' choices. The ending is not entirely closed, prompting reflection on the themes of colonialism and resistance. This withholding of complete closure creates lingering ambiguity.
Structural complexity: 45 out of 100
The novel follows a relatively straightforward chronological structure, primarily told from Robin's point of view. While there are some flashbacks and shifts in perspective, the narrative remains largely linear. This contrasts with more experimental structures found in works like Pedro Páramo or Flights.

How Babel is regarded

Babel holds a literary regard score of 50 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Prizes

Where Babel sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (1079 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Babel scores 78 out of 100. A second mythos, romance, pulls at it with a weight of 0.25. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic (ironic, with a mythic-romance undertow)
Robin’s cohort were instructed to elaborate, then, on the use of language in this context.
Symbol: Formal (with a Mythical/Anagogic secondary)
Silver bars had been used in London – and indeed, throughout the world – for a millennium, but not since the height of the Spanish Empire had any place in the world been so rich in or so reliant on silver’s power.
Mythos: Ironic Tragedy iv (tragic pathos), leaning to Satire (irony iv)
Genre: Novel + Anatomy + Romance
Translation work began promptly the next day. Good linguists were always in heavy demand at Canton, and were pulled in a dozen different directions whenever they did show up.

Where the story of Babel takes place

  • Oxford and Babel, 1836-1840 (matriculation to the strike) (1836 to 1840), the main setting
  • Canton and Hampstead, 1829-1836 (plague, voyage, education in London) (1829 to 1836)
  • Canton, Hellas voyage and Oxford siege, 1839-1840 (1839 to 1840)

7 things that are true of Babel, with the passage for each

  1. The first demonstration of silver-working uses a bar with 'Triacle' and 'Treacle' to cure Robin of cholera.

    ‘Triacle,’ Professor Lovell said first in French. Then, in English, ‘Treacle.’

  2. Robin is given his English surname by picking it from a novel on Lovell's shelf: Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift.

    They landed on a familiar volume on the shelf above Professor Lovell’s head – Gulliver’s Travels.

  3. Lovell beats Robin with a fireplace poker when he is caught reading a novel instead of attending his tutor.

    the professor pulled the poker from beside the fireplace and swung it diagonally against the right side of Robin’s torso.

  4. The match-pair that kills Lovell is bào (爆), set against the English 'burst'.

    ‘Bào,’ said Professor Lovell. ‘The radical for fire. And beside it, the radical for violence, cruelty, and turbulence

  5. Ramy is shot by Letty in the Old Library after she leads police to the Hermes safe house.

    A click; a bang.

  6. During the strike the translators remove resonance rods, and Magdalen Tower collapses.

    Then the tower collapsed, as simply and cleanly as a sandcastle kicked at the base.

  7. Westminster Bridge is scheduled to fall because its silver reinforcements expire after fifteen years.

    They contracted for silver-work at the same time that the New London Bridge was built in 1825, and the bars were meant to expire after fifteen years.

Scenes in Babel that Frye would name

18 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Anagnorisis, untitled
He could have been looking in a mirror. Robin recognises his own face on his half-brother Griffin, the first pivot of secret kinship.
Sparagmos, untitled
a tiny red dot over Ramy’s heart that rapidly blossomed outwards until it soaked through his shirt, his coat, through everything. The sudden mutilation and tearing-apart of Ramy's body, the demonic image at the heart of the book.
Agon, untitled
As Robin rose to his knees, dazed, the professor pulled the poker from beside the fireplace and swung it diagonally against the right side of Robin’s torso. The first contest with the father-figure, a ritual beating that sets the pattern of authority.
Senex iratus, untitled
Laziness and deceit are common traits among your kind. Lovell is the blocking, cruel father-figure who controls Robin's future and his belonging.
Point of epiphany, untitled
a tower out of time, a vision from a dream. Babel as the tower where the human and the divine, magic and empire touch.
Anatomy, untitled
Language is not like maths. Lectures on translation theory, Herodotus and Tytler turn the novel into encyclopaedic Menippean digression.

Books that share these scenes with Babel

About the author

R.F. Kuang