While both The Secret History and Babel are quintessential dark academia novels set in posh higher education institutions, they contain within them different narratives. In fact, both books are concerned with whether morality is changeable from decade to decade or society to society, and specifically, it is something the respective main characters wrestle with, though they find themselves on different sides of the argument once they reach their conclusions. Our cultural awareness and standards for diversity were remarkably different in the late ‘90s something that is more reflective of the realities of systemic racism and other forms of xenophobia rather than the malleability of morality and equality. The cause of this paradox is quite easy to ascertain, as Babel was published in 2022, while The Secret History hit shelves in 1997. There is a paradox in the reality that Babel, a fantasy book, is set in the 1830s and The Secret History in the 1980s, and yet it is the latter that exists in an imaginary world where the West is completely devoid of people of color.

Spoiler warning: This article contains major spoilers for both The Secret History and Babel. Kuang succeeded in responding to the new-age classic The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and what exactly Babel adds to the conversation. Babel was one of the most highly anticipated books of 2022, and now that we’ve sat with it for a moment, let’s explore whether beloved author R.F.

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