What is Science Fiction?
Nightfall (Asimov, 1941)
Q1. What is different about the world of the story from the “normal” world? What elements make the world of the story seem strange and different from our own?
There are a number of elements in Nightfall that establish the planet’s difference from the normal world on earth. First, it is set on another planet, in a fictional universe. This universe is lighted by several, rather than one sun such as in our solar system. It is a place where there is endless daylight, and nightfall of any kind is viewed as catastrophic. The idea of night descending upon the planet is viewed as something conducive to mass hysteria and madness, and must be hidden from by the population of the planets’ citizens, like an end-of-the-world scenario.
Q2. What are the ways in which the author uses language that are characteristic of SF? Are there any words or phrases that the author seems to have created (neologisms) or is using in a very different way or context than is usual? What are they? What do you think they might mean?
Despite the fact that the situation described in Nightfall appears to have a kind of mythic dimension, there is also scientific jargon. The main protagonists speak of religion, such as the Book of Revelation, and cultists who prophesized the end of days with the coming of darkness. But they also have numbers as well as names, talk about the Law of Universal Gravitation, and there is an observatory by which scientists observe the stars that illuminate...
Asimov blends true aspects of the natural world, such as the human need for light and the law of gravity, and the technology of observation technology of space, with the scientific doublespeak of the scientists used to justify their fears about the loss of constant daylight.
Q3. What do you think the story is about? What ideas is the author trying to make us think about?
The story highlights how human beings fear and assign meaning to natural phenomenon. The level of madness and hysteria assigned to the coming of darkness seems strange to the reader, because nightfall is a natural aspect of our solar system. Because it seems unusual and is given a religious significance in the world chronicled in the narrative, it becomes a source of fear. The people are also distraught when they learn about the existence of other solar systems and galaxies, reducing the importance of their own planet, similar to how earthlings feel that their planet is all-important.
What is Science Fiction?
“Scanners Live in Vain” (Smith, 1950)
Q1. What is different about the world of the story from the “normal” world? What elements make the world of the story seem strange and different from our own?
The most disturbing element of “Scanners Live in Vain” is the creation of scanners, or people who have been cut off from all normal aspects of feeling other than being able to see and carry on the necessary functions to pilot a spaceship. Every now and then, the scanners will…
