Stories of Your Life and Others
(Sprache: Englisch)
An award-winning book from the author of Exhalation, this short story collection "blend[s] absorbing storytelling with meditations on the universe, being, time and space. . . . raises questions about the nature of reality and what it is to be human." -The...
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An award-winning book from the author of Exhalation, this short story collection "blend[s] absorbing storytelling with meditations on the universe, being, time and space. . . . raises questions about the nature of reality and what it is to be human." -The New York TimesIncludes "Story of Your Life" the basis for the major motion picture Arrival
Stories of Your Life and Others delivers dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar, often presenting characters who must confront sudden change-the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens-with some sense of normalcy. With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder. An award-winning collection from one of today's most lauded writers, Stories of Your Life and Others is a contemporary classic.
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STORY OF YOUR LIFEYour father is about to ask me the question. This is the most important moment in our lives, and I want to pay attention, note every detail. Your dad and I have just come back from an evening out, dinner and a show; it s after midnight. We came out onto the patio to look at the full moon; then I told your dad I wanted to dance, so he humors me and now we re slow-dancing, a pair of thirtysomethings swaying back and forth in the moonlight like kids. I don t feel the night chill at all. And then your dad says, Do you want to make a baby?
Right now your dad and I have been married for about two years, living on Ellis Avenue; when we move out you ll still be too young to remember the house, but we ll show you pictures of it, tell you stories about it. I d love to tell you the story of this evening, the night you re conceived, but the right time to do that would be when you re ready to have children of your own, and we ll never get that chance.
Telling it to you any earlier wouldn t do any good; for most of your life you won t sit still to hear such a romantic -- you d say sappy -- story. I remember the scenario of your origin you ll suggest when you re twelve.
The only reason you had me was so you could get a maid you wouldn t have to pay, you ll say bitterly, dragging the vacuum cleaner out of the closet.
That s right, I ll say. Thirteen years ago I knew the carpets would need vacuuming around now, and having a baby seemed to be the cheapest and easiest way to get the job done. Now kindly get on with it.
If you weren t my mother, this would be illegal, you ll say, seething as you unwind the power cord and plug it into the wall outlet.
That will be in the house on Belmont Street. I ll live to see strangers occupy both houses: the one you re conceived in and the one you grow up in. Your dad and I will sell the first a couple years after your arrival. I ll sell the second shortly after your departure. By then Nelson and I
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will have moved into our farmhouse, and your dad will be living with what s-her-name.
I know how this story ends; I think about it a lot. I also think a lot about how it began, just a few years ago, when ships appeared in orbit and artifacts appeared in meadows. The government said next to nothing about them, while the tabloids said every possible thing.
And then I got a phone call, a request for a meeting.
* * *
I spotted them waiting in the hallway, outside my office. They made an odd couple; one wore a military uniform and a crewcut, and carried an aluminum briefcase. He seemed to be assessing his surroundings with a critical eye. The other one was easily identifiable as an academic: full beard and mustache, wearing corduroy. He was browsing through the overlapping sheets stapled to a bulletin board nearby.
Colonel Weber, I presume? I shook hands with the soldier. Louise Banks.
Dr. Banks. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, he said.
Not at all; any excuse to avoid the faculty meeting.
Colonel Weber indicated his companion. This is Dr. Gary Donnelly, the physicist I mentioned when we spoke on the phone.
Call me Gary, he said as we shook hands. I m anxious to hear what you have to say.
We entered my office. I moved a couple of stacks of books off the second guest chair, and we all sat down. You said you wanted me to listen to a recording. I presume this has something to do with the aliens?
All I can offer is the recording, said Colonel Weber.
Okay, let s hear it.
I know how this story ends; I think about it a lot. I also think a lot about how it began, just a few years ago, when ships appeared in orbit and artifacts appeared in meadows. The government said next to nothing about them, while the tabloids said every possible thing.
And then I got a phone call, a request for a meeting.
