#aphrodithtes

[papenathys]

Thoughts on Babel by RF Kuang ?

yes I have thoughts

What I absolutely loved about this book was the magical system. Sourcing magic from linguistics and translation is a bit genius to me. Especially because it happens because of the large syntactical/linguistic gap between words of two different languages. Love the paradox of translatio, love the idea that it only works when you speak the root language in your dreams (hence the translator-scholars in the tower, hence the forced displacement). Love seeing what the various match pairs and "daisy-chaining" methods can achieve- from a simple clock function to manipulation on a military/administrative level.

The emphasis on violent resistance was very refresing to read because I'm SICK of nonviolence and uwu diplomacy and moderate methods of dealing with your oppressors (coughs in Atla and Aot, the fact that Kuang has researched Atla makes it better) and at some point you either become complicit in the system or make a goddamm stand against it.

That being said:

Why is the alternate history so very adherent to real history? Don't you think silver magic would change the face of the industrial revolution, the self styling national image of Britain, its literature, its people? Why does Kuang play it so safe and never change any fundamental aspects of history except to tack the word "silver" before it? Example being, the industrial looms that put the workers out of business. Now they are just silver powered. What difference does that make in a fictional text? What crucial aspect was added that wasn't already present in the history of revolutions and colonial exploitation?

The characters are paper flat and are mere mouthpieces of their community. Was this a conscious choice in an allegorical text, was this is an authorial flaw who knows. What I do know is I read 600 pages and the only character who felt fully fleshed out was Letty, the white antagonist girl (good villain btw). I didn't give a penny about who lived and died. I didn't care about the survivors and the casualties. And there was a freaking Bengali character in the novel. Who dies. And I didn't care about it. That's like. That's a lot said.

Just to reiterate, this is a book about collective action and brotherhood among marginalized peoples, but the friendship is portrayed so inauthentically that I didn't root for them. Help why was I more invested in white racist privileged friends groups like The Secret History or If We Were Villains, than these three. Literally all they did was argue, lie to each other and talk about translation. Their "bonding" moments happened in footnotes or one-off mentions in large chunky paragraphs without dialogue.

This is very much a decolonization text written for white readers lol because the arguments and rhetoric are literally spoonfed as if to babies who need hand-holding. Just in case you needed it, Robin goes on like 14 different interior monologues that explicitly spell out "colonialism bad violence good" without any subtlety whatsoever and in this it is very much like the Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine. I felt like she was breathing down my back after a lecture, daring me to contradict her. The footnotes were also very academically researched and I appreciated them as resources but what did they contribute to the text as a literary work apart from guiding the reader through hefty etymology and factual details? This is not a term paper, it's a fantasy novel ffs.

Also I'm still salty that someone said Ramy speaks Bengali in the novel and I read the entire novel and the only thing he said was "Bismillah ur rahman ur raheem" which is, um. It's not speaking Bengali lmao. It's just a prayer by Muslims invoking the name of Allah the Beneficent and Merciful. It's common across all languages. That being said Babel is NOT a bad book, it's just not something revolutionary either.

[taminoamirfouad]

⊹˚ ₊ ♡ ˚ 9 people I want to know better ˚ ♡ ₊ ˚ ⊹

tagged by @aphrodithtes, thank you ever so much! 

last song: listened to love story by indila this morning

last show: last show i finished was our flag means death! loooove it! can’t wait for season 2

currently watching: i’m currently catching up with what we do in the shadows & rewatching hannibal for the billionth time. 

currently reading: either/or by elif batuman! 

tagging: @revolution-ou-la-mort (can’t tag you, but hope you see this!), @nosferatupls (can’t tag you either lol), @lighten-up-squirt, @winterswake, @joyandpride, @st-theodora, @kafkaesquebestie, @bloodychrry, @amirahiddleston :)

[undomielle]

Greek Mythology → Hades, god of the Underworld

[achielles]

Greek Mythology → Hades, god of the Underworld

[honeyywitch]

⊹˚ ₊ ♡ ˚ people i want to know better ˚ ♡ ₊ ˚ ⊹

tagged by @aphrodithtes thank you💖

last songs: cold heart by dua lipa and elton john, 2001 by foals, false god by taylor swift, boyfriends by harry styles, 1 step forward, 3 steps back by olivia rodrigo, choreomania/free/girls against god by fatm and amour toujours by clara luciani

last shows: the summer i turned pretty, stranger things and one of us is lying

currently watching: love and anarchy season 2 and skam france season 10

currently reading: myth of manhood by olivia gazalé and the green witch by arin murphy-hiscock

tagging💕 @alrightpetal @evabrighis @lazulieh @lostinthisworldhtp @possitivetension @waterylilys @wytched

