As I described in the preceding post, the thesis for this new occasional blog series is: Modern Time Travel stories have little to do with science, technology or righting some great past wrong; rather, they have everything to do with the quest for personal atonement and redemption. And, that quest is the heart and soul of “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate.”
I came across this tale quite by accident. Composed of nested tales and changing POVs, this magnificent little story is surprisingly complex. And much to my surprise, this Old Sinner was deeply moved. “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” is the author’s attempt to reflect on time travel in fiction using the most up-to-date scientific theories and understanding. At the same time, the author goes out of his way to present the terrible personal reality of time travel – there is no going back.
But perhaps, with repentance, atonement, and forgiveness, there is a way forward...
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“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang was first published as a special edition hardcover by Subterranean Press in mid 2007.
Then, about a month later, the story appeared in the September 2007 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I read this story in the publication.
Most recently, the story was included in the second collection of Chiang's tales entitled Exhalation: Stories published in 2019 by Alfred A. Knopf publishing house. Exhalation is a follow-up to Chiang's amazing Stories of Your Life and Others (2002).
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Ted Chiang is an eminently interesting author of modern hard science fiction tales. Chiang was born in 1967 in New York state from Chinese parents who immigrated first to Taiwan and then to the United States. Ted graduated from Brown University with a computer Science degree and currently is working as a technical writer for the software industry. Chiang is also one of the few authors written about in this blog that is still alive.
He sold his first science fiction story in 1989 to Omni magazine. Since then, he has published many short stories and novellas and won numerous awards for his stories. His short story, "Story of Your Life" was made into the amazing feature film Arrival (2016). It is one of my all time favorite movies. Every time I watch it, Arrival brings me to tears.
There is much more to be said about Mr. Chiang's life, but this blog post is not focused on the story of his life but on one particular story that he wrote.
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My journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I had learned had changed everything, and I understood that it could not have been otherwise. If our lives are tales that Allah tells, then we are the audience as well as the players, and it is by living these tales that we receive their lessons.
Story Synopsis:
The merchant Fuwaad ibn Abbas narrates this very Arabian-Nights-esque tale to the Caliph in the form of a nested story.
Fuwaad, while walking through the bazaar in Baghdad, is drawn to the extreme craftsmanship of a metal-smith shop. Upon meeting the proprietor of the shop, Bashaarat, Fuwaad praises the quality of the metal work on display. Flattered, Bashaarat shares with Fuwaad his alchemical experiments, in particular a small hoop-like contraption of black metal. It turns out that it was a working model for a time portal or time gateway. The model only jumps a few seconds forward or backward in time. Bashaarat then shows Fuwaad a full-sized version – the size of a circular door constructed of the same black metal as the model. Bashaarat went on to explain that he had built an earlier gate in Cairo years before building this one in Baghdad. By entering via one side of the doorway, one is jumped 20 years into the future; enter from the other side and the jump is 20 years into the past.
At this point in the narrative, Bashaarat relates to Fuwaad several tales of people who had used the Cairo gate some years before.
The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker
Hassan stepped through the Gate of Years to the Cairo of 20 years in the future. He found out that in the future, he had become a wealthy man. Hassan visited his older self who, unironically, was expecting him. Over the course of several visits, the older Hassan gave the younger much advice; leading to the younger Hassan’s wealth and happiness throughout the rest of his life.
Returning to Fuwaad and Bashaarat—the conclusion of the tale leads the two to a discussion on the value of the gate, the nature of time and determinism versus free will. A most profound but short discussion that would steer Bashaarat into the next story.
The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole from Himself
Ajib had heard of the story of Hassan who had used the gate to seek his older self in future Cairo in order to secure wealth. Ajib steps through the gate fully expecting to find his future self a wealthy man, instead he finds no evidence of such. He sought out his old home (the home the younger Ajib lives in his present) and is saddened to see that the elder Ajib lives there like a pauper. Based on what he believes, he acts. And that act, upon returning to the present, will become the catalyst for a series of events that 20 years hence would find Ajib a pauper.
As Fuwaad and Bashaarat discuss the tale, Bashaarat reveals an interesting epilogue to the story. Bashaarat also discloses to Fuwaad that he was visited by someone with a tale concerning the elder Hassan from the first tale.
