Babel, or the Necessity of Violence

Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R. F. Kuang is a master-class in historical fiction writing. Often times when it comes to historical fiction, the reader is begged the question of Why? Why is a book set in a particular time period? A particular location? Of course, this line of questioning is present in all literary works, but historical fiction necessitates it. Setting a story in modern times makes sense; after all, it’s a modern author writing, a modern reader reading. Setting it in the future, too, makes sense: as humans we’re always looking towards the future. But the past? That is a different question, and one many historical fiction writers struggle to answer. But not Babel.

The book Babel, subtitled The Necessity of Violence, is set in mid-nineteenth century England. It follows Robin Swift, a boy from China who is whisked away from his home that’s been ravaged by disease to London to study languages. The professor wants Robin to work for Oxford University, more specifically Babel, an otherworldly spire wherein linguists fashion magical silver bars for the British Empire. In the world of Babel, silver has magical properties: when two words in two languages that correspond to one another are inscribed into it (i.e. the Latin spes and the English speed), magic happens. Babel, the tower, is the place where most of England’s silver is produced. Explanation aside; setting the novel in 1830s England was not a mistake on Kuang’s behalf, nor is it incidental. During the mid 1800s, the British Empire was in full bloom, colonies in Asia, Africa and Oceania making the empire wealthy at the cost of human lives. Kuang knows this.

Upon beginning to attend Oxford, the first step to one day working for Babel, Robin meets three other students: Ramy, Letty, and Victoire. Ramy and Victoire, like Robin, are transplants from parts of the world controlled by the British; Ramy from Calcutta in India and Victoire from Haiti. Letty is a British admiral’s daughter. The four teenagers soon become close friends, the only real friends, in fact, that any of them have. They go to class together, adventure around Oxford, learn translation and language skills. But underneath it all is something sinister: all these classes, the opulence around the main characters, are a product of violence, of the British Empire. People like Robin and his friends are taken from other parts of the world, their knowledge used to help the British, while their people are being violenced by the empire. That is the core conflict of the story. Again, this setting is not a coincidence. Kuang uses the age of imperialism to emphasize her story’s main theme, that empire is founded upon violence, and that the only way to truly disrupt it is violence in return. That second part is expounded upon more in the latter part of the book, but for the sake of spoilers it’s been avoided. Violence is still being done as the product of imperialism today. Wars the whole world over are fought because of the greed of the wealthy, something many people are unaware of or choose to ignore. But the nineteenth century, the golden age of British imperialism, is more recognizable as corrupt, so Kuang uses it.

When it comes to historical fiction, the time period is, of course, often the central focus. Whether or not that setting makes sense, whether it works to enhance the themes of the story, can make or break it; in Babel, R. F. Kuang uses her historical setting to put her message— that empires are exploitative and violent— into a more recognizable setting. This strengthens what she has to say.