Common Time

Last updated
"Common Time"
Short story by James Blish
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publication
Published in Science Fiction Quarterly
Publication type Periodical
Media typePrint (Magazine, Hardback & Paperback)
Publication dateAugust 1953

"Common Time" is a science fiction short story by American writer James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros (1965); in The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973); and in Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories . [1]

Contents

The story is considered to be an archetype of symbolism in science fiction. [2]

Synopsis

A man named Garrard is a test pilot for an experimental space ship bound for Alpha Centauri. Previous attempts to make the trip have failed. Garrard is put in the ship in suspended animation and wakes up after the ship has gone into "over-drive". The first thing he remembers is the injunction: "Don't move". Garrard realizes that ship time seems to be almost stopped relative to his conscious time; he is not breathing, and his muscles respond slowly to mental directions. He calculates that 6000 years of subjective time will pass before the ship reaches its goal. Suddenly, he realizes that ship time is speeding up, until it equals, then exceeds, his subjective time. As the differential time rates increase, he again loses control of his body and goes into "pseudo-death".

Garrard awakes as the ship comes out of overdrive near Alpha Centauri. Around him in the space ship is a group of dreamlike beings that call themselves "the clinesterton beademungen" and speak to him in dream-language, which he understands perfectly. The story's narrative also becomes dreamlike at this point, suggesting that Garrard's experiences are indescribable. As the ship's automatic mechanism is about to start the journey back to Earth, Garrard again goes into pseudo-death, and remains in that state until the ship nears Earth. He lands safely. He can no longer remember what the "beademung" was like or even if it was real, but he has a haunting sense of loss.

Symbolism

In In Search of Wonder , [2] Damon Knight argues that the story is a symbolic representation of fertilization of a female ovum by a sperm, and that the protagonist Garrard is the sperm. The Earth represents the testes; Alpha Centauri is the uterus; and the beademung is the ovum. Furthermore, Knight argues, the first part of the story, which contains all the intercourse symbolism, is told backwards. Even the title, Knight argues, is an unintentional pun for "Come on time".

Author's commentary

James Blish (quoted by Damon Knight [2] ) said about Knight's interpretation of his story:

The reference to the Alpha Centauri stars as 'the twin radioceles' obviously comes from varicocele, a common form of hernia involving the testicles, and I think now that the whole thing was suggested by the Earth-Moon balls on the cover around which I wrote the story. The main Alpha Centauri star and Proxima Centauri stand in about the same relationship as the Earth and the Moon, and both pairs might be described as one-hung-low. Also, the story is about love-and-death; it says it is. But I'm just now beginning to believe it. Writing frightens me.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Blish</span> American science fiction and fantasy author (1921–1975)

James Benjamin Blish was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is best known for his Cities in Flight novels and his series of Star Trek novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel A Case of Conscience won the Hugo Award. He is credited with creating the term "gas giant" to refer to large planetary bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leigh Brackett</span> American novelist and screenwriter (1915–1978)

Leigh Douglass Brackett was an American science fiction writer known as "the Queen of Space Opera." She was also a screenwriter, known for The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Long Goodbye (1973). She worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production. In 1956, her book The Long Tomorrow made her the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and, along with C. L. Moore, one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2020, she posthumously won a Retro Hugo for her novel The Nemesis From Terra, originally published as Shadow Over Mars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damon Knight</span> American science fiction writer, editor and critic (1922–2002)

Damon Francis Knight 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. He was married to fellow writer Kate Wilhelm.

<i>Foundation and Earth</i> 1986 novel by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Earth is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the fifth novel of the Foundation series and chronologically the last in the series. It was published in 1986, four years after the first sequel to the Foundation trilogy, which is titled Foundation's Edge.

<i>Orphans of the Sky</i> 1963 SF novel by Robert A. Heinlein

Orphans of the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, consisting of two parts: "Universe" and its sequel, "Common Sense". The two novellas were first published together in book form in 1963. "Universe" was also published separately in 1951 as a 10¢ Dell paperback. The work presents one of the earliest fictional depictions of a generation ship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lester del Rey</span> American science fiction author (1915–1993)

Lester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of Ballantine Books, along with his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.

<i>The Sparrow</i> (novel) 1996 novel by Mary Doria Russell

The Sparrow (1996) is the first novel by author Mary Doria Russell. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, James Tiptree Jr. Award, Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis and the British Science Fiction Association Award. It was followed by a sequel, Children of God, in 1998. The title refers to Gospel of Matthew 10:29–31, which relates that not even a sparrow falls to the earth without the Christian god's knowledge thereof.

