"The Author's Ordeal" are lyrics to a song by American author

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 ...

. They were first published in ''

Science Fiction Quarterly ''Science Fiction Quarterly'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine that was published from 1940 to 1943 and again from 1951 to 1958. Charles Hornig served as editor for the first two issues; Robert A. W. Lowndes edited the remainder. ...

'', May 1957, pp. 34–36. They are included in three collections of Asimov's short stories: ''

Earth Is Room Enough ''Earth Is Room Enough'' is a collection of fifteen short science fiction and fantasy stories and two pieces of comic verse by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1957. In his autobiography ''In Joy Still Felt'', Asimov wrote, "I was sti ...

'', ''The Far Ends of Time and Earth'' (omnibus edition) and ''The Complete Stories, Volume 1''.In ''

'', Panther Books Ltd. reprint 1973 edition, the title of the story is "The Author's Ordeal" in the Contents list but "An Author's Ordeal" on the destination page. The lyrics pastiche 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 ...

patter song The patter song is characterised by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note. It is a staple of comic opera, especially Gilbert and Sullivan, but it ...

known as "the (Lord Chancellor's) Nightmare Song" from ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

''. The song depicts the agonies he goes through in thinking up a new science fiction story. It notes that the process of devising a

space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soci ...

is incompatible with living in the real world with all its "dull facts of life that hound you".

Notes

References

Seiler, Edward. "Isaac Asimov's Short Fiction: Larry Stories, Miscellaneous Mysteries, Poems and Lyrics" (1995) AsimovOnline.com

External links

*
Publication history of the poem
Works by Isaac Asimov Adaptations of works by Gilbert and Sullivan Works originally published in Science Fiction Quarterly 1957 songs {{1950s-song-stub

See also

Notes

References

External links