For a Breath I Tarry
"For a Breath I Tarry" is a 1966 post-apocalyptic novelette by American writer Roger Zelazny, which was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette 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, 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 appear. Finally, Frost and Mordel enter into a Faustian 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[1] and in anthologies.[2]
The title is from a phrase in A. E. Housman's collection A Shropshire Lad.[3]
References
- ^ The Last Defender of Camelot (1980, 1983, 1988, 2002, 2005)
- ^ https://www.wsu.edu/~brians/nuclear/z.htm Archived 2010-11-10 at the Wayback Machine Nuclear Holocausts Bibliography (3rd Item)
- ^ "From far, from eve and morning"
External links
- "For a Breath I Tarry"
- v
- t
- e
- Faust
- Johann Georg Faust
- Deal with the Devil
- Simon Magus
- Theophilus of Adana
- Erdgeist
- Mephistopheles
- Pan Twardowski
- Stingy Jack
- Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587 chapbook)
- Doctor Faustus (1592 play)
- Cenodoxus (1602, play)
- Goethe's Faust (1808 play)
- "Bearskin"
- "Daniel and the Devil"
- Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)
- "The Devil and Tom Walker" (1824)
- St. John's Eve (1830)
- Auriol (1844)
- Chasse-galerie (1892)
- The Sorrows of Satan (1896)
- Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician (1898)
- The Master and Margarita (1929–1940)
- Mephisto (1936)
- "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1937)
- None but Lucifer (1939)
- Doktor Faustus (1947)
- The Devil in Velvet (1951)
- The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant (1954)
- Gimmicks Three (1956)
- The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (1956)
- That Hell-Bound Train (1958)
- For a Breath I Tarry (1966)
- The Damnation Game (1986)
- Eric (1990)
- The Devil's Own Work (1991)
- Jack Faust (1997)
- Johannes Cabal the Necromancer (2009)
- The Last Faust (2019)
- Gretchen (1879)
- Damn Yankees (1955)
- Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955)
- The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon (1965)
- Temptation (1986)
- Il Dottor Faust (2018)
- Faust (1816, Spohr)
- La damnation de Faust (1846, Berlioz)
- Faust (1859, Gounod)
- Mefistofele (1868, Boito)
- Le petit Faust (1869, Hervé)
- Faust and Marguerite (1855, Lutz)
- Faust up to Date (1888, Lutz)
- Doktor Faust (1916–1925, Busoni)
- Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (1938)
- The Rake's Progress (1951, Stravinsky)
- Reuben, Reuben (1955)
- Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1994)
- Faustus, the Last Night (2006)
- Gretchen am Spinnrade (1814, Schubert)
- Faust Overture (1840, Wagner)
- Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges' 2nd movement "Quasi-Faust" (1847, Alkan)
- Scenes from Goethe's Faust (1853, Schumann)
- Part II of Symphony No. 8 (1906–07, Mahler)
- Faust Symphony (1854–1857, Liszt)
- Mephisto Waltzes (Liszt)
- Gothic Symphony (Brian)
- Bagatelle sans tonalité (Liszt)
Albums |
|
---|---|
Songs |
|
- The Laboratory of Mephistopheles (1897)
- Faust and Marguerite (1900)
- The Damnation of Faust (1903)
- Faust and Marguerite (1904)
- The Student of Prague (1913)
- Rapsodia satanica (1915)
- The Student of Prague (1926)
- Faust (1926)
- The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
- Alias Nick Beal (1949)
- The Legend of Faust (1949)
- Beauty and the Devil (1950)
- Marguerite de la nuit (1955)
- Damn Yankees (1958)
- Faust (1960)
- Bedazzled (1967)
- Doctor Faustus (1967)
- El extraño caso del doctor Fausto (1969)
- Mephisto (1981)
- Doctor Faustus (1982)
- Oh, God! You Devil (1984)
- Crossroads (1986)
- Faust (1994)
- Bedazzled (2000)
- Faust: Love of the Damned (2000)
- Fausto 5.0 (2001)
- I Was a Teenage Faust (2002)
- Shortcut to Happiness (2007)
- Goat Story (2008)
- Faust (2011)
- The Last Faust (2019)
Episodes |
|
---|---|
Other |
|
- Damn Yankees (1955)
- Randy Newman's Faust (1995)
- Success! (1993)
- Faust (2003)
- Disco Inferno (2004)
- Gods' Man (1929)
- Faust (manga) (1950)
- Doctor Faustus (comics) (1968)
- Faust (comics) (1987)
- Frau Faust (2014)
- Mephistopheles and Margaretta
- Paintings
- Category