Seventy-Two Letters

{{Infobox short story

| name = Seventy-Two Letters

| image =

| border =

| caption =

| author = Ted Chiang

| language = English

| genre = Science fiction

| published_in = Vanishing Acts

| publication_type = Magazine

| pub_date = June 2000

}}

"Seventy-Two Letters" is a science fiction novella by American writer Ted Chiang, published in June 2000 in the Ellen Datlow's anthology Vanishing Acts.{{cite journal |last1=Beatty |first1=Greg |title=The Bridge Between Truth/Death and Power/Knowledge: Ted Chiang's "Seventy-two Letters" |journal=Strange Horizons |date=16 April 2001 |issue=16 |url=http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/the-bridge-between-truthdeath-and-powerknowledge-ted-chiangs-seventy-two-letters/ |access-date=28 April 2021 |language=en}}{{cite journal |title=Ted Chiang |journal=Foundation |date=2003 |issue=87–89 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMdZAAAAMAAJ&q=Seventy-Two+Letters+ted+chiang |access-date=28 April 2021 |publisher=North East London Polytechnic |language=en}}{{cite journal |journal=The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction |date=April 2002 |volume=102 |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTo6AQAAIAAJ&q=Seventy-Two%20Letters%20ted%20chiang |access-date=28 April 2021 |publisher=Fantasy House. |language=en|title=Ted Chiang}} The novella can also be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF 6 (2001), edited by David G. Hartwell and Steampunk (2008), edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer. It is included in the collection Stories of Your Life and Others (2002).{{cite web |title=Seventy-Two Letters by Ted Chiang |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=20000 |publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=28 April 2021 |language=en}}

Plot summary

The novella focuses on an alternate history of the world where science and technology are based on the use of golems and, accordingly, the Kabbalistic names embedded in them. Biologists discover that the number of human generations is a constant value and that in about 100 years the human race will die out due to the lack of sperm in the last generation. An unexpected way out of the impasse has yet to be found.

Reception

Greg Bitty of Strange Horizons wrote, ""Seventy-two Letters" is one of the finest representations of the SF subgenre of steampunk. As the "-punk" suffix suggests, steampunk, like cyberpunk, is a neologism, describing a fairly coherent collection of works which first emerged in the late 1980s. However, while cyberpunk works in a setting of late capitalist decay and anarchy, with computer technology as its primary trope, steampunk revisits nineteenth century capitalism, especially in Britain, and its primary trope is the steam engine. Chiang's work, like that of dominant authors of steampunk such as James Blaylock and Tim Powers, shares a pleasure in the game-like aspects of reworking known history; but Chiang transcends most works in the genre by starting his revision of history much earlier, reworking the entire industrial revolution in ways that manage to show us our world in new and startling ways."

Awards

“Seventy-Two Letters” was nominated for the 2001 Hugo Award for Best Novella,{{cite web |title=2001 Hugo Awards |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2001-hugo-awards/ |publisher=The Hugo Awards |access-date=28 April 2021 |date=26 July 2007}} for the 2001 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella,{{cite web |title=sfadb : Ted Chiang Awards |url=https://www.sfadb.com/Ted_Chiang |publisher=sfadb.com |access-date=28 April 2021}} for the 2001 Locus Poll Award, and also for the 2001 Theodore Sturgeon Award.{{cite web |title=sfadb: Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award 2001 |url=http://www.sfadb.com/Theodore_Sturgeon_Memorial_Award_2001 |publisher=sfadb.com |access-date=28 April 2021}} The novella also won the 2000 Sidewise Award for Alternate History (short form){{cite web |title=Sidewise: Past Winners and Finalists |url=http://www.uchronia.net/sidewise/complete.html#pagebox |publisher=uchronia.net |access-date=28 April 2021}} and the 2002 Hayakawa Award.

References

External links

{{ISFDB title|92459}}
[https://archive.org/details/TedChiangSeventyTwoLetters Seventy-Two Letters] audiobook in the [https://archive.org/ Internet Archive]

Category:2000 short stories

Category:Science fiction short stories

Category:Short stories by Ted Chiang

Category:Sidewise Award for Alternate History–winning works