Foundation (Asimov novel)

Last updated
Foundation
Foundation - Isaac Asimov (Gnome 1951).jpg
Dust-jacket of the first edition
Author Isaac Asimov
Cover artist David Kyle
LanguageEnglish
Series Foundation series
GenreScience fiction, political drama
Publisher Gnome Press
Publication date
1951
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages255
Followed by Foundation and Empire  

Foundation is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is the first book in the Foundation Trilogy (which later expanded into the Foundation series). Foundation is a cycle of five interrelated short stories, first published as a single book by Gnome Press in 1951. Collectively they tell the early story of the Foundation, an institute founded by psychohistorian Hari Seldon to preserve the best of galactic civilization after the collapse of the Galactic Empire.

Contents

Publication history

On August 1, 1941, Isaac Asimov proposed to John W. Campbell of Astounding Science Fiction that he write a short story set in a slowly declining Galactic Empire, based on the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Campbell liked the idea, and by the end of a two-hour meeting Asimov planned to write a series of stories depicting the fall of the first Galactic Empire and the rise of the second. Asimov wrote seven more stories for Campbell's magazine over eight years, and they were later collected into three book volumes known as The Foundation Trilogy (1951–1953). [1] : 23–29 

Of these, "Foundation" (retitled as "The Encyclopedists" for the book collection) was published in Astounding in May 1942; "Bridle and Saddle" (retitled "The Mayors" for the collection) in June 1942; "The Big and the Little" (retitled "The Merchant Princes" for the collection) in August 1944; and "The Wedge" (retitled "The Traders" for the collection) in October 1944. Collected as Foundation in 1951, these four stories were accompanied by "The Psychohistorians", a book-exclusive prologue story. [1] : 23–26  The remaining four novellas were collected as Foundation and Empire (1952) and Second Foundation (1953). [1] : 26–29 

The Foundation Trilogy won a Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series in 1966. [2]

Plot summary

"The Psychohistorians"

In 12,067 G.E. ("Galactic Era"), mathematician and psychologist Hari Seldon has developed psychohistory, a new field of science and psychology that allows for the probabilistic prediction of future events. By means of psychohistory, Seldon has discovered the decline and eventual fall of the Galactic Empire, angering its rulers, the Commission of Public Safety. Seldon defends his beliefs, and the Commission, not wanting to make Seldon a martyr, offers him exile to a remote world, Terminus.

"The Encyclopedists"

In 50 F.E. ("Foundation Era"), there is one region on Terminus that is suitable for the development of a large city, named Terminus City. The affairs of Terminus City are handled by its first Mayor, Salvor Hardin. Hardin believes Terminus is in danger of political exploitation by the four neighboring prefectures of the Empire. When Hardin's efforts are resisted by the Board, Hardin and his chief advisor, Yohan Lee, plan an overthrow of the ruling board. Because the board was made up of Encyclopedists whose training was authoritarian, they could not recognize the possibility of revolt. Salvor Hardin then visited the three kingdoms each weaker than Anacreon, and convinced them that they must resist nuclear power from falling into Anacreon alone. The three issued a joint ultimatum that all be allowed to receive nuclear technology from Terminus City, ensuring that the Encyclopedists were indispensable to all.

"The Mayors"

In the kingdom of Anacreon, Prince Regent Wienis and his teenage nephew, King Lepold I, launch a direct military assault against Terminus, making use of an abandoned Imperial battlecruiser. Hardin secretly installs a kill switch into the cruiser, causing the crew to mutiny. The ship's commander, Admiral Prince Lefkin, Wienis's son, is captured and forced to broadcast a message to Anacreon. The message demands Wienis's arrest and trial before an ecclesiastical court. Wienis, maddened by his failure, orders Hardin's execution, but his royal guardsmen refuse to obey him. Attempting and failing, due to a protective energy field, to kill Hardin personally, Wienis shoots himself.

"The Traders"

Master Trader Eskel Gorov, an agent of the Foundation government, travels to the world of Askone, hoping to trade atomics. Gorov, however, is met with resistance by Askone's governing Elders due to traditional taboos that effectively ban advanced technology. Gorov is imprisoned and sentenced to death.

Trader Limmar Ponyets is ordered by the Foundation to try to negotiate with the Elders. He meets with the Elders' Grand Master and deduces that he may be willing to exchange Gorov for a suitable bribe. Ponyets clumsily fashions a transmuter that will convert iron into gold. Councilor Pherl, the Grand Master's protégé, believes that a stable supply of gold will increase his power, and Ponyets sells him the transmuter.

Gorov is released quickly. According to a new agreement, he and Ponyets can take as much tin from Pherl's mines as they can carry.

