Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction (Revised Edition) (37 page)
Read Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction (Revised Edition) Online
Authors: James Gunn
BOOK: Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction (Revised Edition)
11.06Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Chapter 16.
While Twissell and Harlan are going upwhen to Nos [H 36], Twissell talks about the history of Eternity [E 2] and the possibility of supermen in the Hidden Centuries. After their return with Nos, Harlan shows Twissell the advertisement from a 1932 magazine [C 1]. Harlan agrees to go back for Cooper if Nos accompanies him [H 37].
While Twissell and Harlan are going upwhen to Nos [H 36], Twissell talks about the history of Eternity [E 2] and the possibility of supermen in the Hidden Centuries. After their return with Nos, Harlan shows Twissell the advertisement from a 1932 magazine [C 1]. Harlan agrees to go back for Cooper if Nos accompanies him [H 37].
Chapter 17.
Harlan and Nos prepare to go [H 38] on an exploratory trip to determine Cooper's exact time of arrival, then return and travel again to a point in time fifteen minutes after Cooper's arrival, pick him up, and deliver him to 2317. As that is done, Cooper's experience in 1932 will disappear (except for fifteen minutes) as will the advertisement [-C 1]. But when Harlan and Nos arrive in 1932 and Nos confronts Harlan and his coldness, he recalls [H 39] the barrier at the 100,000th [H 27] and its consequences [H 28-32]. He accuses Nos of being from the Hidden Centuries. He also recalls the night she whispered to him before their first sexual experience [H 7] and the comment of the Life-Plotter about Nos not fitting into the old Reality of the 482nd [H 25], their first trip to the 111,394th when Nos stopped the kettle [H 11]. He says he is going to kill Nos [H 40].
Harlan and Nos prepare to go [H 38] on an exploratory trip to determine Cooper's exact time of arrival, then return and travel again to a point in time fifteen minutes after Cooper's arrival, pick him up, and deliver him to 2317. As that is done, Cooper's experience in 1932 will disappear (except for fifteen minutes) as will the advertisement [-C 1]. But when Harlan and Nos arrive in 1932 and Nos confronts Harlan and his coldness, he recalls [H 39] the barrier at the 100,000th [H 27] and its consequences [H 28-32]. He accuses Nos of being from the Hidden Centuries. He also recalls the night she whispered to him before their first sexual experience [H 7] and the comment of the Life-Plotter about Nos not fitting into the old Reality of the 482nd [H 25], their first trip to the 111,394th when Nos stopped the kettle [H 11]. He says he is going to kill Nos [H 40].
Chapter 18.
Nos admits she is from the Hidden Centuries and challenges Harlan to kill her [H 41]. When he is willing to listen to her explanation, she talks about the future of humanity and Eternity's effect upon it [E 3]. She also describes the actions of the Hidden Centuries when their residents discovered time travel and Eternity and the Basic State. During this, Harlan remembers the reactions of Voy to the elimination of electro-gravity spaceflight [H 24; - 2481st 1] and Life-Plotter Neron Feruque, to ease his guilt, railing at Eternity's handling of anti-cancer serums [H 25]. Nos talks about the reaction of humanity to the discovery that the Galaxy already was in alien hands [HC (Hidden Centuries) 2] and about the alternate reality in which Eternity is not found and humanity reaches the stars more than a hundred thousand Centuries earlier [BS (Basic State) 1]. She also tells Harlan that she was educated for her job to destroy Eternity [N 1] but had a choice of five Realities that seemed least complex. She chose the one in which she went back to the 482nd [N 2], met Finge and then Harlan [N 3], in which Harlan loved her, misdirected Cooper, and returned with her to the Primitive where they lived out their lives together [N 4]. But Harlan, holding her at gunpoint, is in a slightly different Reality, just as Twissell accompanying him in his last trip to the 111,394th [H 36] was not part
of that Reality [N 4]. When Harlan asks why it was not enough just to misdirect Cooper, Nos says that the probability of the creation of Eternity must be reduced to nearly zero. The Minimum Necessary Change to achieve that is for her to send a letter to "a man of Italy" who will begin experimenting with the neutronic bombardment of uranium. Harlan is horrified at the prospect of destroying Eternity [H 42] but responds to her accusation that Eternals are psychopaths by recalling his group of Cubs learning about Reality [H 2] and recalling the abnormal life led by Eternals [H 2-37]. His decision [H 43] is signaled by the disappearance of the kettle [-E 1-31 (Of course, almost everything else turns to minuses as well, for now no Reality exists except the Basic State strengthened by the results of Nos's letter.)
