lizbee | (Reply)

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I felt a really strong sense when reading Babel that it was written in fear and paranoia, with an ever-present defensiveness in the face of the perceived threat of a Twitter mob that might mistake depiction for endorsement. That, to me, was what seemed to lie behind the tendency to overexplain things in footnotes and spell things out so that there was zero doubt of authorial intention (the most egregious example being a self-important white academic stating that 'of course Africans enslaved each other as well,' in an attempt to deflect from the shame of European enslavement of Africans — and a footnote is then immediately inserted to make sure that readers knew that Kuang knew these weren't the same thing; the idea that anyone could possibly think Kuang shared the sentiments of this contemptible character was absurd).

Like you, I felt the book had some interesting ideas, but was let down by this pervasive defensive didacticism.

I find it very telling that Kuang's next book was Yellowface, which, among other things, absolutely nails the sense of loneliness and fear (of criticism via social media) that seems to pervade contemporary publishing.