"The Up-to-Date Sorcerer" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

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 ...

by American writer

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 (192 ...

. It was first published in the July 1958 issue of ''

Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiva ...

'' and reprinted in the 1969 collection ''

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 t ...

''. Requested and encouraged by editor

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

, the story is a deliberate attempt by the author to write something humorous that incorporates his love of the complex yet logical plots found in the

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

operas. It consists largely of a series of

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...

s on the opera ''

The Sorcerer ''The Sorcerer'' is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of ''The Sorcerer'' is based on a Christmas story, ''An Elixir of Lo ...

''. Quotes from Gilbert and Sullivan operas occur frequently in Asimov's stories; also in some of his verses explaining how he thinks up new plots for his stories. The words "up-to-date" in the title refer to the titles of musical burlesques of the 1880s and early 1890s like ''

Faust up to date ''Faust up to Date'' is a musical burlesque with a score written by Meyer Lutz (a few songs by others were interpolated into the show). The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt. It is a spoof of Gounod's opera, ''Faust'', which ...

''. In 1894, also, George Augustus Sala wrote a book called ''London Up to Date''.Sala, George Augustus. ''London Up to Date'', London: A. and C. Black (1894; reprinted by Kessinger Publishing in 2007)

Plot summary

Professor Wellington Johns, an

endocrinologist Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...

, experiments with a love

philtre A potion () is a liquid "that contains medicine, poison, or something that is supposed to have magic powers.” It derives from the Latin word ''potus'' which referred to a drink or drinking. The term philtre is also used, often specifically ...

(which he terms his ''amatogenic cortical principle''), that causes those who take it to fall helplessly in love with the first person they see. Johns' students, Alice Sanger and Alexander Dexter, become entangled in philtre-induced promises of marriage. The narrator theorizes that the ending to ''The Sorcerer'' was not the original one, but was forced on Gilbert by Victorian mores. Instead of the title character in ''The Sorcerer'' breaking the spell by yielding his life to

Ahrimanes Angra Mainyu (; Avestan: 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 ''Aŋra Mainiiu'') is the Avestan-language name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the ...

, the narrator believes that originally Gilbert intended that the spell would be broken by the couples marrying, since married couples only seem to argue (in the opera, the love philtre has no effect on married people). This solution, however, would have been offensive to Victorians. The narrator proposes that the couples affected by the philtre marry, which should cancel the effect. He is proven correct, and the couples are free to have the marriages annulled so that they can marry their true loves.

References

External links

*
"The Up-to-Date Sorcerer"
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Up-to-Date Sorcerer, The 1958 short stories Short stories by Isaac Asimov Adaptations of works by Gilbert and Sullivan Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction