Though the magic system is creative and raises some interesting thoughts, Babel was trying to be a novel of ideas offering a strong opposition to colonialism—and in this, it failed.
I've read most of your posts here on Substack and I think this one is my favorite so far. Today, very few people are attempting to write novels about ideas, and fewer still are responding to those novels on similar terms. The niche you're trying to serve shouldn't *be* a niche, in my view—it should be the mainstream. Still, I appreciate the good work!
Thank you! This took hours longer than most of my posts because of the complexity of the topic. We may have discussed this before, but I love that talking about books online is becoming more and more popular—I just wish it weren't so superficial. Still, though my content may be niche, there *are* some thoughtful people who appreciate it, and my work is finding more and more of them :)
There does seem to be a pretty strong correlation between the quality of a post and the time/effort spent on it, which is rather unfair if you ask me. All I want is the ability to make a billion dollars with an hour or two of work. Is that really so much to ask?
It's risky to comment on a novel which I have not read so I'll call what follows 'speculation'. The connection of language to another world and the magic thereof strikes me as a variant of the Platonic approach. And the (what sounds like to me like) dogmatic opposition to colonialism seems 'leftie' or Marxist. I think India probably benefited from the infusion of the British legal system including common law and to some degree from the trade which developed after GB colonized India. I'm not advocating colonialism per se but I do say evaluating it is, to me, more complex that what I interpret to be found in Babel.
Doug, these are very reasonable thoughts. I too was reminded of Plato's World of Forms and of Marx, not only for the blending of colonialism and the Industrial Revolution but also for the insistence that violent revolution is the best way to change the world. I agree that colonialism is a complex subject, and was honestly disappointed that Babel didn't offer a nuanced or even emotionally moving perspective on it.
I've read most of your posts here on Substack and I think this one is my favorite so far. Today, very few people are attempting to write novels about ideas, and fewer still are responding to those novels on similar terms. The niche you're trying to serve shouldn't *be* a niche, in my view—it should be the mainstream. Still, I appreciate the good work!
Thank you! This took hours longer than most of my posts because of the complexity of the topic. We may have discussed this before, but I love that talking about books online is becoming more and more popular—I just wish it weren't so superficial. Still, though my content may be niche, there *are* some thoughtful people who appreciate it, and my work is finding more and more of them :)
There does seem to be a pretty strong correlation between the quality of a post and the time/effort spent on it, which is rather unfair if you ask me. All I want is the ability to make a billion dollars with an hour or two of work. Is that really so much to ask?
It's risky to comment on a novel which I have not read so I'll call what follows 'speculation'. The connection of language to another world and the magic thereof strikes me as a variant of the Platonic approach. And the (what sounds like to me like) dogmatic opposition to colonialism seems 'leftie' or Marxist. I think India probably benefited from the infusion of the British legal system including common law and to some degree from the trade which developed after GB colonized India. I'm not advocating colonialism per se but I do say evaluating it is, to me, more complex that what I interpret to be found in Babel.
Doug, these are very reasonable thoughts. I too was reminded of Plato's World of Forms and of Marx, not only for the blending of colonialism and the Industrial Revolution but also for the insistence that violent revolution is the best way to change the world. I agree that colonialism is a complex subject, and was honestly disappointed that Babel didn't offer a nuanced or even emotionally moving perspective on it.