"The Merchant Princes"

Three Foundation vessels have vanished near the Republic of Korell, which is suspected of either independent technological development or buying smuggled Foundation goods. Master Trader Hober Mallow is assigned to deal with Korell. He talks to Jaim Twer and invites him to come along. While the Master Trader and his crew are waiting in a spaceport hangar, a man identifying himself as "Reverend Jord Parma" appears, saying he is a missionary. Korellian law forbids Foundation missionaries to be on the planet under penalty of death. Suspecting a set-up, Mallow decides to turn the missionary over to them.

Mallow's discoveries lead him to believe that the Empire has been providing weapons to client states. He journeys alone to the planet Siwenna, which he believes may be the capital of an Imperial province. He meets the impoverished patrician Onum Barr, who helps Mallow to understand the political situation.

A year after his return to Terminus, Mallow is tried for murder because he gave the Foundation missionary to the mob. He reveals his knowledge that Jaim Twer was working as an agent for Sutt, one of the men who sent Mallow to Korell. Further, he produces a recording revealing that the "missionary" was in fact a Korellian secret policeman. Acquitted, Mallow is received with delight by the population of Terminus, which ensures him the Mayor's seat. Mallow has Sutt and Manlio arrested.

As Mayor, Mallow soon faces tension with Korell, which declares war on the Foundation. Mallow imposes an embargo on Korell. The Korellan economy collapses due to its dependency on Foundation technology, thus forcing its surrender.

Characters

"The Psychohistorians"

"The Encyclopedists"

"The Mayors"

"The Traders"

"The Merchant Princes"

Reception

Writing after the 1951 publication of the five stories as a single book, reviewer Groff Conklin declared Foundation "a book of real intellectual entertainment and adventure", [3] while Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas found it "competent enough writing and thinking, if on the dull side." [4] At the same time, P. Schuyler Miller received the volume favorably, but noted that the "revision and inter-writing" of the component stories was "not quite so successful a job" as Asimov had managed with I, Robot . [5] In 1966, the Foundation trilogy won the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series. [6]

Writing in 2011, Gizmodo singled out "The Psychohistorians" as "the perfect introduction to the Foundation series, a mini-masterpiece of world-building that helps you understand exactly what the Foundation is trying to do and, more importantly, why it all matters in slightly more than abstract terms." [7] io9 included the book on its 2012 list of "10 Science Fiction Novels You Pretend to Have Read". [8]

Although Hugo Awards were established only in 1953, too late for the novel to be eligible, all four stories originally published in Astounding Science Fiction were later retroactively nominated for Retro-Hugo Awards, one of them winning the 1943 Retro-Hugo Award for the Best Novelette (of 1942):

Related Research Articles

<i>I, Robot</i> Collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov

I, Robot is a fixup collection made up of science fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950 and were then compiled into a single publication by Gnome Press in 1950, in an initial edition of 5,000 copies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Asimov</span> American writer and biochemist (1920–1992)

Isaac Asimov was an 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. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

<i>Foundations Edge</i> 1982 novel by Isaac Asimov

Foundation's Edge (1982) is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the fourth book in the Foundation Series. It was written more than thirty years after the stories of the original Foundation trilogy, due to years of pressure by fans and editors on Asimov to write another, and, according to Asimov himself, the amount of the payment offered by the publisher. It was his first novel to ever land on The New York Times best-seller list, after 262 books and 44 years of writing.

<i>Foundation</i> (book series) Science-fiction books by Isaac Asimov

The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories and novellas in 1942–50, and subsequently in three books in 1951–53, for nearly thirty years the series was widely known as The Foundation Trilogy: Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953). It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov later added new volumes, with two sequels, Foundation's Edge (1982) and Foundation and Earth (1986), and two prequels, Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hari Seldon</span> Fictional character from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

Hari Seldon is a fictional character in the Foundation series of novels by Isaac Asimov. In his capacity as mathematics professor at Streeling University on the planet Trantor, Seldon develops psychohistory, an algorithmic science that allows him to predict the future in probabilistic terms. On the basis of his psychohistory he is able to predict the eventual fall of the Galactic Empire and to develop a means to shorten the millennia of chaos to follow.

Encyclopedia Galactica is the name of a number of fictional or hypothetical encyclopedias containing all the knowledge accumulated by a galaxy-spanning civilization, most notably in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. The concept of a "future encyclopedia" has become "something iconic among many lovers of the science fiction", and has been reused by numerous other writers.

<i>Second Foundation</i> 1953 novel by Isaac Asimov

Second Foundation is the third novel published of the Foundation Series by American writer Isaac Asimov, and the fifth in the in-universe chronology. It was first published in 1953 by Gnome Press.

<i>Foundation and Empire</i> 1952 novel by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Empire is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov originally published by Gnome Press in 1952. It is the second book in the Foundation series, and the fourth in the in-universe chronology. It takes place in two parts, originally published as separate novellas. The second part, "The Mule," won a Retro Hugo Award in 1996.

