Hell Is the Absence of God
{{short description|2001 novelette by Ted Chiang}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox short story
| name = Hell Is the Absence of God
| image = Hell_is_the_absence_of_god.jpg
| caption =
| author = Ted Chiang
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Fantasy
| published_in = Starlight #3
| publication_type = Anthology
| publisher = Tor Books
| media_type =
| pub_date = July 2001
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
"Hell Is the Absence of God" is a 2001 satirical fantasy novelette by American writer Ted Chiang, first published in {{nowrap|Starlight #3}}, and subsequently
reprinted in Year's Best Fantasy 2, and in Fantasy: The Best of 2001, as well as in Chiang's 2002 anthology, Stories of Your Life and Others.
"Hell Is the Absence of God" won the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, the Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and the Locus Award for Best Novelette. It was also a finalist for the 2002 Theodore Sturgeon Award. It has been translated into Japanese, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian, German,{{cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?100308|title=Hell Is the Absence of God|publisher=Internet Speculative Fiction Database|access-date=December 29, 2018}} Ukrainian and Romanian.[https://nemira.ro/impartirea-la-zero Împărțirea la zero], Nemira, 2011
Plot
{{Quote box
|width = 23em
|border = 1px
|align = right
|bgcolor = #c6dbf7
|fontsize = 80%
|quote = ... if [people] wish to love God, they [must] be prepared to do so no matter what His intentions. God is not just, God is not kind, God is not merciful, and understanding that is essential to true devotion.
|salign = right
|source = — "Hell Is the Absence of God", page 189{{sfn|Chiang|2015a|p=189}}
}}
The story is set in a world where the existence of God, souls, Heaven, and Hell are obvious and indisputable, and where miracles and angelic visitations are commonplace—albeit not necessarily benevolent. The story focuses primarily on Neil Fisk, a widower whose wife, Sarah, is killed by the collateral damage of an angel's visitation. Sarah's soul was seen ascending to Heaven, leading the non-devout Neil to desperately seek the love and devotion needed to please God and enter Heaven to reunite with Sarah.
The story also follows Janice Reilly, a woman born without legs who is made able-bodied in an angelic visitation. Janice, a motivational and spiritual speaker, is met with a lukewarm response during a meeting after her visitation when she suggests that her gift is a test of her devotion to God rather than a blessing. This greatly angers Neil, who was present.
The reader is then introduced to Ethan Mead, who cannot discern the meaning of an angelic encounter he experienced. This begins to take a toll on his marriage, but Ethan desperately seeks help with his predicament. He eventually meets Janice, who has decided to organize a pilgrimage to one of the few holy sites on Earth where visitations are frequent. Wanting to return her blessing, her story makes the news, convincing Neil that the only way to enter Heaven is by witnessing Heaven's light.
In the past, many people who have witnessed Heaven's light, which appears when an angel enters and exits the mortal world, ascend to Heaven no matter the amount or severity of their sins. Sure enough, an angel appears and flies over the holy site. The many pilgrims present desperately attempt to witness Heaven's light by following the angel. Neil is following in a truck but crashes and is left mortally wounded. Janice and Ethan attempt to help him, but as the angel leaves Earth, Heaven's light strikes Neil and Janice.
Both are left blind and Neil dies. Much to his shock, Ethan witnesses Neil's soul descend to Hell. Janice goes on a speaking tour where she describes her experience and the beauty of Heaven. Ethan becomes a minister after deciding that the purpose of his first visitation was to lead him to meet Neil and reveal to the world that exposure to Heaven's light does not guarantee entrance into Heaven.
In Hell, Neil, having finally gained the love and devotion to God that he desperately sought, accepts that he will never reunite with Sarah and will spend eternity in the absence of God.
