Dying of the Light
Encyclopedia
Dying of the Light is a 1977
science fiction
novel
by George R. R. Martin
, his first. Martin's original title for the novel was "After the Festival" but was later changed before its first hardcover
publication.; it was nominated for both the Hugo Award
for Best Novel
in 1978, and the British Fantasy Award
in 1979.
whose erratic course is taking it irreversibly far from its neighboring stars into a region of cold and dark where no life will survive. Worlorn's 14 cities, built during the interval when it passed close enough to a red giant star to permit a brief window for life to thrive, are dying too. Built to celebrate the diverse cultures of 14 planetary systems, they have largely been abandoned. Their systems and maintenance are failing, and soon they will be cold, dead shells.
The cast of characters is also flirting with death. Dirk t'Larien, the protagonist, finds life empty and of little attraction after his girlfriend Gwen Delvano drops him. Most poignant of all, the Kavalar race, into which she has "married" (the relationship is complex) is itself dying in a cultural manner of speaking. Their home planet has survived numerous attacks in a planetary war, and in response they have evolved social institutions and human relationship patterns to cope with the depredation of the war. Yet now that the war is long past, they find themselves trapped between those who would recognise that the old ways need to be reviewed for the current day and those who believe that any dilution of the old ways spells the end of Kavalar culture.
The battles, then, of all these varying actors are played out beneath the dying light falling on Worlorn. At the end, many of the characters have indeed died (Martin leaves some endings deliberately ambiguous), but having faced their fears of death and of life.
' poem about death, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
which contains the lines :
The book mentions a race of beings called the githyanki
, and the name was taken from it for use with a much different race in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
game. See the Githyanki
article for more details on both versions.
The book was also serialized under the title After the Festival in Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction in April through July, 1977. The title refers to the festival of 14 worlds that precedes the story.
1977 in literature
The year 1977 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Adams begins writing for BBC radio.*V. S. Naipaul declines the offer of a CBE....
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...
, his first. Martin's original title for the novel was "After the Festival" but was later changed before its first hardcover
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
publication.; it was nominated for both the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
in 1978, and the British Fantasy Award
British Fantasy Award
The British Fantasy Awards are administered annually by the British Fantasy Society and were first awarded in 1971. The membership of the BFS vote to determine recommendations, short-lists and winners of the awards...
in 1979.
Plot summary
The book takes place on the planet of Worlorn, which is itself dying; it is a rogue planetRogue Planet
- Literature :* "Rogue Planet" , a Dan Dare story that ran in the original Eagle comic from Volume 6, Issue 48 to Volume 8, Issue 7* Rogue Planet , a 2000 novel set in the Star Wars galaxy- Other :...
whose erratic course is taking it irreversibly far from its neighboring stars into a region of cold and dark where no life will survive. Worlorn's 14 cities, built during the interval when it passed close enough to a red giant star to permit a brief window for life to thrive, are dying too. Built to celebrate the diverse cultures of 14 planetary systems, they have largely been abandoned. Their systems and maintenance are failing, and soon they will be cold, dead shells.
The cast of characters is also flirting with death. Dirk t'Larien, the protagonist, finds life empty and of little attraction after his girlfriend Gwen Delvano drops him. Most poignant of all, the Kavalar race, into which she has "married" (the relationship is complex) is itself dying in a cultural manner of speaking. Their home planet has survived numerous attacks in a planetary war, and in response they have evolved social institutions and human relationship patterns to cope with the depredation of the war. Yet now that the war is long past, they find themselves trapped between those who would recognise that the old ways need to be reviewed for the current day and those who believe that any dilution of the old ways spells the end of Kavalar culture.
The battles, then, of all these varying actors are played out beneath the dying light falling on Worlorn. At the end, many of the characters have indeed died (Martin leaves some endings deliberately ambiguous), but having faced their fears of death and of life.
Title
The title is apparently drawn from Dylan ThomasDylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
' poem about death, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night
Do not go gentle into that good night, a villanelle, is considered to be among the finest works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas . Originally published in the journal Botteghe Oscure in 1951, it also appeared as part of the collection "In Country Sleep." Written for his dying father, it is one of...
which contains the lines :
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The book mentions a race of beings called the githyanki
Githyanki
The githyanki are a fictional humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. They are cousins to the githzerai. In the Dark Sun setting, they are simply called gith...
, and the name was taken from it for use with a much different race in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
game. See the Githyanki
Githyanki
The githyanki are a fictional humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. They are cousins to the githzerai. In the Dark Sun setting, they are simply called gith...
article for more details on both versions.
The book was also serialized under the title After the Festival in Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction in April through July, 1977. The title refers to the festival of 14 worlds that precedes the story.
Translations
- RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: "Умирающий свет" ("Dying Light"); Rusych: 1995, AST: 2001. - GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: "Die Flamme erlischt" ("The Flame is going out"); Droemer Knaur: 1978 - FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: "L'Agonie de la Lumière" ("The Agony of the Light"); J'ai Lu - PolishPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
: "Światło się mroczy" ("The Light is getting darker"); Zysk i S-ka: 2004 - SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: "Muerte de la luz" ("Dying of the Light"); EDHASA: 1979 - DutchDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: "Het tanende licht", rereleased as "Het stervende licht"
External links
- Dying of the Light at Worlds Without End
- Dying of the Light