Sailing to Byzantium (novella)

"Sailing to Byzantium" is a novella by the American writer Robert Silverberg. It was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction in February 1985.[1] The title is from the poem of the same name by W. B. Yeats. The story, like the poem, deals with immortality, and includes quotations from the poem.

"Sailing to Byzantium"
AuthorRobert Silverberg
CountryUSA
Genre(s)Science fiction
Published inAsimov's Science Fiction
Publication typePeriodical
Media typePrint
Publication dateFebruary 1985

Story summary

On 50th-century Earth, people live in recreations of historical cities. Currently the cities are Chang-an, Asgard, New Chicago, Timbuctoo and Alexandria. They are periodically dismantled and replaced with a different city; there are never more than five. They are populated with "temporaries", who live as they would have done in the era of the city. "Temporaries" seem to have been created to provide the impression of realism.

Charles Phillips and his partner Gioia are in ancient Alexandria. They visit the lighthouse and the library; he wonders if the buildings are reproductions or authentic. Phillips is from New York of the year 1984, and does not know how or why he is in the 50th century. Gioa's people never work: they see the sights during the day and go to parties in the evening. They soon move on to another city.

Phillips and Gioia move to Chang-an. They are guests of the Emperor, who, like most of those present at court, are "temporaries". He had the impression that Gioia's people do not age, and is surprised that she looks at some gray hairs she has, seeming to be worried about ageing. In the evening after the banquet he realizes he is with Belilala; Gioia has drifted away.

Mohenjo-daro has recently replaced one of the other cities. Belilala tells Phillips that Gioia is already there. She says Gioia is a "short-timer", one who ages, unlike most people; like all short-timers, Gioia is impatient to move on. They go to Mohenjo-daro, but he does not find her. There Phillips meets Francis Willoughby, from England of 1591, brought as a "visitor", like Phillips, to the 50th century.

Phillips finds Gioia in New Chicago, a city of an era later than his. Not wishing him to see her looking older, she soon flees. He meets a "visitor", from Phillips's future, who tells him that visitors do not age, and explains why.

After searching in other cities, Phillips finds Gioia again in Alexandria, looking still older. Both aware that she is ageing and that Phillips is not, a solution is proposed.

Reception

"Sailing to Byzantium" won the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1986.[1] It was placed second in the Locus Award for Best Novella in that year,[2] and it was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novella.[3]

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gollark: I think you just have a terrible connection to me somehow.
gollark: It's saying "write buffer space exhausted" a lot.
gollark: No idea. I couldn't be bothered to actually look at the logs so I wanted to just watch you do stuff as it happened to debug.
gollark: Try again?

References
  1. Nebula Awards 1986 Science Fiction Awards database. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  2. Locus Awards 1986 Science Fiction Awards database. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  3. 1986 Hugo Awards The Hugo Awards. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
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