<i>Forward the Foundation</i> Novel by Isaac Asimov

Forward the Foundation is a novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published posthumously in 1993. It is the second of two prequels to the Foundation Series. It is written in a format similar to that of the original book, Foundation, composed of chapters with long intervals in between, although Forward takes place within only one lifetime. Both books were first published as independent short stories in science fiction magazines.

<i>Foundations Triumph</i> 1999 novel by David Brin

Foundation's Triumph (1999) is a science fiction novel by American writer David Brin, set in Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe. It is the third book of the Second Foundation trilogy, which was written after Asimov's death by three authors, authorized by the Asimov estate. Brin synthesizes dozens of Foundation-Empire-Robots novels and short stories by Isaac Asimov, Roger MacBride Allen, and authorized others into a consistent framework. Foundation's Triumph includes an appendix chronology compiled by Attila Torkos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bel Riose</span> Fictional character from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

Bel Riose is a fictional character in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. In the 1945 novella "Dead Hand", he is the last great general of the declining Galactic Empire. He targets the Foundation both as a perceived threat to the Empire and to further his own ambitions, but is outmaneuvered by its agents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvor Hardin</span> Fictional character from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

Salvor Hardin is a fictional character in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. Introduced in the 1942 short story "Foundation", he is the first mayor of Terminus, the home planet of the Foundation. He defuses a potential political crisis with four nearby barbarian planets, while also securing their dependence on the Foundation. Hardin takes advantage of this power in "Bridle and Saddle" (1942) when one of the planets, Anacreon, declares war on the Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hober Mallow</span> Fictional character from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

Hober Mallow is a fictional character in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. In the 1944 novella "The Big and the Little", he is a Master Trader for the Foundation who pioneers the use of commerce to increase the Foundation's power and influence across the galaxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaal Dornick</span> Fictional character from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

Gaal Dornick is a fictional character in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. Introduced in Foundation (1951), he is a gifted young mathematician from a remote world who becomes embroiled in the conflict surrounding famed mathematician and psychologist Hari Seldon and his predictive science of psychohistory.

The Foundation Trilogy is an eight hour-long episode radio series that was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 6 May and 24 June 1973. It is an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy. Patrick Tull presented the first four episodes while Mike Stott presented the last four. David Cain directed the series. The series was repeated in 1977 and 2002.

The Foundation universe is the future history of humanity's colonization of the galaxy, spanning nearly 25,000 years, created through the gradual fusion of the Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation book series written by American author Isaac Asimov.

"Rule 18" is a 1938 science fiction novelette by American writer Clifford D. Simak, credited as launching Simak's career and helping inspire the writing style of Isaac Asimov. It won a Retrospective Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2014.

Foundation is an American science fiction television series created by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman for Apple TV+, loosely based on the Foundation series of stories by Isaac Asimov. It features an ensemble cast led by Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell and Leah Harvey. The series premiered on September 24, 2021. In October 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on July 14, 2023. In December 2023, the series was renewed for a third season although it had already begun filming as early as May 2023.

The Mule (<i>Foundation</i>) Fictional character from the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

The Mule is a fictional character in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. First appearing in the 1945 novella "The Mule", he is a mutant and telepath who seizes control of the galaxy as a dictator after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Though he conquers the Foundation, his obsession with destroying the Second Foundation proves to be his undoing in the 1948 novella "Now You See It...".

References

    1. 1 2 3 Gunn, James (1982). Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction (2005 Revised ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-8108-5420-1.
    2. ↑ Asimov, Isaac (1972). The early Asimov; or, Eleven years of trying. Garden City NY: Doubleday. pp. 383–387.
    3. ↑ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf," Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1952, p. 86.
    4. ↑ "Recommended Reading," F&SF , April 1952, p. 95
    5. ↑ "The Reference Library", Astounding Science Fiction , February 1952, p. 156
    6. ↑ Hugo Awards Staff (September 1–5, 1966). 1966 Hugo Awards. Tricon [1966]. Cleveland, OH: World Science Fiction Society/The Hugo Awards. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
    7. ↑ Wimmer, Josh; Wilkins, Alasdair (May 9, 2011). "Isaac Asimov's Foundation: The Little Idea That Became Science Fiction's Biggest Series". Gizmodo . Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
    8. ↑ Anders, Charlie Jane (July 10, 2012). "10 Science Fiction Novels You Pretend to Have Read (And Why You Should Actually Read Them)". io9 . Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
    9. 1 2 McCarty, Dave; et al. (August 16, 2018). 1943 Retro-Hugo Awards. Worldcon 76. San Jose, CA: World Science Fiction Society/The Hugo Awards. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
    10. 1 2 1945 Retro-Hugo Awards. CoNZealand. Wellington, New Zealand: World Science Fiction Society/The Hugo Awards. August 16, 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2024.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

    Further reading

    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.