Babel

by R.F. Kuang

won’t tolerate laziness under this roof,’ said Professor Lovell. ‘Translation is no easy occupation, Robin. It demands focus. Discipline. You are already at a disadvantage for your lack of an early education in Latin and Greek, and you’ve only six years to make up the difference before you begin at Oxford. You cannot sloth. You cannot waste time on daydreams.’

they’re going to tell stories about you, use it to your advantage. The English are never going to think I’m posh, but if I fit into their fantasy, then they’ll at least think I’m royalty.’

But Ramy, who had no choice but to stand out, had decided he might as well dazzle.

Travel sounds fun until you realize what you really want is to stay at home with a cup of tea and a stack of books by a warm fire.’

drowning in the unfamiliar, and they saw in each other a raft, and clinging to one another was the only way to stay afloat.

Ask yourself why the Literature Department only translates works into English and not the other way around, or what the interpreters are being sent abroad to do.

So we must proceed from the starting assumption that distortion is inevitable. The question is how to distort with deliberation.’ He tapped the book lying on his desk. ‘You’ve all finished Tytler, yes?’ They nodded. They’d been assigned the introductory chapter of Essay on Principles of Translation by Lord Alexander Fraser Tytler Woodhouselee the night before. ‘Then you’ll have read that Tytler recommends three basic principles. Which are – yes, Miss Desgraves?’ ‘First, that the translation conveys a complete and accurate idea of the original,’ said Victoire. ‘Second, that the translation mirrors the style and manner of writing of the original. And third, that the translation should read with all the ease of the original composition.’ She spoke with such confident precision, Robin thought she must have been reading from the text. He was very impressed when he glanced over and saw her consulting nothing but blank space. Ramy, too, had this talent for perfect recall

Socratic questioning.

We must simply make this a war of class instead of race.

They both thought this was a matter of individual fortunes instead of systematic oppression, and neither could see outside the perspective of people who looked and spoke just like them. ‘Oh, don’t

The future is unwritten, brimming with potential.