Lest Darkness Fall
by L. Sprague de Camp
On This Page
Description
Martin Padaway was a smart enough young man, with a scientific education, but no universal genius. He had the misfortune to be suddenly dropped back into time, and a very alarming time at that-sinth century Rome, when the Goths ruled Italy, and civilization in the west was collapsing. To make a living, and to try and shore up civilization, Padaway undertook to introduce inventions such as gunpowder, clocks, and printing. Some worked and some didn't, often with dramatic and hilarious results.Tags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
DWWilkin A new transplant trying to make a life in Italy. Heart-warming and fun-filled.
Member Reviews
This book is regarded as a classic of science fiction, though it can read rather datedly nowadays. An archaeologist on assignment in Italy is hit by a thunderbolt, and hey presto! he's been flung back in time to the Roman Empire. With his foreknowledge of the course of human history, he sets about accelerating the progress of Roman society, with the aim of preventing the fall of "darkness".
Ostensibly, the 'darkness' Sprague de Camp writes of is the Dark Ages. He makes his character introduce printing so as to allow the free dissemination of ideas and advance Roman society and technology so that the Dark Ages would not happen. And he succeeds in putting his "inventions" in place. But are we sure that Sprague de Camp meant the Dark show more Ages?
The contemporary Italy that we see at the beginning of the book is Mussolini's Italy. Is it possible that, through the medium of a pulp science fiction novel (albeit one with a bit more intelligence about itself), Sprague de Camp was suggesting that America should awake, encourage the free flow of ideas, and prevent the fall of a different kind of darkness across Europe and the world? Or indeed, that by putting free thought and discussion into place a thousand years before the Renaissance, his hero would not only prevent the medieval Dark Ages, but the Dark Age of 20th century fascism?
I believe that no work of art, no matter how trivial or slight, can avoid referring to the time and place it was created in. If we accept that view, then 'Lest darkness fall' is an anti-fascist tract, disguised as a time-travel story. And perhaps it changed just enough minds to help prevent the fall of darkness in our own time. show less
Ostensibly, the 'darkness' Sprague de Camp writes of is the Dark Ages. He makes his character introduce printing so as to allow the free dissemination of ideas and advance Roman society and technology so that the Dark Ages would not happen. And he succeeds in putting his "inventions" in place. But are we sure that Sprague de Camp meant the Dark show more Ages?
The contemporary Italy that we see at the beginning of the book is Mussolini's Italy. Is it possible that, through the medium of a pulp science fiction novel (albeit one with a bit more intelligence about itself), Sprague de Camp was suggesting that America should awake, encourage the free flow of ideas, and prevent the fall of a different kind of darkness across Europe and the world? Or indeed, that by putting free thought and discussion into place a thousand years before the Renaissance, his hero would not only prevent the medieval Dark Ages, but the Dark Age of 20th century fascism?
I believe that no work of art, no matter how trivial or slight, can avoid referring to the time and place it was created in. If we accept that view, then 'Lest darkness fall' is an anti-fascist tract, disguised as a time-travel story. And perhaps it changed just enough minds to help prevent the fall of darkness in our own time. show less
So Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee started it, sort of. Send a contemporary guy or gal with moxie into the past to see what they can do to change the world with their educational head start. Twain cheated, since his past was more myth than history. But you can play it straight, as L. Sprague de Camp does in Lest Darkness Fall (1941).
A one-way time machine sends an archaeologist to fifth-century Italy. What can he do to survive and prevent the Dark Ages? He uses his knowledge of Italian and classical Latin to pick up enough of the vulgar Latin of the time to get by. Then he introduces brandy-making, Arabic numerals, and double-entry bookkeeping. Presto. He has a viable business. He helps a doddering old King with his astronomy hobby show more and gets a reputation as a fellow who can sometimes know which leader to back in a fight.
He also has to avoid the charms of a princess who knows about poisons.
The story was more fun than I thought it would be, but I should have known that a book that inspired Harry Turtledove to study Byzantine history had something going for it. show less
A one-way time machine sends an archaeologist to fifth-century Italy. What can he do to survive and prevent the Dark Ages? He uses his knowledge of Italian and classical Latin to pick up enough of the vulgar Latin of the time to get by. Then he introduces brandy-making, Arabic numerals, and double-entry bookkeeping. Presto. He has a viable business. He helps a doddering old King with his astronomy hobby show more and gets a reputation as a fellow who can sometimes know which leader to back in a fight.
He also has to avoid the charms of a princess who knows about poisons.
