#since she doesn't really have much use for hers anyway because sexism and disinterest and other stuff

[alectology-archive]

Okay, part 2 of babel!

- The seduction of empire and a desire to prove yourself worthy through a system created by it despite understanding its flaws is very well executed but sort of underscored by rfk's own obsession with academia

- it's a gorgeous concept that the new students in babel are not masters of romantic languages so that the british can exploit non-european cultures to their benefit

- these conversations are so exhausting to read. Is rfk copy pasting stuff from her textbook....

- Griffin feeling really upset that he doesn't 'dream in chinese' ie has lost touch with his culture and homeland is very nicely done. And, I guess, I'm taking this in a literal way but I don't dream in my native language either, so I'm just Thinking about how I'm personally not in touch with my mother tongue to the extent I probably should be. It's less familiar to me than english is, and my internal monologues are all in english, too. Heck sometimes I can't remember basic words in it although I studied it as a second language right up until I was 18.

- I mean I do know that british factory-produced textiles were shipped back to south asia in massive quantities and put lots of local businesses out of commission so I'm not entirely certain if I can get behind the "all the silver is accumulating in china since they love chinese goods" explanation where the emperor says they have no need for british goods (and stuff like silver/tea/spices are very much luxury goods so why are they trading off silver which is used to enforce british supremacy? They could just do without lol). But I'm not familiar with trade and economic relations between britain and china in the 1830s so I'll go with whatever rfk is saying.

- the bit of worldbuilding with the resonance link is very well done and highlights how babel is one of the institutions central to ensuring the sustained supremacy of the british empire.

- oh lol I'm sure Anthony's joined some rebels or something.

- the class divide in britain has been addressed! I'm very pleased about that although I'm still waiting for effective criticism of the sexism in academia.

- the brutal way in which the failed student was expelled seems very cartoonish tbh. You can't have both - an institution presenting itself as if it cares for its students and one which explicitly treats them like expendable resources. She understands well how to execute an institution funded by the government treating its students like resources well in the poppy war but fails to replicate the same here. I suspect the romanticising of academia was partly inserted to allow robin to delude himself into thinking Surely Babel Is Not That Bad but it wasn't necessary! This ties into my criticism of how robin, in part 1 and also the first couple of chapters in part 2, manages to be simultaneously interested in progressive ideals while also convinced of its supremacy in a way that's just not organic - rfk should've committed to him being sold on the idea of british supremacy and should've slowly opened his eyes to the reality of how babel is complicit in imperialism and all the atrocities committed by the empire.

Anyway. Part 3 now, which is short and thank god for it because I'm honestly pretty bored and disinterested.

#aelia reads babel #text