Found in translation

Jeffrey Ford on undoing the will of God:

Today it struck me that, considering the curse that God places on mankind by fracturing language so that we can never conspire en mass, the work of translators is, in a mythic sort of way, an undoing of the will of God. I had this day dream where after the fall of the tower, even though most flee in fear, a group of architects and workers determines to stick together, overcome the obstacle of language and eventually see the project through to completion. In order to be successful, they will first have to learn to communicate with each other. They study the new languages they each are now stuck with and then work to understand one or more of the other new languages. This takes place over centuries — there’s a secret society of Architects of The Tower Of Babel. Eventually they come to see that the actual tower isn’t necessary, but that their efforts at translation are rebuilding it spiritually one invisible stone at a time. In the process of undoing the will of God, they have entered into what could be considered a religious pursuit.