"For a Breath I Tarry" is a 1966
post-apocalyptic
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 ...
novelette by American writer
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for '' The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominatio ...
, which was nominated for the
Hugo Award for Best Novelette
The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of ...
in 1967. Taking place long after the self-extinction of Man, it recounts the tale of Frost, a sentient machine. While humans have long ago caused their own extinction the sentient machines they created continue the work of rebuilding a shattered Earth.
Along the way, the story explores the differences between Man and Machine, the former experiencing the world qualitatively, while the latter do so quantitatively. This is illustrated by philosophical conversations between Frost and another machine named Mordel.
Driving the plot and setting its tone are Frost's intention to become a Man and allusions to other literature, most specifically the first chapter of the
Book of Job
The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...
, both in situation and language, as verses are both quoted directly and paraphrased. Additionally, echoes of the first three chapters of the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...
appear. Finally, Frost and Mordel enter into a
Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
ian bargain, though with better results than in the original.
The other major character is the Beta Machine, Frost's equal in the southern hemisphere (Frost has control over the northern hemisphere). It is hinted that, while being a machine, Beta has a feminine personality. After Frost has succeeded in his thousand-year quest to become a human (via recovered DNA), Beta agrees to join him in becoming human - implying the possibility of a rebirth of the human race.
The novelette has appeared in collections of Zelazny's works and in anthologies.
The title is from a phrase in
A. E. Housman
Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classics, classical scholar and poet. He showed early promise as a student at the University of Oxford, but he failed his final examination in ''literae humaniores'' and t ...
's collection ''
A Shropshire Lad
''A Shropshire Lad'' is a collection of 63 poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman, published in 1896. Selling slowly at first, it then rapidly grew in popularity, particularly among young readers. Composers began setting the poems to ...
''.
"From far, from eve and morning"
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References
External links
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Science fiction short stories
1966 short stories
Short stories by Roger Zelazny
Fiction about artificial intelligence
Post-apocalyptic short stories