Nos admits she is from the Hidden Centuries and challenges Harlan to kill her [H 41]. When he is willing to listen to her explanation, she talks about the future of humanity and Eternity's effect upon it [E 3]. She also describes the actions of the Hidden Centuries when their residents discovered time travel and Eternity and the Basic State. During this, Harlan remembers the reactions of Voy to the elimination of electro-gravity spaceflight [H 24; - 2481st 1] and Life-Plotter Neron Feruque, to ease his guilt, railing at Eternity's handling of anti-cancer serums [H 25]. Nos talks about the reaction of humanity to the discovery that the Galaxy already was in alien hands [HC (Hidden Centuries) 2] and about the alternate reality in which Eternity is not found and humanity reaches the stars more than a hundred thousand Centuries earlier [BS (Basic State) 1]. She also tells Harlan that she was educated for her job to destroy Eternity [N 1] but had a choice of five Realities that seemed least complex. She chose the one in which she went back to the 482nd [N 2], met Finge and then Harlan [N 3], in which Harlan loved her, misdirected Cooper, and returned with her to the Primitive where they lived out their lives together [N 4]. But Harlan, holding her at gunpoint, is in a slightly different Reality, just as Twissell accompanying him in his last trip to the 111,394th [H 36] was not part
of that Reality [N 4]. When Harlan asks why it was not enough just to misdirect Cooper, Nos says that the probability of the creation of Eternity must be reduced to nearly zero. The Minimum Necessary Change to achieve that is for her to send a letter to "a man of Italy" who will begin experimenting with the neutronic bombardment of uranium. Harlan is horrified at the prospect of destroying Eternity [H 42] but responds to her accusation that Eternals are psychopaths by recalling his group of Cubs learning about Reality [H 2] and recalling the abnormal life led by Eternals [H 2-37]. His decision [H 43] is signaled by the disappearance of the kettle [-E 1-31 (Of course, almost everything else turns to minuses as well, for now no Reality exists except the Basic State strengthened by the results of Nos's letter.)
Asimov probably did not plan this labyrinthine complex of time relationships as a way of providing a stylistic counterpoint to the theme. Certainly he was aware of the complexities of the subject. Heinlein had already exploited the paradoxes of time travel in "By His Bootstraps," although the solipsism of "All You Zombies" was still in the future. Reality-changing was not as thoroughly explored as it would be after Fritz Leiber's Change War stories, culminating in
The Big Time
(
Galaxy,
March-April 1958/book 1961), and Philip K. Dick's reality-questioning stories and novels of the fifties and sixties, but H. Beam Piper's Paratime Police stories began running in
Astounding
in July 1948 and his
Time Crime
was serialized beginning February 1955, and Poul Anderson's Time Patrol stories were first published in
F&SF
in May 1955 but not collected (
Guardians of Time
) until 1960. The idea of time manipulation wasn't new, but Asimov considered in detail the complications of a systematic effort to change reality.
The Big Time
(
Galaxy,
March-April 1958/book 1961), and Philip K. Dick's reality-questioning stories and novels of the fifties and sixties, but H. Beam Piper's Paratime Police stories began running in
Astounding
in July 1948 and his
Time Crime
was serialized beginning February 1955, and Poul Anderson's Time Patrol stories were first published in
F&SF
in May 1955 but not collected (
Guardians of Time
) until 1960. The idea of time manipulation wasn't new, but Asimov considered in detail the complications of a systematic effort to change reality.
When Twissell is instructing Cooper, Harlan thinks:
Remember that, Cooper! Remember the 13th Reality of the 222nd so that you can put it into the Mallansohn memoir so that the Eternals will know where to look so they will know what to tell you so you can put it. . . . Round and round the circle goes. . . ."
