"To Serve Man" is a science fiction short story by American writer

Damon Knight Damon Francis Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He is the author of " To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for ''The Twilight Zone''.Stanyard, ''Dimensions Behind t ...

. It first appeared in the November 1950 issue of ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'' and has been reprinted a number of times, including in ''Frontiers in Space'' (1955), '' Far Out'' (1961), and ''The Best of Damon Knight'' (1976).

Synopsis

The story is set in the United States in a time that appears to be contemporaneous with the story's 1950 publication date. It is told in first-person narrative by a United Nations translator. The story opens at a special session of the UN where three alien emissaries are testifying that the purpose of their mission to Earth is to bring humans "the peace and plenty which we ourselves enjoy, and which we have in the past brought to other races throughout the galaxy". The aliens, who are large humanoid pigs with three fingers on each hand, soon supply Earth with cheap unlimited power, boundless supplies of food, and a device which disables all modern armies by suppressing all explosions, and they begin work on drugs for prolonging life. As a further token of friendship, they allow humans to visit their home planet via ten-year "exchange groups". The narrator has trusted the emissaries from the time of their arrival, but his friend and fellow translator Grigori has not. Grigori dismisses any notion of disinterested altruism and is certain that the aliens have an ulterior motive underlying their actions. He is determined to discover what they stand to gain by helping humans and takes a job at the alien embassy to learn their language. This affords him access to an alien dictionary, and he later steals an alien book, hoping to translate it. The narrator has also left the UN to work at the embassy, and the two determine that the book's title is ''How to Serve Man''. Two weeks later, the narrator returns from a trip to find Grigori distraught, having discovered to his horror that the title is a double entendre. Grigori informs the narrator that he has translated the first paragraph of the book and has determined that it is not a treatise on serving humanity, but a cookbook.

Awards

In 2001, the story was awarded a Retro Hugo Award as the "Best Short Story of 1951".

Adaptations

Knight's story was adapted for use as a 1962 episode of the television series ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

'', in which the aliens are portrayed as seven foot tall humans with dome-like heads.

References in other works

* In

John Ringo John Ringo (born March 22, 1963) is an American science fiction and military fiction author. He has had several ''New York Times'' best sellers. His books range from straightforward science fiction to a mix of military and political thrillers ...

's book ''A Hymn Before Battle'', "To Serve Man" is mentioned as a classic example of aliens seeming to be benevolent, while in fact using humans for their own purposes. *

George Scithers George H. Scithers (May 14, 1929 – April 19, 2010) was an American science fiction fan, author and editor. A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the 1950s, wrote short stories, and moved ...

wrote a cookbook named for the story. *

Cattle Decapitation Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band from San Diego, California, formed in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard, and drummer David McGr ...

titled an album after the story. *

James Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

's ''

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

'' features characters reading the story. * In '' The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear'' during a panic after Dr. Albert Meinheimer's speech, the character Terence Baggett holds a copy of the book ''To Serve Man'', proclaiming "It's a cookbook!" The joke is that Terence Baggett is played by

Lloyd Bochner Lloyd Wolfe Bochner (July 29, 1924 – October 29, 2005) was a Canadian actor. He appeared in many Canadian and Hollywood productions between the 1950s and 1990s, including the films ''Point Blank'' (1967), '' The Detective'' (1968), '' The ...

, who was the lead in the ''Twilight Zone'' adaptation of the story. * ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' season 2 episode 3 parodies the story as "Hungry Are the Damned". * In '' Married... with Children'' episode "Sofa so good", Al Bundy, off screen, yells to his wife Peggy "Peg, ''To serve man''? It's a cookbook!" * In the first ''

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

'' movie, when discussing Alex the Lion, one of the lemurs holds up a book titled ''To Serve Lemur'' and proclaims "It's a cookbook!" * In '' Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead'', there is a book entitled ''To Serve Man'' which contains crafting recipes of food requiring human flesh. The book's description is "It's... it's a cookbook!" * In Matthew Costello's '' Doom 3: Worlds on Fire'', Swann tells his superior about ''To Serve Man'' as being a real book discovered in the 1950s.

References

External links

*
"To Serve Man"
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, ...