"Twilight" is a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

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 uni ...

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 author

John W. Campbell John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death ...

. It was originally published in 1934 in ''

Astounding Stories ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'' and apparently inspired by H. G. Wells' article ''

The Man of the Year Million H. G. Wells was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. His writing career spanned more than sixty years, and his early science fiction novels earned him the title (along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback) of "The Father of Science ...

''. In 1970, it was selected as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of prof ...

s by the

Science Fiction Writers of America The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy Fantas ...

. As such, it was published in ''

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. Set in 1932 in an unknown

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, the narrator introduces Jim Bendell who recounts his experience with a strange and mysterious

hitch-hiker Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Nomads have ...

. The hitch-hiker, who introduces himself as Ares Sen Kenlin, claims to be a

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

er from the year of 3059. Having landed in 1932 by mistake, Kenlin takes the opportunity to warn Bendell of the future that awaits humanity. Seven million years in the future, the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

is no longer populated by

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

kind. Human beings are

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

and automated

machine A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecul ...

s have taken over their place. Cities remain in perfect working order, run by their tireless population of programmed machines. In the future, advancements in

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scien ...

allow human beings to create a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of automated machines dedicated in expediting production and profit. Having made machines that perform all menial or routine labor, human beings become increasingly complacent and disconnected from their own human experience. Life has lost all sense of wonder or meaning, people become heavily seduced by the ideal of perfection they forget to actually live. Efficiency and streamline

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

become the status quo, at any cost. In seven million years time, human nature becomes obsolete, machines are able to perform the roles and functions human beings have now outgrown. People eventually lose touch with their human experience and regress both socially and intellectually as a species. As they move further away from their former roles in society, human beings no longer possess the will or concern to invest in the potential of the Earth and its dwindling human population. Saddened and disappointed, Kenlin refuses to leave the Earth in its post-humanist state. Before traveling back in time, he leaves the Earth a gift of hope for the future human kind.

Plot summary

Astounding Science Fiction (1950-01) - Not to be opened - 1

On December 9, 1932 Jim Bendell, a real estate business man, picks up a hitch-hiker on the side of a road. The hitch-hiker introduces himself as Ares Sen Kenlin, a

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

from the city of Neva'th of the year 3059. Kenlin reveals to Benell that he is a

hybrid, created by his father who is also a scientist. Kenlin explains he's developed

time-travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

technology and traveled 7 million years forward in time. His return proved faulty and lands him in the year of 1932. During their car ride together, Kenlin begins to describe in great detail what he saw during his trip forward seven million years in time. He tells Bendell that the people of Earth eventually

colonize Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

the Solar System, human existence is virtually free of difficulty, all illness and predators have been eliminated. On Earth, all work is performed by perfectly designed machines. They've replaced all other living species, driven into extinction by the advancements of man. The oceans are empty of life, all

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...

s as well as

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...

microbes A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

, and domesticated

pet A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...

s have been completely eradicated.

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

being the only organic life still remaining on Earth. After being abandoned by their creators, the machines continue to perform their programmed duties, designed by previous generations of scientists. Humans, though highly intelligent, have lost their curiosity and drive as custodian of Earth. They've abandoned and forgotten the tomes of wisdom and discovery from humanity's archives. Not having accomplished anything new in two million years, humans become trapped in their self-satisfied developments they don't see they've become sterile and uninspired. In seven million years time, human beings become a dying race who retreat from their conquest of the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

and return to

once again. Humans of the future sacrifice ethics for the ease that automation provides. Kenlin describes the massive cities of the future such as "Yawk City", a

megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...

stretching from north of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to south of

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, as abandoned yet preserved in pristine condition by their mechanical workers. People are unable to reproduce as before, the human gestational process decreases to one month to birth offspring. Life expectancy increases to three-thousand years, though people continue to grow lonelier and more disconnected from life. Cities have been abandoned by humans, the machines continue on with their designated functions. Each of the long deserted cities continue to run perfectly, as if nothing has changed. Cities, where a human foot has not stood for thousands of years, remain cared for by their machine population. They never stop supplying the city with human necessities, because no human alive can remember or care to make them stop. People are no longer fazed by new or foreign discoveries, they've lost all curiosity and zest for life. The ease of their human existence has dulled their awareness, leaving people unchallenged and accustomed to little or no effort in life. During his time on the future Earth, Kenlin discovers a group of highly intelligent machines capable of independent thought. They had been left shut off and abandoned. There are no people alive that know of their existence, aside from Kenlin. He feels it is his responsibility as a scientist to attempt to ensure there remains a chance to release Earth from its stagnant state. He decides to switch on a high-Intel machine and order it to create a machine that resembles the inherit curiosity found in human beings long ago.

Critical reception

In Alec Nevela-Lee's group biography, ''Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction'', he praises the work of John W. Campbell for transforming Science-Fiction from adolescent fantasy into enthralling and thought provoking academic literature. Science-fiction author

Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...

said that ''Twilight'' "Attracted a decade-long series of engineers/mystics as the archetypal writers of the 'Golden Age' and brought about the late Victorian Edwardian flavor of "Modern' science fiction". Everett F. Bleiler concluded: "''Twilight'' conveys a mood. It is probably Campbell's best story, with many implications beyond the story level".

E. F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

, ''Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years'', Kent State University Press, 1998, p.421

References

External links

* In 2013, Ge Wang and fellow members of Stanford University's Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk), performed a musical composition inspired by John W. Campbell's story'','' titled
Twilight
' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Twilight Short stories by John W. Campbell 1934 short stories Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact