Chiang

     Ted Chiang writes a mesmerizing narrative in “the Merchant and the Alchemists Gate.” Where time seemingly bends to the will of the user. Time as we have been discovering and discussing in class is pliable and in “the Merchant and the Alchemists Gate” we see that principle being explored in the collection of vignettes.

     What I enjoy about Chiang's vignettes, is the exploration of our past. When we talk about time travel we often associate it with going forward. Seeing what is to come. But in Chiang and somewhat in Ozeki’s novel, we explore the the importance of the past. In the vignette of The Wife and her Lover, the relationship between past and present is explored. She begins to unravel layers of time. And as she experienced the past again, she uncovers new information and new perspectives that help her contextualize her present. Raniya said: “I realize now that, even though the past is unchangeable, one may encounter the unexpected when visiting it." (Chiang,13). We talked of an example in class where someone goes through life recognizing their identity is fluid. And it takes the bravery of the individual in the present to understand the fluidness of their identity in the past. Chiang touches on something similar. The past has already happened but we can change our perspective of the past to find new insights, ideas, and context that helps shape the way we act in the present. Yet the difference between Chiang and Ozeki lie within the ripples of the past. In Chiangs story, Raniya recognizes that the past in unchangeable. It is solid and unflinching. In Ozeki’s novel, Ruth actively changes her past or Nao’s present. Her dream in the present touches the past. The idea that we can change the past is hard to swallow in our linear perspective of time. To us, the past is the past. It has already happened. But as we explore our new quantum theories of time, we have to open up to the idea that time is flexible.  

     We’ve been discussing the flexibility of time but Chiangs short story weaves time in a way that makes it easier to understand. And hopefully as we progress through the year more stories will bend and flex time in ways that help us continue to understand time from a non-linear perspective. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamilton

  Will Pikus             Lin Manuel Miranda’s play “Hamilton” took Broadway by storm when it was released. Personally, I remember my parents looking into getting tickets for the show. We all realized it wasn’t worth it since tickets were over eight-hundred dollars per person. The play itself also struck me as kind of strange. I questioned why everyone was getting so excited over the ethnically swapped show. One character within the show was especially strange. King George is right where he was supposed to be the entire time. The tyrannical King is laughing maniacally after each of his songs about how “You’ll Be Back”. While this is likely an accurate depiction of King George, one big question comes to mind. Why is he still white?             As a student brought up last class, why was Hamilton’s story choses by Miranda? It’s one of the oldest whitest stories in th...
Read more

A Tale for the Time Being – "to live"

In the final third of Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, old Jiko gives Nao and her father a seemingly simple – yet to them, a difficult – task: “to live” (362). While her final request to her descendants affects them deeply because of their suicidal ideations, it is also Jiko’s final comment on Zen Bhuddism. In the practice of Zen, one must be rather than think about being in order to truly be alive, so, Jiko’s request of Nao and Haruki #2 tells them to stop worrying, stop planning, stop thinking – just to live. Neither Nao or Haruki #2 actively lived in the moment before Jiko’s death, instead, they planned for the moment they would cease being. After her death, reporters, priests, and those who admired Jiko assumed that the meaning of her final writing, just the singular character for the phrase “to live,” was complex, deep, and mysterious. However, Nao and Haruki #2 are the only ones who understood the true intention of her final word. She simply tells them to be alive. By doing s...
Read more

Finale of A Tale for the Time Being

  Emma Straus    21 st Century Literature and Time    Final 3 rd of A Tale for the Time Being    September 2022        A Tale for the Time Being brings an ending that is hopeful with a touch of realism in only a way the novel itself could accomplish. It is filled with messages that are universal to the readers, as well as the characters, such as Ruth, in the novel. The ending encapsulates both mysteries and lessons to be learned.    At the end of the diary, Ruth finds herself confused and even a bit sad. The idea of “we’ll make magic together...” comes back, and Ruth is left to many questions. Of course, when the novel began, Nao’s and Ruth’s overlapping narratives were an essential part of the story. Throughout the story, Ozeki plants metaphors and plot points for readers to understand the way in which everything in itself is connected. The ending of the novel comes with the entanglement of the metafictions and met...
Read more