What if the stars only appeared once in a thousand years? That’s the question Ralph Waldo Emerson first asked, believing “how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!” Isaac Asimov and editor John W. Campbell would come up with a much different interpretation.
Asimov would develop the short story Nightfall and have it published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1941 before developing the story into a full-fledged novel. Normally, I would say that the novel is superior simply because Asimov had time to let the ideas of the original short story simmer and develop. But I’d say that the original short story gives the novel a run for its money.
In the short story, the planet Lagash is full of continuous light from its six suns. Night never falls, and darkness only exists in the farthest corners of the world. A group of leading scientists, however, posit that life on Lagash will soon come to an end. Civilization, as they all know it, will be consumed by destruction. A journalist takes matters into his own hands by further investigating their claims.
I admit, this was one of my first introductions to Asimov, and I didn’t know what to expect. What I didn’t expect was to be blown away by just how much the story had to say. I also didn’t expect a story from 1941 to be so relevant to today. It felt as if Asimov created an entire world that perpetually mirrors our own. In the end, it says so much about our humanity.
For example, the plot centers around the people who believe or disbelieve that civilization will collapse once night falls. Scientists believe that they have proved that Lagash’s empires crumble every 2,000 years, and all by fire. Theremon, the journalist, wants to prove otherwise, citing public opinion. On top of that, a doomsday cult insists that the planet will pass into a “cave.” The story becomes an intersection of science vs. the skepticism of the public, the dangers of hiding behind fanaticism, and the nature of civilization. Asimov believed that seeing stars for the first time would cause everyone to go insane, no matter what they believed.
“‘I’m just trying to tell you that the public is in an ugly humor. They’re angry.’
Aton twisted his mouth in derision. ‘Let them be angry.’
‘Yes, but what about tomorrow?’
‘There’ll be no tomorrow!’
‘But if there is. Say that there is — just to see what happens.'”
In the end, I think my favorite thing about this story is that it already captures that feeling of looking up at the stars and realizing just how small we are. Asimov expands on this in the novel, but already the story paints a picture of the vastness of the universe against our tiny and petty arguments. And it helps that, in the end, the story is written so well. I felt the suspense from the very beginning, and the end reveal was both terrifying and awe-inspiring.
I will say that, looking from a more modern lens, some parts of the writing were a bit harder to get into. Mainly, the story implements what we would call “head-hopping” today. We go from one character’s mind to another in the space of a couple of sentences. So for a while, I had to orient myself as to who was who and what each character believed and represented. This is more just a reflection of how writing has changed over time. I see a lot of writing doing this back then, and the fact that we avoid head-hopping now just shows how writing is always evolving.
You might wonder if it’s better to just read the novel rather than the short story. I say that the short story is not only the perfect starting point but also superior science fiction that does not disappoint. It’s not worth missing out on when it comes to reading classic sci-fi.
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