The Tale of the Wife and Her Lover
In Hassan’s future, his wife Raniya saw Hassan dining with a young man who appeared to be a younger version of him. Later, she found out the young man actually was the younger Hassan from the first tale and she became enamored of him.
Raniya used what her Hassan had told her to find the original Gate of Years and stepped into the Cairo of twenty years past. Very quickly, she became romantically involved with the younger Hassan. And, when the day came for her to return back to her time, Raniya did not hesitate. She knew she would be with Hassan again.
Returning once again to the discussion between Fuwaad and Bashaarat—Fuwaad raised an insightful point to Bashaarat; namely that while the past cannot be changed, one could gain a deeper, more nuanced awareness of the past that brought with it acceptance and understanding. With this knowledge, Fuwaad decided to use the Baghdad Gate of Years to journey back twenty years. Unfortunately, Bashaarat informed him that “I built this Gate only a week ago. Twenty years ago there was no doorway here for you to step out of.” So, there was no gate for Fuwaad to step through in Baghdad twenty years ago, Therefore Fuwaad had to journey to Cairo to use the original Cairo Gate. Still operational under the care of Bashaarat’s son, the Cairo Gate, built twenty years previously, existed in the past for Fuwaad to step through.
~Fuwaad’s Narrative~
Before delving into his tale, Fuwaad confessed to the Caliph something he had not revealed to Bashaarat; that he had a beloved wife, Najya, who died in a tragic accident some twenty years before. The day of the tragedy, Fuwaad and Najya had quarreled and parted in anger. Najya succumbed to her injuries before he could get back to her. Fuwaad carried the crushing guilt of parting from Najya in anger from that day on.
Following a lengthy journey to Cairo, Fuwaad entered the workshop and arranged with Bashaarat’s son to step through the Gate of Years. Keep in mind that at this point, Fuwaad is still in the Story Present. When he stepped out twenty years in the past, he met Bashaarat of twenty years past (hereafter “the Younger”). It was then Fuwaad realized that when he first met the elder Bashaarat in Baghdad, the elder Bashaarat already knew him from this journey back in this time. And further, Fuwaad realized that perhaps the path his life would take and its outcome was known before he even spoke to the elder Bashaarat that very first time in Baghdad.
After explaining his purpose to Bashaarat the Younger, Fuwaad grasped the mind-boggling idea that, not only did the elder Bashaarat influence Fuwaad’s path, Fuwaad influenced Bashaarat the Younger in order to set the stage for the elder Bashaarat to set Fuwaad’s path.
"I look forward to speaking with you on your return, and to assisting you again twenty years from now," he said.
His words gave me pause. "Had you planned to open a shop in Baghdad before today?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I had been marveling at the coincidence that we met in Baghdad just in time for me to make my journey here, use the Gate, and travel back. But now I wonder if it is perhaps not a coincidence at all. Is my arrival here today the reason that you will move to Baghdad twenty years from now?"
Bashaarat smiled. "Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false."
Fuwaad departed from Bashaarat the Younger’s shop and arranged passage to Baghdad. However, delay upon delay and hardship upon hardship befell him, so that he arrived in Baghdad the day after the accident that claimed his wife. Standing before his home lost in grief, a young lady approached him. She told Fuwaad that she had tended to Najya before she died and Najya had left a message for him.
It was a message of love and forgiveness. Fuwaad finally understood.
My journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I had learned had changed everything, and I understood that it could not have been otherwise. If our lives are tales that Allah tells, then we are the audience as well as the players, and it is by living these tales that we receive their lessons.
Fuwaad’s narration comes full circle. Finding himself twenty years in his past, willing to share his knowledge of the next twenty years with the Caliph, Fuwaad ends his narrative to the Caliph with the sum total of the wisdom he had garnered:
Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.
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As I have stated, “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” is a very complex tale with many parts and aspects to it, none of which really have anything to do with the theme of the story. However, I hope these insights presented below aid in understanding the story and enriching the reading experience.
Story Present
The point when Fuwaad first walked into Bashaarat’s workshop, I term “Story Present.”
In the Story Present, the Baghdad Gate (the first Gate the reader encounters but the second Gate actually constructed) allows travel twenty years into the future because the Gate will still be standing in twenty years time.
