nightfall

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Nightfall (English original title: Nightfall ) is a science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg from 1990, which was published by Heyne Verlag in 1997 in a translation by Irene Holicki . The novel is based on a short story of the same name by Asimov, which was published in 1941 in John W. Campbell's magazine Astounding Science Fiction . (German also as Und Finsternis wirdommen ... ) In a survey among the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1968, Nightfall was voted the “best short story before 1965”. The story has been translated into over a dozen languages ​​and the novel into over 6 languages.

content

The novel is preceded by a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson from Nature :

"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 which had been shown!"

"If the stars only appear once in a thousand years, how would people believe and admire them and keep the memory of this city of God for many generations!"

The planet Kalgash is located in a star system consisting of six suns . As a result, every place on the planet is illuminated by at least one of these suns at all times. Darkness and night are unknown to the residents of Kalgash. However, the community of the Apostles of Fire announces that after one year of God (that is 2049 years on Kalgash) all suns will disappear, the stars will appear and fire will fall from the sky . At the beginning of the novel, this should be done in a year. At the same time, archaeologists are discovering the remains of an ancient city that was destroyed by fire roughly every 2050 years and was rebuilt on top of the rubble seven times. An astronomer from the University of Saro can only explain Kalgash's orbital disruption to the existence of a previously unknown planet the size of Kalgash. Show more accurate invoices that this planet when the small sun Dovim stands in a year alone in the sky, these few hours eclipse is. A psychologist claims that the majority of Kalgash residents cannot bear the darkness and will suffer severe traumatic damage.

Attempts to warn the government or the population about the effects of the solar eclipse fail. When it enters, the psychologist's fears are exceeded: in their fear of the dark, the residents of Kalgash light fires everywhere, the cities go up in flames. In addition, many are shocked by the unprecedented sight of thousands of stars, which show them that the universe is much larger than Kalgash and its six suns. Civilization collapsed only a few days after the eclipse. In the chaos of marauding gangs and newly formed mini-states, only the totalitarian theocracy of the Apostles of Fire seems to be able to rebuild civilization and preserve knowledge of the solar eclipse and its effects on Kalgash.

Film adaptations

The short story or the novel was made into a film in 1988 and 2000.

expenditure

narrative
  • First print: Nightfall. In: Astounding Science-Fiction , September 1941.
  • First German translation: nightfall. In: Gotthard Günther (Ed.): Overcoming space and time. Rauch's Space Books # 3, 1952.
  • Also as: And darkness will come ... In: Arnulf D. Krauss and Helmuth W. Mommers (Eds.): 7 Science Fiction Stories. Heyne Anthologies # 17, 1966.
  • Also as: The night will come. In: Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg: The best stories from 1941. Moewig (Playboy Science Fiction # 6713), 1981, ISBN 3-8118-6713-X .
  • Also as: And the darkness will come. In: Isaac Asimov: Cosmos Utopia. Bastei-Verlag Lübbe (Bastei-Lübbe Paperback # 28165), Bergisch Gladbach 1988, ISBN 3-404-28165-9 .
novel
  • First edition (US): Nightfall. Doubleday Foundation, 1990, ISBN 0-385-26341-4 .
  • First edition (UK): Nightfall. Gollancz, 1990, ISBN 0-575-04698-8 .
  • First German translation: nightfall. Translated by Irene Holicki. Heyne General Series # 10090, 1997, ISBN 3-453-11689-5 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ The table of contents refers to the novel: In the story, the planet is named Lagash.
  2. ↑ The story ends with the appearance of the stars.

proof

  1. ↑ About Isaac Asimov
  2. ↑ Nature Chapter 1
  3. ↑ Nightfall (1988) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ↑ Nightfall (2000) in the Internet Movie Database (English)