這裡曾被孤兒Robin視為樂土,如今已成囚籠。掌握語言秘密的巴別塔裡,他的翻譯是為誰服務?語言與文字的力量,加速帝國擴張,而若想將強權拽倒,暴力是否只能作為唯一解答?《The Poppy War》華裔小說家匡靈秀帶來震撼人心的黑暗奇幻歷史新作。From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History? and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation―also known as Babel.Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working―the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars―has made the British unparalleled