Nightfall (Asimov short story)

"Nightfall" is an influential science fiction short story by author Isaac Asimov, about the coming of darkness to the people of a planet ordinarily illuminated at all times on all sides. It was subsequently adapted to become a novel.

Considered a classic of the genre, "Nightfall" has been anthologized no fewer than four dozen times, and has appeared in at least another half-dozen collections of Asimov's older stories. In 1968, the Science Fiction Writers of America voted "Nightfall" the best science fiction short story ever written prior to the establishment of the Nebula Awards in 1965 and included it in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964".

hort story

The short story was first published in the September 1941 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine under editor John W. Campbell. It was the 32nd story by Asimov, written while he was working in his father's candy store and studying at Columbia University. According to Asimov's autobiography, Campbell asked Asimov to write the story after discussing with him a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson::"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!"

Plot summary

The fictional planet "Lagash" ("Kalgash" in the novel adaptation) is located in a stellar system containing six stars (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta are the only ones named in the short story; Onos, Dovim, Trey, Patru, Tano, and Sitha in the novel), which keep the whole planet continuously illuminated; total darkness is unknown, and as a result so are stars outside the solar system. A group of scientists from Saro University begin to make a series of related discoveries: Sheerin 501, psychologist, researches the effects of prolonged exposure to darkness, Siferra 89, an archaeologist, finds evidence of multiple cyclical collapses of civilization, and Beenay 25 is an astronomer who discovered irregularities in the orbit of Kalgash around its primary sun Onos. Beenay takes his findings to his superior at the university, Athor, who formulated the Theory of Universal Gravitation. This forces the astronomers at Saro University to attempt to find an answer to what is causing this anomaly. Eventually it is discovered that the only thing that could be causing the deviation is an astronomical body that orbits Kalgash, simply called Kalgash Two.

Beenay, through his friend Theremon 762 (a reporter), has learned some of the beliefs of the group known as the Apostles of Flame (simply "The Cult" in the original short story). They believe the world would be destroyed in a darkness with the appearance of Stars that unleash a torrent of fire. Beenay combines what he has learned about the repetitive collapses at the digsite, and the new theory with the potential of eclipses and concludes that once every 2049 years the one sun visible is eclipsed, resulting in a brief 'night'.

Since the population of Kalgash has never experienced universal darkness, the scientists conclude that the darkness itself would traumatize the people and prepare accordingly. When nightfall occurs, however, the scientists—who have prepared themselves for darkness—and the rest of the planet are most surprised by the sight of previously-invisible stars outside the six-star system filling the sky. Civil disorder breaks out; cities are destroyed in massive fires and civilization—as previously known—collapses. The final section of the book deals with the ashes of the fallen civilization and the competing groups trying to seize control. (This final part was not covered in the original short story.)

Nightfall universe

The star system of Kalgash is quite complicated, as any star system involving six stars would have to be. Onos is the primary sun of Kalgash and is located 10 light-minutes away, similar to our Sun. The only other distance given is that Tano and Sitha (a binary star system) is located about eleven times as far away as Onos is.

*Onos - Yellow dwarf - Similar to the Sun
*Dovim - Red dwarf
*Trey and Patru - Class A or F Main Sequence Stars, described as "white" - Binary Star System
*Tano and Sitha - Class A, B or O Main Sequence Stars, described as "blue" - Binary Star System

"Thargola's Sword" is a philosophy, discussed in the book, that dictates what one should do when faced with a series of hypotheses. The hypothesis that is the most complex is stricken and considered too complicated for consideration. This is a thinly veiled reference to Occam's Razor.

Allusions/references from other works

Infobox Book
name = Nightfall
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "Nightfall" 1990 edition
author = Isaac Asimov
Robert Silverberg
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = Science fiction
publisher =
release_date = 1990
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 352
isbn = 978-0553290998
oclc =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

In 1990, two years before Asimov's death, he collaborated with author Robert Silverberg on a novel-length revision of the original story. In fifty years, much about the original—despite its classic status—had become dated both scientifically and in literary style. The novel significantly expanded upon and updated the original premise. It was a commercial success but received mixed reviews. One notable change was the introduction of more "alien" names, e.g. for the system's suns, which in the short story had been called simply "Alpha," "Beta," "Gamma," etc., to avoid confusing the reader with irrelevant information. (Though this was in keeping with Asimov's generally "unornamented" style, he had detailed his reasons explicitly in the prologue to the collection, "Nightfall and Other Stories".)

Dean McLaughlin's novel "Dawn" (serialized in the April–July 1981 issues of "Analog" magazine and republished in book form 25 years later as ISBN 978-1594143502) had been in several ways an answer to Asimov's short story. It posited a similar society on a similar planet surrounded by similarly named stars. But, as its title suggested, "Dawn" was a more optimistic story, wherein society advanced rather than collapsed. McLaughlin paid homage to Asimov by naming the protagonist "Isak" and naming a historical figure "Lagash" (the name of the planet in "Nightfall.") In a variation on Asimov's setup, McLaughlin named his stars Alpher, Bethe, Gamow, Dalton, Ephron, and Zwicky. The first three were an allusion to the famous Alpha-Beta-Gamma paper authored by Ralph Alpher and George Gamow with Hans Bethe; Dalton and Zwicky were also famous scientists.

George Alec Effinger wrote a spoof of "Nightfall" involving his Maureen Birnbaum character. The story, "Maureen Birnbaum After Dark", appeared in both "Foundation's Friends" and "Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson".

Adaptations in other media

In the 1950s, the story was adapted on radio programs "Dimension X" and "X Minus One".

In 1988, a low-budget movie was produced based upon the story. However, its script, while retaining the story's basic premise, deviated wildly from the original plot, and the film was roundly dismissed by critics and ridiculed by science fiction fans. Asimov himself disowned it. Another film version was produced in 2000.

In April 2007, the story was honored as the 100th episode of "Escape Pod", a science fiction podcast.

ee also

* Solar eclipses in fiction

External links

* (1988 version)
* (2000 version)
* John Jenkins's "spoiler-laden reviews" of [http://homepage.mac.com/jhjenkins/Asimov/Stories/Story185.html the short story] and [http://homepage.mac.com/jhjenkins/Asimov/Books/Book457.html the novel]
* Emerson's essay from which the quote above comes: [http://www.emersoncentral.com/nature1.htm Nature] . In [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0449230287 The Early Asimov: Book Two] , p. 64, Asimov laments that he was not able to find the quotation!
* [http://www.escapepod.org/2007/04/05/ep100-nightfall/ Nightfall] - Read by Stephen Eley on the 100th episode of Escape Pod.
* [http://bestsciencefictionstories.com/2008/05/31/nightfall-by-isaac-asimov/ Nightfall by Isaac Asimov] at BestScienceFictionStories.com - a review, with resources for where to find the story.

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