Unto The Fourth Generation
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"Unto the Fourth Generation" is a
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single 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 old ...
by
Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ;  – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
. It first appeared in the April 1959 issue of ''
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Bouche ...
'' (''F&SF'') and has been reprinted in the collections ''
Nightfall and Other Stories ''Nightfall and Other Stories'' (1969) is a collection of 20 previously published science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. Asimov added a brief introduction to each story, explaining some aspect of the story's history and/or how it came to ...
'' (1969) and '' The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov'' (1986). It is Asimov's most explicitly
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish story.


Plot summary

The story concerns Samuel Marten, an anxious 23-year-old junior executive on his way to meet with a potential customer. When Marten sees a passing truck that says ''Lewkowitz and Sons, Wholesale Clothiers'', he unconsciously turns the name into Levkovich, then finds himself wondering why. Every time he sees some version of the name, he becomes more distracted. Marten's business meeting goes badly, and afterwards he wanders the streets of
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, following a trail of Lefkowitzes, Lefkowiczes and Levkowitzes. He arrives in
Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
, where an old man in outdated clothing is sitting on a park bench. The old man is Phinehas Levkovich. Levkovich is on his deathbed, having been born decades earlier in Czarist Russia. His wife and sons have died, his daughter Leah emigrated to America, and he is alone. He has prayed for a chance to meet a son of Leah's line, and his prayer has been granted. Phinehas is Marten's great-great-grandfather; Marten is Leah's daughter's daughter's son, the first son to be born to her family. Marten asks for his great-great-grandfather's blessing, and the old man gives it, then adds, "I go now to my fathers in peace, my son." Time snaps back two hours. Marten is on his way to his business meeting, and he finds himself free of anxiety, for he somehow knows that all will be well with him.


Background of story creation and development

Asimov was having lunch with ''F&SF''s then-editor Robert P. Mills on 23 October 1958 when Mills mentioned having seen the name Lefkowitz several times, each time with a different spelling. He asked Asimov to write a story about it and Asimov, who was an acquaintance of a “Leskowitz” himself (fellow Columbia grad student Dr. Sidney Leskowitz), agreed. When "Unto the Fourth Generation" first appeared in ''F&SF'', Marten went through the experience without being affected by it in any way. After the story appeared, Asimov was attending a dinner with Mills. He was chatting happily with Janet Jeppson, a fan he had just met, and Mills asked her what she thought of the story. Jeppson said that it was flawed because Marten had been unaffected by his meeting with Phinehas Levkovich. Asimov decided that Jeppson was right, and when he included the story in ''Nightfall and Other Stories'', he changed the ending so that Marten was left with a feeling of well-being. Asimov and Jeppson kept in touch, and fourteen years after having dinner together, they got married. In his preface to the story for ''Nightfall and Other Stories'', Asimov commented that this story is the only Jewish story it occurred to him to write. The name Levkovich (and its many variants) comes from the
Polish name Polish names have two main elements: the given name, and the surname. The usage of personal names in Poland is generally governed by civil law, church law, personal taste and family custom. The law requires a given name to indicate the person' ...
Lewek, a
diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...
of Lew, meaning
lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...
.


See also


References


External links

*
"Unto the Fourth Generation"
on the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unto The Fourth Generation Short stories by Isaac Asimov 1959 short stories Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction