Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Tower of Babylon


Tower of Babylon is a 1990 story, his first published work, by Ted Chiang. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette. You can read it online here. It begins,
A tower reaches for the vault of heaven, and its builders discover that the wrath of God is the least of their worries.

It takes a full month and a half to climb to the towers

summit

Were the power to be laid down across the plain of Shinar, it would be two days journey to walk from one end to the other. While the tower stands, it takes a month and a half to climb from its base to its summit, is a man walks underburdened. But few men climb the tower with empty hands; the pace of most men is much slowed by the cart of bricks that they pull behind them. Four months passed before the day a brick is loaded onto a cart of and the day it is taken off to form a part of the tower.

Hillalum had spent all his life in Elam and knew babylon only as a buyer of Elam's copper. The copper ingots were carried on boats that traveled down the Karun to the Lower Sea, headed for the Eupherates. Hillalum and the other miners traveled overland, alongside of merchant's caravan of loaded onagers. They walked along a dusty path leading down the plataeu, across the plains, to the green fields sectioned by canals and dikes.

None of them had seen the tower before. It became visible when they were still leagues away: a line as thin as a strand of flax, wavering in the shimmering air, rising up from the crust of mud that was Babylon itself
It is included in the anthology Stories of Your Life and Others.

I always have a glass of water and usually also a cup of coffee or tea beside me while I read. Join me?


I'm sharing at the weekly T Stands for Tuesday blogger gathering hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth at the Altered Book Lovers blog.

19 comments:

  1. I'll take a cup of tea, please, with one Stevia or sugar, and a splash or Half n Half or milk. The book sounds intriguing.

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  2. ...a name that I've heard of over and over again, but knew nothing about!

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    1. Well, to be honest, you won't learn about the Tower of Babel from this story ;)

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  3. I believe I have read this. It certainly sounds familiar. I enjoyed the image, too.

    You always have the BEST and most relevant mugs to share with us. Those snowflakes are lovely on the mug's dark background.

    Thanks for sharing this story and your coffee with us for T this Tuesday, dear friend.

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  4. Anonymous8:16 AM

    Pretty winter cup!
    -- A Pal

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  5. A good story and good coffee - nothing better! happy T day, Valerie

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  6. Interesting storyline and you can visualise the journey up the tower from this excerpt 😁. I'm loving your snowflake mug, perfect for the winter season - Happy T Tuesday! Hugs, Jo x

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  7. I´m more the tea-type and I have still sooo many books to read - as tempting as it sounds, though! Happy T-day to you.

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  8. I agree interesting story, love your mug and a cup of hot tea please
    Happy T wishes Kathy

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  9. Another interesting story choice. I'll have a cuppa either with you:) Happy T day!

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  10. It sounds a good book, I would be enjoying a cuppa while reading as well.
    Happy T day wishes.
    Yvonne xx

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  11. I have never hear of this story, only the account of the tower of Babel in the Bible.
    Love your mug!
    Happy Tea Day,
    Kate

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  12. This story sounds interesting. Happy T-Day!

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  13. I didn't know that anyone had written a novel about the Tower of Babylon. Thank you for sharing this.

    Where do you find all this arcane stuff, D? You're amazing.

    Happy T-day! Eileen xx

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    1. This just takes the idea and explores it. Except that there's a tower there's no relationship to the bible story. It's just 12 pages long so not much time investment to try it out.

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  14. I would join you. I will take water. Can I bring my Wilkie Collins book along? Happy T day. Hugs-Erika

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  15. This looks like a good read and I have bookmarked so I can come back to it! Belated Happy T Day, Chrisx

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