I accept however that some people feel the exact opposite. For me, it is selfishness personified to avoid creating that child who will die, simply to avoid the pain of losing them. through a terminal diagnosis), this does not negate the existing time we have. As a cancer survivor, it’s been brought home to me that none of us know how much time we have – yet even if we do (ie. In other words: would you still have a child, if you knew they would grow up, only to die prematurely?įor me, the answer is a resounding YES. It also draws forth the difficult question: “If you knew then, what you know now, would you still do what you did? “ In the course of the story, we will discover how Louise deals with this knowledge – both via grief and joy. In doing so, she also discovers this same time period will include the birth and death of her own beloved daughter. This means she will be able to see everything in the space she occupies, from the moment she learns the alien language, until her death. Instead, our protagonist Louise Banks will meet aliens – and in learning to converse with them via their strange and other-worldly language, she discovers an entirely new way of looking at space and time. Unlike many science fiction stories that rely on expositional clichés like entirely random flashbacks, sudden psychic abilities or time travel, Story of Your Life side-steps these obvious crutches with panache. Unlike others in the collection however, Story of Your Life probably the most accessible (bar the award-winning Tower Of Babylon, which reads rather like a science fiction Bible story). Drawing heaving on academic references to linguistics then, Ted Chiang weaves a hypnotic, heartrending tale about a woman who is burdened with the knowledge her only child will grow up, only to die at the untimely age of twenty five in a climbing accident in a national park. Chiang is clearly a passionate, highly educated man and his writer’s voice is quite unlike others I’ve seen before (which, as someone who works with writers daily, is quite something!). Ted Chiang’s stories are highly cerebral and Story Of Your Life is no different. Warning – SPOILERS!!! Do not read on if spoilers bother you The Book It’s adapted from the short novella, Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang.

ARRIVAL is written by veteran Hollywood scribe Eric Heisserer and directed by director of the moment, Denis Villeneuve ( Sicario, Prisoners).

Ted chiang on arrival