Oct 11, 2008

Nightfall | The Earliest Asimov

In the following excerpt, the author discusses Asimov’s ambivalence about the quality of ‘‘Nightfall,’’ and analyzes critically elements Asimov had identified as suspect.

Before writing ‘‘Nightfall’’ Asimov had written thirty-one stories and sold seventeen (four more would sell eventually). ‘‘Marooned Off Vesta,’’ perhaps ‘‘The Callistan Menace,’’ and ‘‘Homo Sol,’’ along with the robot stories ‘‘Reason’’ and ‘‘Liar!’’ were the best he had done so far. His own assessment of his career to this point is ‘‘Looking back on my first three years as a writer, then, I can judge myself to be nothing more than a steady and . . . hopeful third-rater.’’

Then, on March 17, 1941, he began to write...