Searching for Truth in a Broken World
“By the Waters of Babylon” is a post-apocalyptic short story by the American writer Stephen Vincent Benét, first published on 31 July 1937, in The Saturday Evening Post as “The Place of the Gods”. Here, Benét gives us a narrative that looks into the search for truth in a shattered world. Written in fine prose, we find ourselves gripped by a young man’s journey through a forbidden land—a tale that makes us think about the power of “knowing”.
Plot Summary of "By the Waters of Babylon"
In a world that has regressed to tribal life, a young priest-in-training undertakes a forbidden journey eastward; across a great river toward the Place of the Gods, a ruined city surrounded by taboos so ancient that no one remembers why they exist. Armed with curiosity, a bow, and a faith in his own dreaming, he crosses into a setting that is mythological and familiar, searching for knowledge that his tribe has been taught to fear.
Spoilers Ahead!!!
Oral Tradition Writing
Benét writes in a voice that sounds biblical without being pastiche, with short declarative sentences, frequent repetition, a rhythm that feels like an oral tradition being transcribed, using cadences of a pre-literate culture. We also see the clever use of a naive character describing things as if seeing them for the first time. It’s a very effective way to show us the world and the plot without feeling like a lecture, and it works a treat here. For the most part, we are a step ahead of the character, watching him recognise the world around him and seeing his reactions. Plus, it’s a fun exercise to imagine how future folk might look at our world today.
The structure is that of the hero’s journey in its purest form: call, departure, ordeal, revelation, return. The most dangerous and transformative thing John brings back is a way of seeing: the gods were men, which means men can become what the gods were, which means men can also destroy themselves as the gods did. That’s the magic potion he brings back to his ordinary world.
“By the Waters of Babylon” shows a very high level of literary craft. Benét is a top-notch writer, which explains why he was in The Saturday Evening Post, even if I’m not one for linking the quality of a story to the magazine it was published in. But the fact is, Benét wrote for a general audience in a literary style, with a political point tucked so far into the narrative that you can read the whole thing as a pure adventure, and it still holds up.
Forbidden Knowledge
The title is a direct reference to Psalm 137—”By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” The psalm is a lament of exile: a people sitting in the ruins of what they were, unable to sing the songs of their homeland because their homeland no longer exists. The “gods” he mourns are his own ancestors. The Zion he cannot return to is the civilisation he never knew. In this case, we’re looking at a tribe recognising the mistakes of its past while stuck in a religious way of viewing it.
The old civilisation “ate knowledge too fast.” John’s father’s caution about truth—that too much at once can kill—is the story’s most direct statement of what went wrong. It’s a somewhat conservative idea that deals with the level of technological progress seen in the 1920s. Mass destruction was a heavy part of the public imagination, and there was a feeling that this “super-science” would eventually lead to something irreversible. Well, we know it did. The Second World War was on the horizon, and we know how that ended and the power technology unleashed.
I wouldn’t call it a prophetic vision, as many other authors had toyed with similar ideas before, and by then, I imagine you could see the writing on the wall.
Author: Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer who won the Pulitzer Prize twice; first in 1929 for his epic poem about the Civil War, John Brown’s Body, and posthumously in 1944 for Western Star. He was one of the most celebrated American writers of the interwar period, known primarily as a literary figure rather than a genre writer.
Benét died in 1943, aged forty-four, of a heart attack. He did not live to see Hiroshima. The story he had written eight years earlier, about a civilisation that ate knowledge too fast and burned, was read very differently after August 1945 than it had been in July 1937.
My Thoughts
The forbidden journey is the oldest structural element in human storytelling—Eden, Prometheus, Pandora, Orpheus. Benét places himself in this lineage. This is quite clever because it creates a sense of discovery and mystery; travelling for clues among the ruins of the past and what they might say about us. Besides, anything forbidden tends to pique our curiosity, making us want to know why we were kept away from that information and how it changes our perspective.
Generally, the real world doesn’t have much left to be discovered, whether due to our own limits, the dull reality of things, or because we’re surrounded by the obvious. That’s why this journey against the gods hits home. We want a world full of new things, a place where we can hunt for knowledge, even if it means being kicked out of paradise. And let’s be honest, rules that make sense for one generation often become a nuisance for the next. It’s as simple as that.
Wrapping Up
“By the Waters of Babylon” might seem a bit dated when we read it nowadays. I mean, a tribe living on the ruins of humanity isn’t exactly a unique concept anymore. Even so, the story boasts excellent writing and a journey that fills us with curiosity. It pushes us to go past what’s forbidden because that’s exactly what we want to do to make sense of the world around us.
This work is in the public domain according to current legislation. However, the original authorship, magazine credits, and any associated illustrations remain the property of their respective creators, illustrators and publishers. This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and may not be used for commercial sale.
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Let’s Get Together – Isaac Asimov | Cold War Science Fiction, Paranoia and the Ethics of Technology
The Drug by C. C. MacApp – A Sci-Fi Thriller Exploring The Human Transformation
The Eye of Apollo by G.K. Chesterton — An Inquiry into Blindness
Double Cosmos: the terror of the double and the expansion of the mind according to Clark Ashton Smith
