For author R.F. Kuang, Babel, her 2022 novel, was an opportunity to continue some of the plot and themes discussed in her "Poppy War" trilogy. The novel's jacket, for instance, called it "a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell." The novel follows a young boy named Robin Swift, who has been orphaned after a cholera outbreak killed his parents.
Initially based in Canton, Wales, in the United Kingdom, Robin is brought by a mysterious man called Professor Lovell to London. There, Robin begins to train in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese in anticipation of being admitted to Oxford and the "Babel" program, which is the mecca of translating services and perhaps most importantly, magic.
Eventually, Robin is admitted into Oxford and into the "Babel" program, where he starts to work. But the "Babel" program is not the mecca that he once thought it was. Instead, it is used by Britain as a means to exercise their control over the world (and to expand their territory). And Britain is beginning to deal much more with China, Robin's homeland, leaving him in a morally ambiguous situation: will he help his adopted country or will he help his home country?
The novel, which is a fantasy novel firmly rooted in historical and mythological facts, is a "love letter and breakup letter to Oxford," according to the author. It explores the dark underbelly of academia by putting the story in a magical and fantastical world. The novel explores how not lucrative academia is and how most academics are broke - and how that will not likely truly change without tremendous sacrifice on all sides.
Not only that, the novel is a study of linguistics, translation, and history. Chiefly, though, the novel is an exploration of colonialism and how it impacted both the colonizer and those who were colonized - and how those stuck in between dealt with things. To that end, the novel additionally explores how linguistics and translation aided those seeking to build empires.
