Babel, or The Necessity of Violence

“Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?”

“Violence was the only thing that brought the colonizer to the table.”

This is by far one of my all-time favourite books. It is the most intelligently, beautifully written book that I have read. It is so thought-provoking from a multitude of different angles. The use of fantasy is so well placed within this period, that I often found myself second guessing if magical silver was real and I just missed the memo. The cadence and prose used are out of this world. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Some moments make you uncomfortable and the narration makes you sit in that uncomfortable feeling, but that is entirely the point. It perfectly bridges the gap between the historical fiction and fantasy genres.