Oh, I definitely agree that it's a refreshing book, author and subject, and I'm glad it's done so well! And maybe for some people all the extra commentary is the only way to hit it home for them, but on the whole I don't like feeling spoonfed. xD
This is not a Kuang-specific peeve, actually, this is a problem for me in a a lot of modern literature – but the plot of Babel speaks for itself. I wish it had been let to speak for itself! I won't go into the full plot before people have finished reading, but if you didn't know the British Empire was multifariously terrible before (I did), you should be able to have learned that through the events of the book without Kuang having to authorial-narrate-echo it in every paragraph after something bad happens. I would love if literature could go back to trusting readers to do the thinking.
If someone has never thought about the harm and suffering done by colonialism before, and this is just what they needed to have their eyes opened, I'm really glad! But for someone who has done a lot of that thought already, this would have been more powerful for me if it had been subtler and more nuanced sometimes.
On footnotes: If they had all been translations or interesting little linguistic facts, I would have been happy. Not sure if this is true but I feel like they get more sparse as the book goes along, so it feels like a conceit started with for authorial fun (I respect this, do what you want Kuang, tell me about your love/hate thing with Shelley again xD) and kind of falls away as the "arcane history" turned into something else...
I also think it was so they could market it as something akin to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Another "alternate history" with a scholarly bent – if you want an example of fictional footnotes done really, really well, I 100% recommend. Kuang probably read it herself tbh.
look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3
This is not a Kuang-specific peeve, actually, this is a problem for me in a a lot of modern literature – but the plot of Babel speaks for itself. I wish it had been let to speak for itself! I won't go into the full plot before people have finished reading, but if you didn't know the British Empire was multifariously terrible before (I did), you should be able to have learned that through the events of the book without Kuang having to authorial-narrate-echo it in every paragraph after something bad happens. I would love if literature could go back to trusting readers to do the thinking.
If someone has never thought about the harm and suffering done by colonialism before, and this is just what they needed to have their eyes opened, I'm really glad! But for someone who has done a lot of that thought already, this would have been more powerful for me if it had been subtler and more nuanced sometimes.
On footnotes: If they had all been translations or interesting little linguistic facts, I would have been happy. Not sure if this is true but I feel like they get more sparse as the book goes along, so it feels like a conceit started with for authorial fun (I respect this, do what you want Kuang, tell me about your love/hate thing with Shelley again xD) and kind of falls away as the "arcane history" turned into something else...
I also think it was so they could market it as something akin to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Another "alternate history" with a scholarly bent – if you want an example of fictional footnotes done really, really well, I 100% recommend. Kuang probably read it herself tbh.
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Elisabeth Champagne, Madeleine Backus, Philomena Sprout
Elisabeth Champagne, Madeleine Backus, Philomena Sprout
look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3