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Sci-Fi/Fantasy Zoom Book Discussion

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Join us for our monthly Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club! This month we will be meeting via Zoom. We will be discussing Babel by R.F. Kuang.

At our next book discussion for the Hoboken Public Library's Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Discussion Group, we will be discussing Babel by R.F. Kuang via Zoom.

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.

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?

Please email hplwriters@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list and with any questions about the event. A Zoom invite will be sent out to our mailing list members.

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