The Library of the Uncommons

el dang commented on Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang

From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History …

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Yesterday I read the scene in which Professor Lovell browbeats Robin into pretending contrition and giving up a scrap of information about Hermes. A different part of it is haunting me: the way Lovell never engages with a single moral claim Robin makes, just mocks and dismisses them out of hand. That part of the conversation, I've had personally with so many relatives and the occasional coworker / fellow student. And I keep reading reports of political and media figures doing the same - Lovell might as well have just said "woke" with that sneer they all do.

None of which is a criticism of the book! It was a painfully well-observed scene. #SFFBookClub

screamsbeneath replied to el dang's status

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@eldang@outside.ofa.dog I felt very similar about this scene. It was deeply uncomfortable in a very real sense. I felt that it was so well done and a perfect example of the fine distinction between caricature villains commonly found in books and an unrelentingly cruel and self-absorbed character that mirrors reality. In isolation they both look similar, but with context it’s a world of difference. #SFFBookClub

el dang replied to screamsbeneath's status

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@screamsbeneath@bookwyrm.social Yeah. And I think part of it is that Lovell doesn't think of himself as any of those things, though he clearly is. He's so solidly speaking and acting within the bounds of the system that made him, that he can sincerely believe he has the moral high ground through and through.