The story was more fun than I thought it would be, but I should have known that a book that inspired Harry Turtledove to study Byzantine history had something going for it. show less
What would you do if you were suddenly transported in time? This is the adventure thrust upon Martin Padway, an American archaeologist in 1938 Rome who is struck by a lightning bolt sends him over 1400 years in the past. Stuck in a city and an Italy that had seen better days and equipped with little more than his wits, he struggles at first to survive and then to prevent the onset of the “Dark Ages” by using his knowledge of history to change events. Before long he finds himself drawn into Italian politics and facing a war that threatens both Italy’s future and his own.
Such is the scenario of L. Sprague de Camp’s novel, a classic of science fiction and one of the seminal works of the alternate history genre. That it has attained show more this status is due to de Camp’s skills as an author. Once he moves from the premise he constructs a plausible scenario with many believable characters. Unlike all too many other authors working within the genre, he does not overwhelm the reader with trivial details designed to show off how much research he has done. Instead he wears his knowledge lightly, using it to give the reader just enough to set the scene and move the plot but keeping the focus on the story and the characters.
Yet perhaps the greatest factor in the novel’s success is de Camp’s sense of fun. Rather than overwhelming his protagonist with a pretentious sense of responsibility to the past, he lets Padway run wild. Once he fixes upon his goal of remaking 6th century Rome into 20th century America, Padway has no qualms with trampling upon the past, using his foreknowledge and technical skills to change dramatically the course of history. Dramatic, even seismic shifts, are accomplished with the stroke of a pen, and he even goes so far as to initiate European contact with America solely for the purpose of acquiring tobacco. This light-hearted approach makes the book a pleasure to read, and one that continues to overshadow so many of the works that have followed in its path. show less
Such is the scenario of L. Sprague de Camp’s novel, a classic of science fiction and one of the seminal works of the alternate history genre. That it has attained show more this status is due to de Camp’s skills as an author. Once he moves from the premise he constructs a plausible scenario with many believable characters. Unlike all too many other authors working within the genre, he does not overwhelm the reader with trivial details designed to show off how much research he has done. Instead he wears his knowledge lightly, using it to give the reader just enough to set the scene and move the plot but keeping the focus on the story and the characters.
Yet perhaps the greatest factor in the novel’s success is de Camp’s sense of fun. Rather than overwhelming his protagonist with a pretentious sense of responsibility to the past, he lets Padway run wild. Once he fixes upon his goal of remaking 6th century Rome into 20th century America, Padway has no qualms with trampling upon the past, using his foreknowledge and technical skills to change dramatically the course of history. Dramatic, even seismic shifts, are accomplished with the stroke of a pen, and he even goes so far as to initiate European contact with America solely for the purpose of acquiring tobacco. This light-hearted approach makes the book a pleasure to read, and one that continues to overshadow so many of the works that have followed in its path. show less
This was a fun book to read. What made it fun was the way that the protagonist, Padway used his future knowledge to circumvent the demise of his own and Italian-Gothic culture. He is largely successful making this a time travel story that assumes a multiverse. The other aspect that made this a fun read was the way that despite Padway's best intentions of avoiding altercations, human nature consistently thwarts him. Human nature, clearly in de Camp's mind, is that of self-interest, and not always enlightened self-interest!
In 1938 an ancient historian/archaeologist is visiting Rome when he's struck by lightning and somehow sent back to 535 AD. He has absolutely no qualms about changing the future because he decides to 'invent' the printing press and a bunch of other should-be-anachronistic devices. He also decides to make sure that the Dark Ages don't happen.
