Tower Of Babylon by Ted Chiang, 1990
The magic trick:
Beautiful writing
There is a remarkable thing happening in this story. Chiang somehow manages to make an ancient tale feel like futuristic science fiction. I have to marvel at the feat, even as the resulting genre mashup was never going to be to my (fantasy, sci-fi agnostic at best) peculiar tastes.
What really makes the story work though is the quality of writing. That he accomplished at such a young age (early 20s, I believe) is all the more impressive.
You really can’t tell the story of the awe-inspiring discovery of the shape of existence without being able to write some awe-inspiring prose.
But he pulls it off.
The section, in particular, describing the sunset from his perch on the tower is simply beautiful.
And that’s quite a trick on Chiang’s part.
The selection:
“What is different about the way the sun sets here?”
“Consider, when the sun sinks behind the peaks of the mountains to the west, it grows dark down on the plain of Shinar. Yet here, we are higher than the mountaintops, so we can still see the sun. The must descend further for us to see night.”
Hillalum’s jaw dropped as he understood. “The shadows of the mountains mark the beginning of the night. Night falls on the earth before it does here.”
Kudda nodded. “You can see night travel up the tower, from the ground up to the sky. It moves quickly, but you should be able to see it.”
He watched the red globe of the sun for a minute, and then looked down and pointed. “Now!”
Hillalum and Nanni looked down. At the base of the immense pillar, tiny Babylon was in shadow. Then the darkness climbed the tower, like a canopy unfurling upward. It moved slowly enough that Hillalum felt he could count the moments passing, but then it grew faster as it approached, until it raced past them faster than he could blink, and they were in twilight.
Hillalum rolled over and looked up, in time to see darkness rapidly ascend the rest of the tower. Gradually, the sky grew dimmer as the sun sank beneath the edge of the world, far away.
“Quite a sight, is it not?” said Kudda.
Hillalum said nothing. For the first time, he knew night for what it was: the shadow of the earth itself, cast against the sky.
As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.
Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.
Short Story Magic Tricks 