"If I Forget Thee, O Earth" is a

post-apocalyptic fiction Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres 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; astronom ...

short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke and first published in 1951 in the magazine '' Future SF'' It was subsequently published as part of a short story collection in ''

Expedition to Earth ''Expedition to Earth'' () is a collection of science fiction short story, short stories by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, Arthur C. Clarke. There are at least two variants of this book's table of contents, in different editions of the boo ...

'' (1953). The title is taken from

Psalm 137 Psalm 137 is the 137th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christi ...

:5—"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem"—which consists of the writer lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army. The themes in the story exploit the anxieties prevalent at the time regarding

nuclear warfare Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a War, military conflict or prepared Policy, political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are Weapon of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conven ...

. The work was well received. ''

Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper b ...

'' reviewer Peter J. Henniker-Heaton wrote: "I do not know of any short story that has moved me more than Arthur C. Clarke's 'If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth'."

Plot summary

"If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth" is the story of Marvin, a child living in a future lunar colony. At the age of ten he is taken outside the complex by his father, driving across the Moon's surface to see a glimpse of the Earth, glowing with lethal radiation. Marvin knows that the planet was made uninhabitable in a nuclear war. His father tells him that the colony is the last vestige of mankind, but that without a goal to strive for it too will die. The ultimate purpose of the human survivors has become to one day reclaim a cleansed Earth, using the ships which stand waiting on the lunar plain. It has taken desperate efforts to save the colony and to maintain confidence that in a far distant future mankind's birthplace can be restored. Marvin returns with his father to resume their exile without looking back. However he realises that one day he will take his own children to view the dead Earth and give purpose to a further generation.

References

External links

* 1951 short stories Short stories by Arthur C. Clarke Post-apocalyptic short stories Short stories set on the Moon {{1950s-sf-story-stub