Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction (Revised Edition) (2 page)
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Authors: James Gunn
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Epigraph
On January 15, 1981, Asimov started on a path that would take him where he had never expected to arrive, what 261 earlier books had taught him not to expect, to a place on the nation's best-seller lists. On that date Hugh O'Neill, Asimov's new editor at Doubleday, asked him to see Betty Prashker, an editor higher in the editorial chain of command. Prashker told Asimov that Doubleday wanted him to write a novel. In his memoir Asimov recorded his typical objections, which Prashker brushed aside by saying that Doubleday was going to send him a contract with a large advance, which four days later turned out to be the biggest Asimov had ever received, $50,000, ten times as much as he usually got from Doubleday. . . .
In the introduction to the 1982 edition of
The Foundation Trilogy,
Asimov included an introduction that contained the following account:
The Foundation Trilogy,
Asimov included an introduction that contained the following account:
. . . about the end of May, I picked up my own copy of
The Foundation Trilogy
and began reading.
The Foundation Trilogy
and began reading.
I read it with mounting uneasiness. I kept waiting for something to happen, and nothing ever did. All three volumes, all the nearly quarter of a million words, consisted of thoughts and conversation. No action. No physical suspense. . . .
I was on the edge of deciding it was all a terrible mistake and of insisting on giving back the money, when (quite by accident, I swear) I came across some sentences by science-fiction writer and critic James Gunn, who, in connection with the Foundation series, said, "Action and romance have little to do with the success of the
Trilogy
virtually all the action takes place offstage, and the romance is almost invisible but the stories provide a detective-story fascination with the permutations and reversals of ideas."
Trilogy
virtually all the action takes place offstage, and the romance is almost invisible but the stories provide a detective-story fascination with the permutations and reversals of ideas."
Oh, well, if what was needed were "permutations and reversals of ideas," then that I could supply. Panic receded. . . .
1 I, Asimov
Writing about the life of Isaac Asimov is like pouring water into the ocean. Asimov has written more about himself than any living author, and generally with frankness and insight. His autobiographical output began in 1962 with the first of his anthologies,
The Hugo Winners,
in which he inserted references to his own life in the introductions. Like many of the events in his life, this happened by accident. In his autobiography, Asimov mentions that he had never edited an anthology, thought it would be fun to try, but was not sure of his judgment in choosing the stories. The stories in
The Hugo Winners
already were chosen (they were the less-than-novel-length stories awarded Hugos by the World Science Fiction Conventions, beginning in 1955), and even the order was evident. All Asimov had to do was to write introductions. Since there was no question about the reason for the stories' inclusion, he decided to deal with the authors, and in a humorous way. The general introduction would be funny too and would deal with the fact that the editor had never won a Hugo.
The Hugo Winners,
indeed, became a highly personal book, as much about Asimov as about the Hugos or their winners. After that, Asimov went on to edit dozens of anthologies and added comfortably to his nearly five hundred volumes.
The Hugo Winners,
in which he inserted references to his own life in the introductions. Like many of the events in his life, this happened by accident. In his autobiography, Asimov mentions that he had never edited an anthology, thought it would be fun to try, but was not sure of his judgment in choosing the stories. The stories in
The Hugo Winners
already were chosen (they were the less-than-novel-length stories awarded Hugos by the World Science Fiction Conventions, beginning in 1955), and even the order was evident. All Asimov had to do was to write introductions. Since there was no question about the reason for the stories' inclusion, he decided to deal with the authors, and in a humorous way. The general introduction would be funny too and would deal with the fact that the editor had never won a Hugo.
The Hugo Winners,
indeed, became a highly personal book, as much about Asimov as about the Hugos or their winners. After that, Asimov went on to edit dozens of anthologies and added comfortably to his nearly five hundred volumes.
