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Unto The Fourth Generation
"Unto the Fourth Generation" is a fantasy short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the April 1959 issue of ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' (''F&SF'') and has been reprinted in the collections ''Nightfall and Other Stories'' (1969) and '' The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov'' (1986). It is Asimov's most explicitly Jewish story. Plot summary The story concerns Samuel Marten, an anxious 23-year-old junior executive on his way to meet with a potential customer. When Marten sees a passing truck that says ''Lewkowitz and Sons, Wholesale Clothiers'', he unconsciously turns the name into Levkovich, then finds himself wondering why. Every time he sees some version of the name, he becomes more distracted. Marten's business meeting goes badly, and afterwards he wanders the streets of New York City, following a trail of Lefkowitzes, Lefkowiczes and Levkowitzes. He arrives in Central Park, where an old man in outdated clothing is sitting on a park bench. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror fiction, horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient mythology, myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Traits Most fantasy uses magic (paranormal), magic or other supernatural elements as a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed in the form of legends, mythic tales, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables and anecdotes in various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed in the early 19th century. Definition The short story is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance, and other dynamic components as in a novel, but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel, authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques. The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines a short story has been recurrently problematic. A classic definition of a short story ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (1922–1928)American (1928–1992) , occupation = Writer, professor of biochemistry , years_active = 1939–1992 , genre = Science fiction (hard SF, social SF), mystery, popular science , subject = Popular science, science textbooks, essays, history, literary criticism , education = Columbia University ( BA, MA, PhD) , movement = Golden Age of Science Fiction , module = , signature = Isaac Asimov signature.svg Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas had approached Spivak in the mid-1940s about creating a fantasy companion to Spivak's existing mystery title, ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. The first issue was titled ''The Magazine of Fantasy'', but the decision was quickly made to include science fiction as well as fantasy, and the title was changed correspondingly with the second issue. ''F&SF'' was quite different in presentation from the existing science fiction magazines of the day, most of which were in pulp format: it had no interior illustrations, no letter column, and text in a single column format, which in the opinion of science fiction historian Mike Ashley "set ''F&SF'' apart, giving it the air and authority of a superior magazine". ''F&SF'' qu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nightfall And Other Stories
''Nightfall and Other Stories'' (1969) is a collection of 20 previously published science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. Asimov added a brief introduction to each story, explaining some aspect of the story's history and/or how it came to be written. Background In the introduction for the title story, "Nightfall," Asimov explained that although pleased by the praise it had received, he disliked "being told, over and over again" that a story he had written at the age of 21 was his best. Asimov hoped that the collection would prove that "sheer practice admade me more proficient, technically, with each year". He chose successful stories not included before in any anthologies edited by Asimov himself. Contents * " Nightfall" (first published in September 1941 issue of '' Astounding Science Fiction''), novelette * " Green Patches" (first published in November 1950 issue of ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' as "Misbegotten Missionary") * " Hostess" (first published in May 1951 i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Best Science Fiction Of Isaac Asimov
''The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov'', published in 1986, is a collection of 28 short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, personally selected as favorites by himself. Content * "All the Troubles of the World" * "A Loint of Paw" * "The Dead Past" * " Death of a Foy" * "Dreaming Is a Private Thing" * " Dreamworld" * " Eyes Do More Than See" * " The Feeling of Power" * "Flies" * " Found!" * " The Foundation of S.F. Success" * "Franchise" * "The Fun They Had" * " How It Happened" * " I Just Make Them Up, See!" * "I'm in Marsport Without Hilda" * " The Immortal Bard" * "It's Such a Beautiful Day" * " Jokester" * " The Last Answer" * "The Last Question" * "My Son, the Physicist" * " Obituary" * "Spell My Name with an S" * "Strikebreaker" * " Sure Thing" * " The Ugly Little Boy" * "Unto the Fourth Generation" Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov'' for ''White Dwarf'' #88, and stated that "Some OK stuff here, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors annually , and is the most filmed location in the world. After proposals for a large park in Manhattan during the 1840s, it was approved in 1853 to cover . In 1857, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a Architectural design competition, design competition for the park with their "Greensward Plan". Construction began the same year; existing structures, including a majority-Black settlement named Seneca Village, were seized through eminent domain and razed. The park's first areas were opened to the public in late 1858. Additional land at the northern end of Central Park was purchased in 1859, and the park was completed in 1876. After a period of de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Czarist Russia
The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in 1721. From 1551 to 1700, Russia grew by 35,000 km2 per year. The period includes the upheavals of the transition from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasties, wars with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian conquest of Siberia, to the reign of Peter the Great, who took power in 1689 and transformed the Tsardom into the Russian Empire. During the Great Northern War, he implemented substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire after victory over Sweden in 1721. Name While the oldest endonyms of the Grand Duchy of Moscow used in its documents were "Rus'" () and the "Russian land" (), a new form of its name, ''Rusia'' or ''Russia'', appeared and became common in the 15th century. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Surnames
Polish names have two main elements: the given name, and the surname. The usage of personal names in Poland is generally governed by civil law, church law, personal taste and family custom. The law requires a given name to indicate the person's gender. Almost all Polish female names end in a vowel ''-a'', and most male names end in a consonant or a vowel other than ''a''. There are, however, a few male names that end in ''a'', which are very old and uncommon, such as Barnaba, Bonawentura, Boryna, Jarema, Kosma, Kuba (a diminutive of Jakub) and Saba. Maria is a female name that can be used also as a middle (second) name for males. Since the High Middle Ages, Polish-sounding surnames ending with the masculine ''-ski'' suffix, including ''-cki'' and ''-dzki'', and the corresponding feminine suffix ''-ska/-cka/-dzka'' were associated with the nobility (Polish ''szlachta''), which alone, in the early years, had such suffix distinctions.Zenon Klemensiewicz, ''Historia języka polskieg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diminutive
A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formation device used to express such meanings. In many languages, such forms can be translated as "little" and diminutives can also be formed as multi-word constructions such as " Tiny Tim". Diminutives are often employed as nicknames and pet names when speaking to small children and when expressing extreme tenderness and intimacy to an adult. The opposite of the diminutive form is the augmentative. Beyond the ''diminutive form'' of a single word, a ''diminutive'' can be a multi-word name, such as "Tiny Tim" or "Little Dorrit". In many languages, formation of diminutives by adding suffixes is a productive part of the language. For example, in Spanish can be a nickname for someone who is overweight, and by adding an suffix, it becomes which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult male lions are larger than females and have a prominent mane. It is a social species, forming groups called ''prides''. A lion's pride consists of a few adult males, related females, and cubs. Groups of female lions usually hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates. The lion is an apex predator, apex and keystone predator; although some lions scavenge when opportunities occur and have been known to hunt Human, humans, lions typically don't actively seek out and prey on humans. The lion inhabits grasslands, savannas and shrublands. It is usually more diurnality, diurnal than other wild cats, but when persecuted, it adapts to being active nocturnality, at night and crepuscular, at twilight. During the Neolithic period, the li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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