Krisha Mae M.

Neri
BA English Language III-A

1. Write the genre (poem, fiction/short story, essay, novel, and drama/play) and the title with
the author's name of the literary piece/s you enjoy reading.

Novel
● Babel, or the Necessity of Violence- R.F Kuang
● The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo- Taylor Jenkins Reid
● Harry Potter, the Series- J.K. Rowling
● Turtles All the Way Down- John Green
● Strange the Dreamer- Laini Taylor
● The Strange and Beautiful Sorrow of Ava Lavender- Leslye Walton
● The Darkest Mind- Alexandra Bracken
● The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes- Suzanne Collins

2. Describe your favorite literary piece in terms of: (a) genre type, (b) author's style, and (c)
language.

My current favorite literary piece is “Babel, or the Necessity of Violence” by R.F. Kuang. It is
a novel under the genre of dark academia as it highlights an academic narrative with a twist
of magical realism and mystery. It is set in the 1800s, and is centered around the
fictionalized Royal Institute of Translation in Oxford University. Babel follows four scholars of
language as they are trained to become experts in translation, consequently mastering the
arts of silver working. But later will they realize that there are more important factors at play
in academia, a darkness brought forth by an era of British imperialism, colonialism, and
exploitation…and language plays the most crucial role.

R.F. Kuang relates historical accounts to works of fiction tastefully. The narratives are based
on truthful accounts from the past (proven by the amount of footnotes in the book) which the
author connects with her compelling character arc and story line. Kuang seems to not just
tell a story, but also teach her audience to learn more about their history and that of the
languages of the world too. In fact, one of the most interesting facets of her book is the
amount of indirect lessons concerning translation, morphology, semantics, and
sociolinguistics that is embedded within its pages. In most of her books, they are also
written in the third person, allowing the readers to gain a better glimpse at the world she
built and the characters in it.

The writing of Babel is simplistic. The words are those understandable to median users of
the language. Yet its simplicity did not make it boring, it only made the narrative appear
brave. The literary piece did not express its stand under the guise of metaphor, it was
honest in its message which its readers could easily acknowledge and even appreciate.
3. If you were to write a literary piece, what genre would it be and why such a piece?

I would love to write about dystopian, fantasy, dark academia, or science fiction novels. The
most common facet about these genres is its focus on world-building. The author gets to
create her own world, and its own customs, people, and even language. By world-building, I
would like my readers to travel with me and encounter a world shared only through my
words. I want to be creative. I want to write something that may seem impossible but
through the power of language, can easily become a probability.