“Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra” by Vandana Singh
Read in
Year’s Best SF 16 (2011), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
Originally
published at Strange Horizons (2010)
“Somadeva”
begins with the revival of a centuries-long dead writer whose magnum opus, an 18
volume compendium of stories arranged in a complex web of interlocking stories.
He’s not sure if he’s come back to life or he’s the echo of his former self
revived in the present or even if he’s an entirely new being created by the
books of his life work so cherished by Isha, a woman travelling in space. Together,
they continue to travel the stars in search of new stories. Isha gathers them
together in the hopes of better understanding the origins of the alien cultures
they encounter. Along the way, Somadeva, the revived writer, contemplates the
essence of stories and their mysterious relationship to all things living.
Unsurprisingly,
I’ve never read of this author before. I’m glad I’ve just discovered Singh because
this story was masterfully told. “Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra” is nothing short
of excellent. Mirroring the fictional 18 volume work of Somadeva, this short
story includes stories within stories along with interlocking stories.
Together, they all form an intricate web of narratives that all support and embellish
each other. The story deals with primal and universal themes of being and it
asks big questions. Do stories create the world or are they ways for us to
understand the world around us by passing down the knowledge acquired through
the ages? Some answers might be found within
the text. In fact, one of the main ideas of this story is that all stories have
multiple interpretations resulting from the life and experience of the person
analysing it.