After Harlan sends Cooper off to the wrong time, Twissell brings up the question of why Reality changes immediately after an alteration in Time: a Technician, he says, could go back and reverse the Change he has made. It must, he says, have to do with intention: the Technician has no intention of reversing his alteration, so Reality changes. But Eternity has not yet vanished, so Harlan must intend to reverse his
action with Cooper. As a concluding nicety in Asimov's toying with the nature of reality and an action carefully prepared by Twissell's previous theorizing, the kettle disappears at the end even before Harlan is aware he has reached a decision: the kettle knows before he does.
action with Cooper. As a concluding nicety in Asimov's toying with the nature of reality and an action carefully prepared by Twissell's previous theorizing, the kettle disappears at the end even before Harlan is aware he has reached a decision: the kettle knows before he does.
These are only two examples among many that might be cited in support of Asimov's understanding of the complexities with which he was dealing and the thoroughness with which he dealt with them.
The End of Eternity
lacks the inspired madness of Dick's explorations of reality, but Dick's purpose was to raise doubts about reality. Asimov's was to understand it and to work his way through the difficulties to a reasonable basis for action.
The End of Eternity
lacks the inspired madness of Dick's explorations of reality, but Dick's purpose was to raise doubts about reality. Asimov's was to understand it and to work his way through the difficulties to a reasonable basis for action.
The flashback technique, appropriate as it is, probably was the result of Campbell's early advice to Asimov, given while Asimov was working on his second published robot story, "Reason":
Asimov, when you have trouble with the beginning of a story, that is because you are starting in the wrong place, and almost certainly too soon. Pick out a later point in the story and begin again.
In his autobiography Asimov wrote, "Ever since then, I have always started my stories as late in the game as I thought I could manage." That, no doubt, is the case with
The End of Eternity
and explains why Harlan is left standing at the gateway of Time for five chapters and why readers must pick their ways gingerly through a minefield of past tenses.
The End of Eternity
and explains why Harlan is left standing at the gateway of Time for five chapters and why readers must pick their ways gingerly through a minefield of past tenses.
In
The End of Eternity
Asimov tackles sex for the first time (the titillation of the moment in
The Naked Sun
in which Gladia removes her glove and touches Baley on the cheek still lies a year ahead). Doubleday raised a brief question about it Asimov, like Verne before him, was known for the purity of his writing but Asimov's wife read through the chapter, looked up, and asked, "Where was it?" For Asimov it was a breakthrough. Not so his characterization. The minor characters have some vitality Finge, Twissell, even Cooper but Harlan is so subordinated to his role that Nos's love for him seems incredible. Harlan is stiff, cold, unyielding, and unlikable, and Nos gets no chance to exist as an individual until the final chapter. The novel is dominated by its theme.
The End of Eternity
Asimov tackles sex for the first time (the titillation of the moment in
The Naked Sun
in which Gladia removes her glove and touches Baley on the cheek still lies a year ahead). Doubleday raised a brief question about it Asimov, like Verne before him, was known for the purity of his writing but Asimov's wife read through the chapter, looked up, and asked, "Where was it?" For Asimov it was a breakthrough. Not so his characterization. The minor characters have some vitality Finge, Twissell, even Cooper but Harlan is so subordinated to his role that Nos's love for him seems incredible. Harlan is stiff, cold, unyielding, and unlikable, and Nos gets no chance to exist as an individual until the final chapter. The novel is dominated by its theme.
The theme of
The End of Eternity
is as significant as anything Asimov ever touched. Since it was virtually Asimov's last extended thought about science fiction until unusual circumstances produced
The Gods Themselves
and the later bestsellers, the 1955 novel may define the values
Asimov was upholding after nearly twenty years of writing science fiction. It may also provide clues to his decision to leave the fantasy world of fiction writing for the real world of science writing.
The End of Eternity
is as significant as anything Asimov ever touched. Since it was virtually Asimov's last extended thought about science fiction until unusual circumstances produced
The Gods Themselves
and the later bestsellers, the 1955 novel may define the values
Asimov was upholding after nearly twenty years of writing science fiction. It may also provide clues to his decision to leave the fantasy world of fiction writing for the real world of science writing.