<i>Encounter with Tiber</i> 1996 novel by John Barnes

Encounter With Tiber (ISBN 0-340-62451-5) is a 1996 science fiction novel written by former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and science fiction writer John Barnes. A working title, used on some advance covers for the British edition, was The Tides of Tiber.

<i>A Case of Conscience</i> 1958 novel by James Blish

A Case of Conscience is a science fiction novel by American writer James Blish, first published in 1958. It is the story of a Jesuit who investigates an alien race that has no religion yet has a perfect, innate sense of morality, a situation which conflicts with Catholic teaching. The story was originally published as a novella in 1953, and later extended to novel-length, of which the first part is the original novella. The novel is the first part of Blish's thematic After Such Knowledge trilogy and was followed by Doctor Mirabilis and both Black Easter and The Day After Judgment.

<i>Revolt on Alpha C</i> 1955 novel by Robert Silverberg

Revolt on Alpha C is a juvenile science fiction novel by American writer Robert Silverberg, published by Crowell in 1955. It was Silverberg's first published book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stars and planetary systems in fiction</span>

The planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple element in many works of the science fiction genre.

"Impostor" is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was first published in Astounding SF magazine in June, 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Definitions of science fiction</span>

There have been many attempts at defining science fiction. This is a list of definitions that have been offered by authors, editors, critics and fans over the years since science fiction became a genre. Definitions of related terms such as "science fantasy", "speculative fiction", and "fabulation" are included where they are intended as definitions of aspects of science fiction or because they illuminate related definitions—see e.g. Robert Scholes's definitions of "fabulation" and "structural fabulation" below. Some definitions of sub-types of science fiction are included, too; for example see David Ketterer's definition of "philosophically-oriented science fiction". In addition, some definitions are included that define, for example, a science fiction story, rather than science fiction itself, since these also illuminate an underlying definition of science fiction.

Advent:Publishers is an American publishing house. It was founded by Earl Kemp and other members of the University of Chicago Science Fiction Club, including Sidney Coleman, in 1955, to publish criticism, history, and bibliography of the science fiction field, beginning with Damon Knight's In Search of Wonder.

<i>Empire of the Atom</i> 1957 novel by A.E. van Vogt

Empire of the Atom is a science fiction novel by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt. It was first published in 1957 by Shasta Publishers in an edition of 2,000 copies. The novel is a fix-up of the first five of van Vogt's Gods stories, which originally appeared in the magazine Astounding. The remaining Gods stories are combined in the sequel The Wizard of Linn. A genealogical chart of the ruling family of the Empire of Linn is included.

<i>In Search of Wonder</i>

In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction is a collection of critical essays by American writer Damon Knight. Most of the material in the original version of the book was originally published between 1952 and 1955 in various science fiction magazines including Infinity Science Fiction, Original SF Stories, and Future SF. The essays were highly influential, and contributed to Knight's stature as the foremost critic of science fiction of his generation. The book also constitutes an informal record of the "Boom Years" of science fiction from 1950-1955.

Science Fiction Forum was a critical journal of science fiction. It was created by Damon Knight and James Blish in 1957. Lester del Rey was also an editor.

<i>Witches Three</i>

Witches Three is an anthology of three original fantasy stories, edited by the uncredited Fletcher Pratt and published in hardcover by Twayne in 1952. No further editions of the anthology were issued, but each of the stories was later republished.

<i>Cosmic Stories</i> and <i>Stirring Science Stories</i> Two related US pulp science fiction magazines

Cosmic Stories and Stirring Science Stories were two American pulp science fiction magazines that published a total of seven issues in 1941 and 1942. Both Cosmic and Stirring were edited by Donald A. Wollheim and launched by the same publisher, appearing in alternate months. Wollheim had no budget at all for fiction, so he solicited stories from his friends among the Futurians, a group of young science fiction fans including James Blish and C. M. Kornbluth. Isaac Asimov contributed a story, but later insisted on payment after hearing that F. Orlin Tremaine, the editor of the competing science fiction magazine Comet, was irate at the idea of a magazine that might "siphon readership from magazines that paid", and thought that authors who contributed should be blacklisted. Kornbluth was the most prolific contributor, under several pseudonyms; one of his stories, "Thirteen O'Clock", published under the pseudonym "Cecil Corwin", was very successful, and helped to make his reputation in the field. The magazines ceased publication in late 1941, but Wollheim was able to find a publisher for one further issue of Stirring Science Stories in March 1942 before war restrictions forced it to close again.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Far Centaurus</span> Short story by A. E. van Vogt

Far Centaurus is a science fiction short story by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, first published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1944. Writer and critic P. Schuyler Miller called it "unforgettable and unforgotten."

References

  1. James Blish Bibliography Archived 2009-08-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 Knight, Damon (1967). In Search of Wonder . Chicago: Advent.