But since the Baghdad Gate is relatively new, it is not yet able to go back 20 years. There needs to be a gate at hand for the traveler to step through. No gate means there is nothing to step through. It also appears that the gates can only travel in a single 20 year step; either forward or back — no ten year steps or the like.
Regarding the Cairo Gate, the initial gate that Bashaarat built, it was built roughly twenty years previous to Story Present. Therefore, it can allow travel twenty years into the future from its creation; since it will still be there for the Story Present Fuwaad to travel to. And, it can go back 20 years from Story Present, because it was in existence then.
The Mechanism and Means of Time Travel
Pretty typical for time travel stories, the actual mechanism of time travel is glossed over; basically used as a literary device to further the plot. But Chiang, being a hard science fiction writer, gave his means of time travel a firm basis in modern science. In the forward to his story in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Chiang stated that he drew inspiration from the work of American theoretical physicist Kip Thorne.
Not being a physicist myself, here is my attempt, outrageously oversimplified, to explain theoretical physics. Physicist Kip Thorne postulates that artificial wormholes not only can connect two places in space, but also can connect two distinct times. So with this idea in mind, revisit the above section labeled Story Present and imagine Bashaarat’s gates as wormholes where stepping through one side travels one forward in time, while stepping through the other side one travels back in time via another wormhole. In both instances, the physical and chronological locales were fixed.
Interestingly, the use of wormholes to time travel in this way is closely paralleled in Stephen King’s 11/22/63: A Novel; an amazing work of time travel fiction in its own right. In this story, the wormhole, called a “rabbit hole,” opened in the exact same place in Maine and time (September 9, 1958) no matter how many times one used it. And, coming back returned the traveler to the same location and virtually the same moment that he stepped through it — no matter how long the traveler stayed in 1958.
A Bit of the Obdurate Past
In another callback to 11/22/63: A Novel, a version of King’s Obdurate Past makes an appearance.
For Fuwaad, in attempting to change past events and save his much-loved wife, striving to avoid interacting with his younger self, he joined a caravan traveling from Cairo to Baghdad. However, obstacle after obstacle was thrown into his path:
*a needed well ran dry causing delay
*then, caravan guard fell ill leading to a several weeks-long delay
*after that, sandstorms hit leading to further long delays.
*Frustrated with the slow progress of the caravan, Fuwaad went off on his own. Of course, he was captured by bandits and left to die in the desert. Luckily, he was found by his old caravan.
Fuwaad arrived in Baghdad the day after his wife was killed in an accident.
The Past does not want to be altered and will resist at every opportunity.
A Three-Tale Distraction
In the tales of Hassan, Ajib, and Raniya, small hints and clues were left that use the characters’ search for wealth and happiness to focus the narrative onto the inability to alter the past and the peace that came from a fuller understanding of what has gone before. All this was done to lull the reader into believing that this was all the story was, when in actuality all this was merely prologue. The actual message of this short story is only revealed in Fuwaad’s Narrative.
Upon reading these three tales, it appears as if the short story is coming to a close. In reality, this is not the case. Not only does nearly a third of the story still remain, but the true purpose of the story is only made clear in this final third of the story.
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In Search of Atonement: The Meaning Behind Modern Time Travel Tales.
Our past sins haunt us. Hence, time travel tales allow the reader, even if only through fiction, to right some past wrong.
This post, while not the first blog post on Old Sins Cast Long Shadows to discuss this theme, is officially the first part of this new. This section will expand as more blog posts are added to this series. Each time travel story or film will be as a rung on a ladder leading to a richer understanding of the search for atonement and redemption.
In “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” in particular Fuwaad’s final narration, it is revealed to the reader the depth of Fuwaad’s guilt, sorrow, and regret surrounding his wife’s death. Despite the obstacles slowing his journey, the hints sprinkled throughout the previous three tales ease Fuwaad into the realization that the past cannot be altered, or outmaneuvered. This insight greatly eased Fuwaad’s remorse.
And for the reader, the final truth is that there is no going back. We all have to live with our mistakes and with the pain we have caused. But, as with Fuwaad, if we truly seek atonement, perhaps we too can find forgiveness … and peace.
Good Evening.
