User:Fabiolabaeza465/Twilight (Campbell short story)
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| "Twilight" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by John W. Campbell | |
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Astounding Stories, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964 |
| Publication type | Literary magazine |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) Book |
| Publication date | 1934 |
"Twilight" is a post-apocalyptic science fiction short story by American author John W. Campbell.Originally published in 1934 in Astounding Stories and apparently inspired by H. G. Wells' article The Man of the Year Million.[1] In 1970, it was selected as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards by the Science Fiction Writers of America. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964.
Set in 1932 in an unknown city in the U.S.A., the narrator introduces Jim Bendell who recounts his experience with a strange and mysterious hitch-hiker. The hitch-hiker, who introduces himself as Ares Sen Kenlin, claims to be a time traveler from the year of 3059. Having landed in 1932 by mistake, Ares takes the opportunity to warn Bendell of the future that awaits humanity. Seven million years in the future, the Earth is no longer populated by human kind. Human beings are extinct and automated machines have taken their place. Cities remain in perfect working order, run by their tireless population of programmed machines. In the future, advancements in science and technology allow human beings to create automated machines in order to expedite production and profit. Having created machines that perform all menial or routine labor, human beings become increasingly complacent and disconnected from their own human experience. Life has lost all sense of wonder, people become increasingly seduced by the ideal of perfection they forget to live. Efficiency and production become the status quo, at any cost. In seven million years time, human nature becomes obsolete, machines are able to perform the roles and functions human beings have now outgrown. People eventually lose touch with their human experience and regress both socially and intellectually as a species. [2]
Plot summary[edit]
On December 9, 1932 Jim Bendell, a real estate business man, picks up a hitch-hiker. The hitch-hiker introduces himself as Ares Sen Kenlin, a scientist from the city of Neva'th year 3059. Ares reveals to Benell he is a human hybrid created by his father who is also a scientist. Ares develops time-travel technology and travels 7 million years forward in time, his return proved faulty and lands him in the year of 1932.
During their car ride together, Ares begins to describe in detail what he saw during his trip forward seven million years in time. He tells Bendell that the people of Earth eventually colonize the solar system, human existence is virtually free of difficulty, a all illness and predators have been eliminated and all work is done by perfect machines.
They've replaced all other living species, driven into extinction by the advancements of man. The oceans are empty of life, all other mammals, as well as birds, lizards, insects, microbes, and domesticated pets have been completely eradicated; Flora being the only organic life still remaining on Earth. After being left behind by their creators, the machines continue to perform their programmed duties, designed by previous generations. Humans, though highly intelligent, have lost their curiosity, drive, and abandoned much of humanity's tomes of knowledge and discoveries from humanity's archives. Not having accomplished anything new in two million years, humans become trapped in their self-satisfied developments they don't see they've become sterile and uninspired.[3] In seven million years time, humans are a dying race, who retreat from the outskirts of the solar system back to Earth once again. Kenlin describes the massive cities such as "Yawk City", a megalopolis stretching from north of Boston to south of Washington D.C., abandoned and preserved in pristine condition by their mechanical custodians. People are unable to reproduce as before, the human gestational process decreases to one month to birth offspring. Life expectancy increases to three-thousand, people grow lonelier and disconnected life.
Cities have been abandoned, the machines go on with their designed functions. Each of the long deserted cities continue to run perfectly, as if nothing has changed. Cities, where a human foot has not stood for thousands of years, remain cared for by their machines. They never stop supplying the city with human necessities, because no one has ever told them to stop; no human of that time can remember how. People are no longer phased by new or foreign discoveries, they've lost all curiosity and zest for life. The ease of their human existence has dulled their awareness, leaving people unchallenged and accustomed to little or no effort in life.[4]
During his time on the future Earth, Kenlin discovers a group of of highly intelligent machines capable of independent thought. They had been left shut off and abandoned. There are no people alive that know of their existence, aside from Kenlin. He feels it's his responsibility as a scientist to attempt to ensure there remains a chance to release Earth from its stagnant state. He decides to switch on a high-Intel machine and order it to create a machine that resembles the inherit curiosity found in human beings long ago.
Critical Reception[edit]
In Alec Nevela-Lee's group biography, Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, he praises the work of John W. Campbell for transforming Science-Fiction from adolescent fantasy into enthralling and thought provoking academic literature. [5]
Science-fiction author Algis Budrys said that Twilight "Attracted a decade-long series of engineers/mystics as the archetypal writers of the 'Golden Age' and brought about the late Victorian Edwardian flavor of "Modern' science fiction."[6]
Everett F. Bleiler concluded: "'Twilight' conveys a mood. It is probably Campbell's best story, with many implications beyond the story level.".[7]
References[edit]
- ^ The Man Who Invented Tomorrow
- ^ Hollinger, Veronica (2010). "A History of the Future: Notes for an Archive". Science Fiction Studies. 37 (1): 23–33. ISSN 0091-7729.
- ^ Berger, Albert I. (1988). "Theories of History and Social Order in "Astounding Science Fiction", 1934-55 (Théories de l'histoire et de la structure sociale dans "Astounding Science Fiction", 1934-55)". Science Fiction Studies. 15 (1): 12–35. ISSN 0091-7729.
- ^ MOGEN, DAVID (1980). "Re-Evaluating the John W. Campbell Influence: Parochialism, Elitism and Calvinism". Studies in Popular Culture. 3: 35–46. ISSN 0888-5753.
- ^ Page, Michael R. (2019-01-03), "Astounding Stories: John W. Campbell and the Golden Age, 1938–1950", The Cambridge History of Science Fiction, Cambridge University Press, pp. 149–165, ISBN 978-1-316-69437-4, retrieved 2021-04-10
- ^ "Books", F&SF, October 1979, p.30
- ^ E. F. Bleiler, Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years, Kent State University Press, 1998, p.421