The Hugo Winners
was a breakthrough for Asimov in another area as well. Up to that point, Asimov says, his attempts at humor had been well received in person but poorly in print. Many readers of
The Hugo Winners
wrote to tell him that the introductions were the best part of the book. After that, collections of his own stories began appearing with introductions, at first (
The Rest of the Robots,
1964) with notes about the stories salted with a few personal comments, and later with full-blown autobiographical detail. This technique reached its grandest expression in
Opus 100
(1969), the story of how Asimov came to write one hundred books, with excerpts by category;
The Early Asimov
(1972), a kind of autobiography with illustrations from his early writing; and
Before the
Golden Age
(1974), which carried Asimov back to his earliest memories of reading SF and brought his life story up to
The Early Asimov,
illustrated with his favorite science-fiction stories among those he read between 1931 and 1938.
was a breakthrough for Asimov in another area as well. Up to that point, Asimov says, his attempts at humor had been well received in person but poorly in print. Many readers of
The Hugo Winners
wrote to tell him that the introductions were the best part of the book. After that, collections of his own stories began appearing with introductions, at first (
The Rest of the Robots,
1964) with notes about the stories salted with a few personal comments, and later with full-blown autobiographical detail. This technique reached its grandest expression in
Opus 100
(1969), the story of how Asimov came to write one hundred books, with excerpts by category;
The Early Asimov
(1972), a kind of autobiography with illustrations from his early writing; and
Before the
Golden Age
(1974), which carried Asimov back to his earliest memories of reading SF and brought his life story up to
The Early Asimov,
illustrated with his favorite science-fiction stories among those he read between 1931 and 1938.
All of these works were limbering-up exercises for the massive autobiography in two volumes, the first of which came out in 1979 as his 200th book (along with
Opus 200,
which he put together in fairness to Houghton Mifflin, which had published
Opus 100
). The autobiography offers 1,560 pages of Asimov's life story, complete with photographs, a list of his two hundred books, and indexes (which, he informed his readers, he did not trust anyone else to do). In 1994, two years after his death,
I. Asimov: A Memoir
was published, adding some 562 pages to the story of his life.
Opus 200,
which he put together in fairness to Houghton Mifflin, which had published
Opus 100
). The autobiography offers 1,560 pages of Asimov's life story, complete with photographs, a list of his two hundred books, and indexes (which, he informed his readers, he did not trust anyone else to do). In 1994, two years after his death,
I. Asimov: A Memoir
was published, adding some 562 pages to the story of his life.
Asimov devoted hundreds of thousands of words perhaps as much as a million to his self-description of a man who, he admitted, had "never done anything." The recollections progressed from "and then I read" to "and then I wrote" because Asimov's life has been woven from the warp and woof of reading and writing. The triumph of his writing skill was that he made it all so readable.
This kind of obsession with self might have been insufferable in a person who was not at the same time openly amazed at the good fortune, success, plaudits, renown, and wealth that came his way. Asimov was greatly honored and richly rewarded for remarkable achievements. Even so, to interpret everything in terms of one's own reaction to it, including World War II, may seem excessively egotistical. But Asimov's attitude of "cheerful self-appreciation," which sometimes broke over into "charming Asimovian immodesties" (a phrase coined by a Doubleday editor in response to a
Time
magazine article quoting some of Asimov's self-praise), was balanced by disarming Asimovian self-denigration.
Time
magazine article quoting some of Asimov's self-praise), was balanced by disarming Asimovian self-denigration.
In his autobiographical writings and comments, Asimov continually invited the reader to share his triumphs, to laugh at his blunders and lack of sophistication, and to wonder, with him, at the rise to prominence of a bright Jewish boy brought to this country from Russia at the age of three and raised in a succession of Brooklyn candy stores. Asimov was aided too by the fact that his readers were predisposed to enjoy his success with him. Some were admirers of his science popularizations and other non-fiction books and were curious about his earlier life; others were science-fiction readers and fans, and the science-fiction community still retains much of the solidarity and lack of envy of its early ghetto days.
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