The End of Eternity
shares with other Asimov fiction his basic concern for intelligent choice. Although Harlan begins as a cold and withdrawn Eternal, apparently moved only by intellectual concerns and sharing the values of a group that can change other people's Realities and lives at will, and although Harlan changes only because of his love for Nos, reason still wins out over emotion. In the final chapter, Harlan is persuaded by Nos's rational arguments, not by his love for her. Out of resentment that his love has been manipulated, Harlan has made up his mind to kill Nos, but when he matches his own experience with Nos's accusations, he is persuaded.
shares with other Asimov fiction his basic concern for intelligent choice. Although Harlan begins as a cold and withdrawn Eternal, apparently moved only by intellectual concerns and sharing the values of a group that can change other people's Realities and lives at will, and although Harlan changes only because of his love for Nos, reason still wins out over emotion. In the final chapter, Harlan is persuaded by Nos's rational arguments, not by his love for her. Out of resentment that his love has been manipulated, Harlan has made up his mind to kill Nos, but when he matches his own experience with Nos's accusations, he is persuaded.
In another sense, perhaps, Asimov's old science-fiction enthusiasms may have emerged victorious over his rationality. After her comments on Eternity's choosing safety and mediocrity, Nos says, "The real solutions . . . come from conquering difficulty, not avoiding it." Carried to their ultimate conclusion, these statements, which Asimov implicitly accepted for the sake of the novel, imply that humanity cannot improve its lot by rational choice. Or perhaps, if Asimov were given credit for dealing with a special case, they mean only that humanity cannot change the past.
If one wished to personalize the message of the novel, one might speculate that Asimov, looking back over his own past, had concluded that no amount of tinkering would have changed it for the better. This is, indeed, one of the messages of his autobiographical writings. Everything happened for the best: Campbell's early rejections, Sam Merwin's rejection of "Grow Old with Me," the change of administration at the Boston University School of Medicine that led to his full-time writing (which still awaited him). . . . If he had had the opportunity to make things happen differently, he might have made the wrong choice, he might have said, might have chosen safety and mediocrity over risk and greatness. In
The End of Eternity,
at least, Asimov chose, as rationally as he could, uncertainty over certainty and infinity over not eternity but Eternity, that is, over the limitation of man's possibilities by too much tinkering with them. Asimov was not denying humanity's potential for rationality or the need for considering choices rationally but humanity's capacity to play God. Humanity will not consciously choose the uncertainty of adventure, or the adventure of uncertainty.
The End of Eternity,
at least, Asimov chose, as rationally as he could, uncertainty over certainty and infinity over not eternity but Eternity, that is, over the limitation of man's possibilities by too much tinkering with them. Asimov was not denying humanity's potential for rationality or the need for considering choices rationally but humanity's capacity to play God. Humanity will not consciously choose the uncertainty of adventure, or the adventure of uncertainty.
Within two years Asimov was to turn away from the certainty of science fiction to the uncertainty of science writing as well as from the
certainty of a regular paycheck to the uncertainty of full-time writing. But he was by nature a cautious man: he had already pretested the market and had five science books behind him before he cast himself adrift from the science fiction he had lived with, suffered with, triumphed with, and profited from for twenty years.
certainty of a regular paycheck to the uncertainty of full-time writing. But he was by nature a cautious man: he had already pretested the market and had five science books behind him before he cast himself adrift from the science fiction he had lived with, suffered with, triumphed with, and profited from for twenty years.
Other books
Nighttime at Willow Bay by Moone, Kasey
A Question of Honor by McKenna, Lindsay
Project Apex by Michael Bray
My One True Love by Stephanie Taylor
Fate of the States: The New Geography of American Prosperity by Whitney, Meredith
Empress of Wolves by J. Aislynn d' Merricksson
No Dawn for Men by James Lepore
Trauma Plan by Candace Calvert
'Tween Heaven and Hell by Sam Cheever
The Domville 6 (The Domville #6) by C. J. Fallowfield
