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?
Rebecca F. Kuang is the Nebula, Locus, and Campbell Award nominated author of The Poppy War and its forthcoming sequel The Dragon Republic (Harper Voyager). She is currently pursuing an MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies at Cambridge University on a Marshall Scholarship, where her dissertation examines propaganda literature by Northeast writers during the Second Sino-Japanese War....
- 以翻译理论构建白银魔法体系，探讨语言与权力的关系
- 主角罗宾在牛津学院面临身份认同与殖民暴力的道德困境
- 揭示知识如何被帝国利用，以及翻译背后的剥削本质
- 对奇幻文学、翻译理论或后殖民议题感兴趣的读者
- 喜欢探讨身份认同、阶级矛盾及学术政治的读者
- 能接受较长篇幅、注重思想深度而非快节奏剧情的读者
- 书中包含大量语言学概念与历史背景，需耐心阅读
- 作者为年轻作家，部分情节转折可能显得刻意或生硬
- 故事基调沉重，涉及殖民罪恶与理想幻灭，请做好心理准备
- 世界观设定新颖巧妙，将翻译理论融入奇幻叙事极具创意
- 人物塑造存在争议，部分角色被指过于伟光正或工具化
- 后半段剧情推进被认为略显生硬，说教意味引发两极评价
本导读基于书籍简介、目录、原文摘录、短评和书评生成，不等同于全文精读。
- "然而，还是有些事感觉不太对劲。从维克图瓦和拉米脸上，罗宾看出他们也有同样的想法。他花了一段时间才意识到是什么在折磨自己，而当他意识到这一点时，便一直为之困扰：在他们将一切向莱蒂和盘托出、告诉她其他人经历的所有痛苦之后，她反而是那个需要安慰的人，这似乎是一个巨大的矛盾。"
- "但那个梦破碎了。那个梦始终建立在谎言之上。他们谁也不曾拥有过真正融入这里的机会，因为牛津大学只想要一种学者：生来为牛津效力的学者，他们接受教育就是为了今后在牛津所创造的权力岗位上奔走。除此之外的所有人都被牛津吃干抹净，然后抛弃。这些高耸的建筑是用出卖奴隶所得的钱币建成的，维持其运转的白银来自波托西染血的银矿。白银由薪水微薄的本地劳工在不透气的熔炉中冶炼而成，随后乘船渡过大西洋，由被迫离开祖国、被拐到这片遥远土地、永远不许归乡的翻译者打造成魔法银条。"
- "The origins of the word anger were tied closely to physical suffering. Anger was first an ‘affliction’, as meant by the Old Icelandic angr, and then a ‘painful, cruel, narrow’ state, as meant by the Old English enge, which in turn came from the Latin angor, which meant ‘strangling, anguish, distress"
- "Later, when everything went sideways and the world broke in half, Robin would think back to this day, to this hour at this table,and wonder why they had been so quick, so carelessly eager to trust one another. Why had they refused to see the myriad ways they could hurt each other? Why had they not p"
- "Translation, from time immemorial, has been the facilitator of peace. Translation makes possible communication, which in turn makes possible the kind of diplomacy, trade, and cooperation between foreign peoples that brings wealth and prosperity to all."
- "Languages aren’t just made of words. They’re modes of looking at the world."
- "“你太像你哥哥了，”斯特林摇了摇头，“汉语里那个成语怎么说的来着？一丘之獾，还是一丘之貉？厚颜无耻，鲁莽放肆，自以为是得让人无法忍受。”他交叠双臂架在胸前，又靠到椅背上，端详着罗宾，“请帮我厘清一下。我和格里芬永远也说不清楚这个问题。一个很简单的问题：为什么呢？你拥有你能想到的一切。你一辈子都不用工作一天，至少不用真正地劳动，学术研究不算劳动。你在财富里遨游。” “我的同胞没有。”罗宾说。 “可你不是你的同胞！”斯特林激动地说，“你是例外。你是幸运儿，是高人一等的人。难道你真的觉得，和牛津大学的伙伴相比，你和广州那些愚蠢的穷光蛋更有共同点吗？” “是的，”罗宾说，“你的国家每天都在提醒我，是的"
- "因为，亚当的语言怎么可能存在呢？此刻想起这个说法，他只觉得可笑。不存在与生俱来的、所有人都能完美理解的语言。不存在有望成为亚当的语言的候选，无论是英语还是法语，任何一种语言都不可能通过欺凌和吸收其他语言成为独一无二的霸主。语言就是差异，是成百上千种不同的看待世界、在世界上行走的方式。不，它们是包含在一个世界中的上千个世界。而翻译就是为了在这些世界之间行走所需要付出的努力，无论这种努力是多么徒劳。"