* * *
I spotted them waiting in the hallway, outside my office. They made an odd couple; one wore a military uniform and a crewcut, and carried an aluminum briefcase. He seemed to be assessing his surroundings with a critical eye. The other one was easily identifiable as an academic: full beard and mustache, wearing corduroy. He was browsing through the overlapping sheets stapled to a bulletin board nearby.
Colonel Weber, I presume? I shook hands with the soldier. Louise Banks.
Dr. Banks. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, he said.
Not at all; any excuse to avoid the faculty meeting.
Colonel Weber indicated his companion. This is Dr. Gary Donnelly, the physicist I mentioned when we spoke on the phone.
Call me Gary, he said as we shook hands. I m anxious to hear what you have to say.
We entered my office. I moved a couple of stacks of books off the second guest chair, and we all sat down. You said you wanted me to listen to a recording. I presume this has something to do with the aliens?
All I can offer is the recording, said Colonel Weber.
Okay, let s hear it.
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Inhaltsverzeichnis zu „Stories of Your Life and Others “
Tower of BabylonUnderstand
Division by Zero
Story of Your Life
Seventy-Two Letters
The Evolution of Human Science
Hell Is the Absence of God
Liking What You See: A Documentary
Story Notes
Acknowledgments
Autoren-Porträt von Ted Chiang
Ted Chiang was born in Port Jefferson, New York, and holds a degree in computer science. In 1989 he attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Workshop. His fiction has won four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus awards, and he is the recipient of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Stories of Your Life and Others has been translated into ten languages. He lives near Seattle, Washington.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Ted Chiang
- 2016, 304 Seiten, Maße: 20 x 13,1 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: VINTAGE
- ISBN-10: 1101972122
- ISBN-13: 9781101972120
- Erscheinungsdatum: 28.09.2016
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
A swell movie adaptation always sends me to the source material, so Arrival had me pick up Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others: lean, relentless, and incandescent. Colson Whitehead, GQChiang writes with a gruff and ready heart that brings to mind George Saunders and Steven Millhauser, but he s uncompromisingly cerebral. The New Yorker
Blend[s] absorbing storytelling with meditations on the universe, being, time and space. . . . raises questions about the nature of reality and what it is to be human. The New York Times
Shines with a brutal, minimalist elegance. Every sentence is the perfect incision in the dissection of the idea at hand. The Guardian
Meticulously pieced together, utterly thought through, Chiang s stories emerge slowly . . . but with the perfection of slow-growing crystal. Lev Grossman, Best of the Decade: Science Fiction and Fantasy, Techland
"Ted Chiang is one of the best and smartest writers working today. If you don't know his name, let's fix that. Now." Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
"Ted Chiang astonishes. You must read him." Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble
United by a humane intelligence that speaks very directly to the reader, and makes us experience each story with immediacy and Chiang s calm passion. China Mieville, The Guardian
Ted is a national treasure . . . each of those stories is a goddamned jewel. Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
Confirms that blending science and fine art at this length can produce touching works, tales as intimate as our own blood cells, with the structural strength of just-discovered industrial alloys. Seattle Times
Chiang derides lazy thinking, weasels it out of its hiding place, and leaves it cowering. Washington Post
Essential. You won t know SF if you don t read Ted Chiang.
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Greg Bear
Chiang writes seldom, but his almost unfathomably wonderful stories tick away with the precision of a Swiss watch and explode in your awareness with shocking, devastating force. Kirkus Reviews (starred Review)
The first must-read SF book of the year. Publishers Weekly (starred Review)
He puts the science back in science fiction brilliantly. Booklist (starred Review)
Chiang writes seldom, but his almost unfathomably wonderful stories tick away with the precision of a Swiss watch and explode in your awareness with shocking, devastating force. Kirkus Reviews (starred Review)
The first must-read SF book of the year. Publishers Weekly (starred Review)
He puts the science back in science fiction brilliantly. Booklist (starred Review)
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