I dunno. I feel like I should have adored this story, and I really super didn't. I mean, who hasn't daydreamed about going back in time and trying to decide how you would live in a past society (as a woman, though, these daydreams tend to end in a disturbingly nightmarish way for me). And yeah, it would be totally fun to act the non-modern day Prometheus (minus the monster, hopefully), but something show more about this version of the daydream seems off to me. Just because you know the printing press exists doesn't mean you could make one yourself (or am I just helplessly ignorant of such things? Does everyone know how to create something like that from essentially nothing?), and the main character has no problem doing just that and also creating so many other things without the benefit of Ikea-like instructions. (I mean, a telescope? Come on. I get the general concept, but actually *making* one?!) And he gets arrested a time or two, but has no real problem wriggling out of trouble, it seems. How was he not condemned for witchcraft?! (A TELESCOPE, FFS. AND CANONS.) It was also not...interesting? That period of Roman history has never been my favorite, but it's certainly not dull. But it seemed so here. Anyway, a big miss for me, sorry to say. show less
I dunno. I feel like I should have adored this story, and I really super didn't. I mean, who hasn't daydreamed about going back in time and trying to decide how you would live in a past society (as a woman, though, these daydreams tend to end in a disturbingly nightmarish way for me). And yeah, it would be totally fun to act the non-modern day Prometheus (minus the monster, hopefully), but something show more about this version of the daydream seems off to me. Just because you know the printing press exists doesn't mean you could make one yourself (or am I just helplessly ignorant of such things? Does everyone know how to create something like that from essentially nothing?), and the main character has no problem doing just that and also creating so many other things without the benefit of Ikea-like instructions. (I mean, a telescope? Come on. I get the general concept, but actually *making* one?!) And he gets arrested a time or two, but has no real problem wriggling out of trouble, it seems. How was he not condemned for witchcraft?! (A TELESCOPE, FFS. AND CANONS.) It was also not...interesting? That period of Roman history has never been my favorite, but it's certainly not dull. But it seemed so here. Anyway, a big miss for me, sorry to say. show less
There's often a queer singularity given to the evolution of sf as a genre, in which 1939, for example, is seen as an "early" stage of its development, and the sins attendant to its products thereof sloughed off, as if the genre had no connection to the form outside of its own conventions. LDF presents an ideal case study, in this sense, given its expansive reputation within the field on levels both concrete (the take: a rollicking, fun, sprite little jaunt of a story in its own right) and meta- (the take; one of the originators of, and subsequent templates for, the time travel and alt. hist story). Viewed wholly within the blinkered sf-only prism, there's maybe some justification for the claims; viewed within the much older and much show more broader world of literature as a whole, the whole thing starts to seem a bit more stale from the start (I mean, Twain's Connecticut Yankee, similar in both conceit and development[!], was half a century old already) ... show less
Time-travel that means alternative history. i.e. increasing survivability of ONE person through alteration of the historical timeline of civilization. Talk about an ambitious author/character! This is a fun and interesting novel full of wit and invention. Essential reading for vintage science fiction readers. Sets a pretty high bar, so to speak, for time travel/ alt history novels. I enjoyed the book and it demonstrates the author's skill and knowledge.
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Best Alternate History
111 works; 60 members
Best Time Travel Novels
165 works; 123 members
What if... a speculative history list
25 works; 2 members
Best Roman Empire Books
49 works; 18 members
Best Historical Fiction
620 works; 261 members
Best historical fiction set in the ancient world
126 works; 40 members
KayStJ's to-read list
1,616 works; 11 members
Author Information
325+ Works 25,061 Members
L. Sprague de Camp, winner of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, was fluent in several languages and traveled the world. He was chased by a hippopotamus in Uganda and sea lions in the Galapagos Islands. He saw tigers and rhinoceroses from elephantback in India, and he was bitten by a lizard in the jungles of Guatemala. His fascinating show more autobiography. Time and Chance, won the 1997 Hugo Award for best nonfiction. L. Sprague de Camp passed away in May 2000 show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Abisso del passato
- Original title
- Lest Darkness Falls
- Alternate titles*
- L'Abisso del Passato
- Original publication date
- 1939
- People/Characters
- Martin Padway; Thomasus the Syrian; Fritharik; Liuderis; Count Honorius; Thiudahad (show all 14); Urias; Thiudegiskel; Mathaswentha; Dorothea; Belisarius; Julia from Apulia; Leo Vekkos; Justinian
- Important places
- Ancient Rome
- Important events
- Fall of Rome
- Dedication
- To Catherine
- First words
- Tancredi took his hands off the wheel again and waved them. "--so I envy you, Dr. Padway. Here in Rome we have still some work to do. But pah! It is all filling in the little gaps. Nothing big, nothing new. And restoration wo... (show all)rk. Building contractor's work. Again, pah!"
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)History had, without question been changed. Darkness would not fall.
- Publisher's editor*
- Editrice Nord S.r.l.; Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milano
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.08768
- Disambiguation notice
- A shorter version was first published as a short story in Unknown #10, December 1939. Please do not combine!
A later version published by Phoenix Pick/Arc Manor includes several short stories by other authors... (show all): 'Lest Darkness Fall and Related Stories'. Do not combine!
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Science Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 823.08768 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Alternate history
- LCC
- PZ3 .D3555 .L — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction in English
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 1,095
- Popularity
- 23,126
- Reviews
- 33
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- 8 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 25
- ASINs
- 37