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"Lagash" is a well-known Middle East archaeological site (according to the En. Brit., "one of the most important capital cities in ancient Sumer, " Is there is evidence that IA intentionally chose this name rather than that he simply made up a name out of English phonemes?Kdammers (talk) 01:22, 3 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, there is evidence. Asimov addressed this in his autobiography "I. Asimov," in the context of Robert Silverberg's novelization of the story:
Bob changed the name of the planet and of one character in “Nightfall” because I had made deliberate use of Sumerian and Egyptian names to lend strangeness without too much strangeness. Bob thought that a mistake and wanted nothing to be too reminiscent of Earth, and he may have been right.
The stars Trey and Patru are probably the numbers 3 and 4 in Romanian (3 written to match the pronunciation), see Romanian_numbers. Moreover, they are on places 3 and 4 in the list following the stars named by Greek letters. There are parallels to numbers in the others as well, so maybe from another language? 129.247.247.238 (talk) 10:33, 17 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]
The lede refers to the original story as a novelette (links to novella entry), but in the body of the article, the term "short story" is used. When I looked at the word counts (for novella/novellette contests) given in the novella article, it seems (using two online word-counter tools that it falls well below the bottom counts. I think this needs clarification. Kdammers (talk) 14:17, 1 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The story is always considered, in the SF world, a short story. The term "novelette" is a mistake. The article should be moved. Zaslav (talk) 19:24, 26 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
In the short story version, the accumulated knowledge of the current cycle is stored away from the main action at a place called the Hideout, so that the next cycle can begin with that knowledge and go on. Is that different in the novel? The Plot Summary doesn't mention the Hideout. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.159.232.121 (talk) 20:00, July 27, 2019 (UTC)
This is a serious problem with the article. In the short story the action takes place solely within the observatory and ends with the main protagonist losing his mind by the light of the stars. The novel on the other hand is more concerned with the Hideout - a secret refuge for the families of the observatory staff. Whilst the Hideout is mentioned in the short story, it is a very minor item. This article conflates the novel and the short story and fails to deal with either satisfactorily. OrewaTel (talk) 09:27, 22 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
The article is very muddled about the difference between the short story and the novel. It should be rewritten with a clear separation: one part on the story, one on the novel noting changes. Zaslav (talk) 23:39, 4 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Confusing sentence
We have this sentence: "As stated in the introduction, the weather in the book is analogous to the meteorologic experiences of the characters in the book". So (1) what introduction does this reference? The article's lede does not mention weather at all. And (2) what does this sentence even mean?
True the sentence is nonsensical. The book's weather is not analogous to the meteorological experiences of the characters. The weather is the meteorological experience – that is, I believe, the definition of weather. The introduction is the book's introduction. In parts, the book's weather reflects the characters' moods. In other places the characters' moods are greatly affected by the weather. (That is rather like real life.)
about how much Asimov got paid for his Nightfall short story
November 18, 2022:-I am reading Nightfall and Other Stories published 2021 by Del Rey Trade Paperback Edition, copyright 1969 by Isaac Asimov. He wrote a preface to Nightfall, and on page 4, he said the check was $150.00 from the editor John Campbell, who paid Asimov a bonus of 1/4 cent a word. Not $166. The first appearance of the story was September 1941, in Astounding Science Fiction, by Street & Smith Publications, Inc. I only want to correct the "facts" out there in the internet. If someone can verify this, great. Thank you. ~~~~ecila ecila (talk) 20:08, 18 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]