It originally appeared on the discussion forum of Asimov's Science Fiction on 2 January 2008. The story had been reprinted in Asimov's the previous year.
The forum disappeared off the airwaves (so far, permanently) on 7 October 2011. Here's the post:
I’m a few months late, but I’d still like to hear
the opinions of others on Isaac Asimov’s famous novelette, “Nightfall”. To
see it reprinted in the magazine that bears the Good Doctor’s name (in the
October/November 2007 double issue) was a joy. The idea has occurred to me
that we should have more threads on individual stories, and “Nightfall”
seemed an obvious, if unadventurous, place to start.
For those who came in late, “Nightfall” is probably the most famous science fiction story, short of novel length, ever published before 1965. It first appeared in the September 1941 issue of Astounding and has been reprinted innumerable times since then – I have a modest SF library, but there are eight different texts of “Nightfall” on my shelves! In 1967-1968, the SFWA voted “Nightfall” into first place as the best SF story published before 1965. The story itself is a typically pulp SF mixture of ham-fisted writing and breathtaking idea content. Right at the start, Asimov strives mightily for effect: “Aton 77, director of Saro University, thrust out a belligerent lower lip and glared at the young newspaperman in a hot fury”. Try submitting that at Clarion West! Here and elsewhere Asimov, whose characterisation skills were often questioned, substitutes a theatrical physical display for a true revelation of character. But wait – later in the story he does better. After it is revealed that the planet is about to be plunged into darkness for the first time in over two thousand years, there is a widespread fear of social disintegration and madness. There is a scene in which Sheerin, the psychologist, dares Theremon, the reporter, to draw the curtain so that he can experience his first taste of darkness. Theremon does so, and despite his earlier bravado, the first remark he makes is that he can’t see. I thought this was a wonderfully well done scene – although Theremon knew perfectly well that he wouldn’t be able to see in the dark, it still takes him by surprise and his rationality is immediately challenged by the intensity of the phobia. There is a fascination, then, in watching the characters confront a completely unknown situation – a stuation which Asimov reveals with considerable craftsmanship, if not high literary skill. And, of course, there is the famously overblown ending (in which John Campbell inserted a paragraph against Asimov’s wishes) in which the great unknown bursts over the people of Lagash with a “soul-searing” enormity. How good is “Nightfall”? Does it hold up, sixty-six years after its first publication? Asimov himself frequently asserted that he had written better stories than “Nightfall”. His personal favorite was “The Last Question”. The latter is indeed an ingenious story, but it lacks the fascination of people reacting to the unknown. Gardner Dozois has opined, in this very forum, that “Nightfall” hasn’t stood the test of time well. In particular, he thought the psychological disintegration of the Lagash society was implausible. On the other hand, Rich Horton has expressed a fondness for the story somewhere on the internet (I’ve lost the source – sorry, Rich). My own opinion is that “Nightfall” is worthy of its status as a classic, but that you have to keep historical perspective in mind. Its a wonderful example of how a science fiction story can overcome creaky writing, purely by the strength of the idea content. One can quibble about the credibility of the responses of the society and the individuals in the story, but at the very least Asimov did put people under the magnifying glass, to see what they would do in a situation they couldn’t possibly be prepared for, and the result remains highly entertaining. Brian Aldiss has just published a revamped edition of his 1973 Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus. The TOC has changed, and some modern stories have been included. But “Nightfall” is still there. |
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