Background
Commenting on "Hell Is the Absence of God" in the "Story Notes" section of Stories of Your Life and Others, Chiang said that after seeing the film The Prophecy, he wanted to write a story about angels, but could not think of a scenario that would work. It was only when he started imagining angels as being "phenomena of terrifying power, whose visitations resembled natural disasters" that he was able to proceed.{{sfn|Chiang|2015b|p=225}} Chiang wrote that the Book of Job also contributed to ideas for his story, as it raised the question: why did God restore Job to prosperity when the Book's lesson was that "virtue isn't always rewarded"?{{sfn|Chiang|2015b|p=225}}
In interviews Chiang has explicitly stated that "Hell Is the Absence of God" is "straight fantasy",[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/inttchiang.htm Ted Chiang interviewed] at Infinity Plus because it takes place in a universe "in which the scientific method doesn't work".Locus, July 2011, Issue 606 (vol. 67, no.1), "Scientific Method: Interview with Ted Chiang" He said it is about "innocent suffering", and the way people devoted to God deal with it.{{cite web|last=Anders|first=Lou|author-link=Lou Anders|url=https://www.sfsite.com/09b/tc136.htm|title=A Conversation With Ted Chiang|work=SF Site|date=July 2002|access-date=May 25, 2017}} He also said that the novelette examines the role of faith in religion, and suggests that if God undeniably existed, then faith would no longer be applicable.{{cite web|last=Grant|first=Gavin J.|author-link=Gavin Grant (editor)|url=http://www.indiebound.org/author-interviews/chiangted|title=Ted Chiang: Interviewed by Gavin J. Grant|publisher=IndieBound|access-date=May 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407032812/http://www.indiebound.org/author-interviews/chiangted|archive-date=April 7, 2017|url-status=dead}}
Reception
Robert J. Sawyer and David G. Hartwell described "Hell Is the Absence of God" as the "best single SF story of 2002".{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120222053346/http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book&bi=4145 Robert J. Sawyer, FictionWise Recommender]}} at Fictionwise (via archive.org) Conversely, John C. Wright called it "trite antichristian propaganda".[http://www.scifiwright.com/2009/11/book-review-story-of-your-life-and-others-by-ted-chiang/ John C. Wright's review of Stories of Your Life and Others]; by John C. Wright; originally published at Amazon.com, February 13, 2003; archived at SciFiWright.com, November 16, 2009; retrieved September 1, 2015 Elf Sternberg has compared the novelette to C. S. Lewis's The Great Divorce, saying that although Lewis is a supporter of God, Chiang is "far more ambivalent".[http://elfs.livejournal.com/417462.html Oh, what the harsh light of reason hath wrought] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517040401/http://elfs.livejournal.com/417462.html |date=2008-05-17 }}: Elf Sternberg's Livejournal for January 11, 2006
In a review of Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others in The Guardian, English fantasy author China Miéville called "Hell Is the Absence of God" the showpiece of Chiang's collection. He wrote that despite the story's religious underpinnings, there is no "moralistic Sturm und Drang{{-"}}, and Chiang "does not descend to the finger-wagging one might expect from a liberal intellectual".{{cite news |last=Miéville |first=China |author-link=China Miéville |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/apr/24/featuresreviews.guardianreview23/ |title=Stories of Your Life |newspaper=The Guardian |date=April 24, 2004 |access-date=May 25, 2017}}
Ken Liu wrote [http://thoughtcrime.crummy.com/2009/Error.html "Single-Bit Error"], a short story published in 2009, in response to "Hell Is the Absence of God".
Awards
Publication history
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;" | ||||
| style="background:#ddf; width:5%;"| Date
! style="background:#ddf; width:20%;"| Title ! style="background:#ddf; width:10%;"| Author/Editor ! style="background:#ddf; width:1%;"| Language ! style="background:#ddf; width:1%;"| Type | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="text-align: center;" | July 2001 | Starlight 3 | Patrick Nielsen Hayden | English | Anthology |
| style="text-align: center;" | June 2002 | Fantasy: The Best of 2001 | Robert Silverberg, Karen Haber | English | Anthology |
| style="text-align: center;" | July 2002 | Stories of Your Life and Others | Ted Chiang | English | Collection |
| style="text-align: center;" | July 2002 | Year's Best Fantasy 2 | David G. Hartwell, Kathryn Cramer | English | Anthology |
| style="text-align: center;" | April 2003 | I premi Hugo 2002 | Gianfranco Viviani | Italian | Anthology |
| style="text-align: center;" | March 2004 | Nebula Awards Showcase 2004 | Vonda N. McIntyre | English | Anthology |
| style="text-align: center;" | July 2004 | The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy | Charles N. Brown, Jonathan Strahan | English | Anthology |
| style="text-align: center;" | April 2006 | La tour de Babylone | Ted Chiang | French | Collection |
| style="text-align: center;" | June 2006 | Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology | James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel | English | Anthology |
| style="text-align: center;" | February 2008 | Sci-Fi Magazin | Ted Chiang | Romanian | Magazine[https://www.cititorsf.ro/2009/03/15/sci-fi-magazin-nr5/ Sci-Fi Magazin nr.5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924062100/https://www.cititorsf.ro/2009/03/15/sci-fi-magazin-nr5/ |date=2019-09-24 }}, cititorsf.ro |
| style="text-align: center;" | December 2011 | Die Hölle ist die Abwesenheit Gottes | Ted Chiang | German | Collection |
| style="text-align: center;" | 2011 | Împărțirea la zero | Ted Chiang | Romanian | Collection |
References
{{reflist}}
Works cited
- {{cite book |last=Chiang |first=Ted |author-link=Ted Chiang |title=Stories of Your Life and Others |publisher=Picador |year=2015a |orig-year=2002 |edition=e-book |chapter=Hell Is the Absence of God |page=164 |isbn=978-1-4472-8198-6}}
- {{cite book |last=Chiang |first=Ted |title=Stories of Your Life and Others |publisher=Picador |year=2015b |orig-year=2002 |edition=e-book |chapter=Story Notes |page=223 |isbn=978-1-4472-8198-6}}
External links
- {{ISFDB title|100308}}
{{Ted Chiang}}
{{Hugo Award Best Novelette}}
{{Nebula Award Best Novelette}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hell Is The Absence Of God}}
Category:American short stories
Category:Novels about religion
Category:Fantasy short stories
Category:Hugo Award for Best Novelette–winning works
Category:Nebula Award for Best Novelette–winning works
Category:Short stories by Ted Chiang
Category:Heaven in popular culture