[tomhiddletson]

Just wanted to say I absolutely ADORE your edits, they’re beautiful and please keep making them!

thank you so much this really made me so happy you really dont know how much I needed this, I appreciate you a lot

[faheys]

Happy birthday!! Your blog is so beautiful

bella!! thank you so much aahh

[arwens]

Happy birthday 🌷🌷

thank you!!!

[resnaissance]

can u recommend some blogs that post art, arch, ph, fashion and general aes?? 💐

Yees there are so many cute blogs!! ~~

cuipid, shyfaun, pemberlaey, petit-cheri, moonlightfleur, histxric, aphrodithtes, lavenderwanderlust, herxnstairs, divinefruit, iridescnece, rabidfae, the-ethereal-nymph, jawnkeets, bctticelli, amphitrte, nhemesis, snickett, fluerdelis, inividia, lhzthepoet, artannis, vvilde, expatesque, wiessrose, romantiv, chaleurette, marmore-hills, petrichovr, athenuas, therepublicofletters, filigreefields, nymphastral, wintermorrow, andantegrazioso, astraera, phrasers, annakeranina,maryshelley, vangcgh, prcserpina

These are just a few but I’m sure I’m missing out tons so here’s a link to my blogroll 💕

[minuses]

RULES: ANSWER THE 20 QUESTIONS AND TAG 20 AMAZING FOLLOWERS YOU’D LIKE TO GET TO KNOW BETTER!

tagged by: @gilded-stars

Name — Adreana

Nicknames — I don’t have none I think 

Zodiac Sign — Virgo

Height — 5′2

Orientation — ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ethnicity —Hispanic

Favourite Fruit — Apples!

Favourite Season — Spring

Favourite Book — I have many favorite books but lately Ive been reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and I’m in love with it so far.

Favourite Flower — Orchids

Favourite Colour — Any bland colors like beige, black, gray, white lol

Favourite Animal — Elephants 

Coffee, tea, or hot cocoa? — Tea

Average Sleep Hours— Its either 2-4 or 8-12, there is no inbetween

Cat or Dog — Dog

Favourite Fictional Character — Amy Dunne, I love that bitch.

Number of Blankets You Sleep With — 1

Dream Trip — Road trip to New York

Blog Created — About 3 years ago

Number of Followers — 1,059

Thank you for tagging me @gilded-stars, If I tag you, you don’t necessarily need to do it. 

I tag — @patroclusgf, @hestlias, @onceupon-anightmare, @petrichovr, @aphrodithtes, @histhory, @jessiemueller, @versaillcs, @illuminosity, @persrephone, @deeinos, @aliinastarkov, @chaleurette, @artbreaths, @howlcrs, @calliophies, @fleurrdelacour, @fleursdesmorts, @qiu-jin, @fabritius.

[papenathys]

It's really bizarre to see "coquette girlies" use Lana Del Rey as a part of their aesthetic, when they're the same people that bully her for recent weight gain. They only post photos of her from 8 years ago.Just goes to prove that white and skinny is the core of the aesthetic, not music or poetry.

I hate everything associated with the so called coquette aesthetic...... At least dark academia and cottagecore (despite having many flaws themselves) are based on productive activities and hobbies instead of aestheticized mental illness and white femininity

[achielles]

I just got my nails done and it makes everything I do 1000x better🌸

omg this is so true, everything feels so much better when u get ur nails done 

hogwarts house: gryffindor | hufflepuff | slytherin | ravenclawplanet: mercury | venus | earth | mars | jupiter | saturn | uranus | neptuneolympian: zeus | hera | poseidon | demeter | athena | apollo | artemis | ares | aphrodite | hephaestus | hermes | hestia | dionysusart form: poetry | painting | sculpture | novel | musicclassical musician: bach | beethoven | mozart | chopin | tchaikovsky | debussy | stravinsky

want this?

[tomhiddletson]

Happy birthday!! Have a magical day🦄

thank you love

[papenathys]

Are there even any women of color in If We Were Villains?!?

No, there aren't. Alexander is the racially ambiguous character who is a drug addict.