'Katabasis' a magical trip through hell and academia

“Everyone else lived in such an ossified world. They simply took the rules given to them. They were interested only in articulating their own limits; they moved about as if in stone. But magicians lived in air, dancing on a tentative staircase of ideas, and it was a source of endless delirium, to know that the instant the world began to bore you, you could snap your fingers, and you’d be in free fall once again.”

— “Katabasis,”

R.F. Kuang

Now that it’s post Labor Day, many are thinking about all things fall: pumpkin spice coffees, cozy decorations and Halloween are all on the horizon. How about settling into a great, dark academia book where the journey takes the reader to hell? Yes, please — ‘tis the season!

“Katabasis” is Rebecca Kuang’s sixth bestselling book. The academic world is familiar terrain for Kuang, she has acquired degrees from Georgetown, Cambridge, Oxford and soon a Ph.D. in East Asian languages and literatures from Yale. All of this by the age of 29. With all her academic experience in several different universities, who better than Kuang to write a book about the darkside of academia?

Kuang’s books highlight certain defiances she holds towards current social issues. In her book “Yellowface” she defies the publishing industry and addresses racism involved in the industry as well as Twitter fights and social-media cancellations. “Babel” is a fantastic book that forces the readers to look at the history of academia, the politics around translation, and the long-term effects of colonialism that’s centered around the United Kingdom’s prestigious colleges. “Katabasis” harps on Cambridge and the mistreatment toward students.

“Katabasis” masterfully weaves in philosophical greats like Friedrich Nietzsche, Aristotle, Plato and Immanuel Kant. Does this sound like it can be a bit of a cerebral read? Yes, although the story pulls the reader in and the book flows with adventure. After all, they are in hell. In fact, the term “katabasis” originates from Greek and classical mythology and is defined as a journey to the underworld.

This is a story about a student named Alice Law who accidentally kills her professor by using magic. Alice, and another student named Peter Murdoch, who is the school’s born genius golden boy, decided to use magic to breach the gates of hell in order to rescue their professor.

They don’t want to bring him back out of love and appreciation for a revered professor, no, he’s a cruel mentor that no one likes, but they need him back. They fear that they will never succeed on the job market without securing a letter of recommendation from him. The only way to make it through hell is to master a series of logical paradoxes, along with the rules governing the fictional underworld. In order to locate the professor, they must go through the eight courts. All the while avoiding the dangerous beings in hell, along with the daunting river Lethe. Whoever touches the water suffers an immediate erasure of all their knowledge, experiences and life memories. Knowing this, these scholars are terrified of losing their memories and hard-earned knowledge, so they avoid the river at all costs.

“Loss of identity was a terrifying prospect. Who were you without your memories, your background, your relationships, your station?” Kuang writes.

Speaking of costs, there is a cost to the students by going to hell — they will only be able to live half a life. Therein lies discussion on the pressure of the academic world — graduate at the top of your class no matter what the cost: relationships, your dignity and sometimes one’s life (or half of it), among other things.

“Katabasis” is an adventurous read. It’s a grown-up “Harry Potter” that is insightful and poignant. The first print of the book is a deluxe limited edition with gorgeous, printed edges. Consider getting a copy right away — the deluxe edition is in limited supply.

Deborah Condit is the owner of Books on the Bosque, located at 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane, Suite A-2, or at booksonthebosque.com.