"Asimov, Isaac - 1988 Polish Interview With Isaac Asimov" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

08/27/1988

DR ISAAC ASIMOV
TALKS WITH
SLAWEK WOJTOWICZ



Slawek Wojtowicz © 1988



SW: If you ask any SF fan in Poland "who is Isaac Asimov?" he or she will answer
without any hesitation - "one of the greatest SF writers in the World". You
might be surprised to learn that you are so famous in a country where only a
small fraction of your works has been translated into the native language and
the majority of people cannot read English. But an average Polish fan wouldn't
be able to say much about Isaac Asimov as a person. What could you tell us about
your life?
IA: Well, I was born in the Soviet Union in 1920, came to the United States with
my family in 1923 and lived in New York since. I got my Ph.D. at Columbia
University in 1948. I'm married and have two children from my first marriage. I
started reading Science-Fiction when I was nine years old. I sold my first story
when I was eighteen and my first book when I was thirty. Since then I have
published 394 books. I have twenty five other books in press. Some of these are
mysteries, some are children' books, others are on straight science, literary
subjects, humor, mythology - on everything I can think of.
SW: Can you tell us how your day time schedule looks like?
IA: This morning I did my weekly science column for the "Los Angeles Times"
Syndicate. I'm working on a novel - it is little over half finished in first
draft. Pretty soon it will be time to write my monthly essay for "Fantasy and
Science Fiction". I'm writing a big "History of Science" and I've got up to
1945, so it is only little over forty years left, but they were very hard forty
years... So I've got lots of work.
SW: Do you have any time left for other things besides writing?
IA: All I do is write. I do practically nothing else, except eat, sleep and talk
to my wife.
SW: Is it a secret what are you working on now?
IA: The novel is called "Nemesis". It is not a part of any other series I'm
doing - it is not as "Foundation" nor robot novels. It's something completely
different.
SW: What are your plans for the future? What topics are you going to explore?
IA: I don't have any specific plans. I just keep turning out novels. Often
publishers ask me to do something and that's how I know what I'll do next.
SW: Have you ever written any screenplays for SF movies?
IA: No, I'm no talent for that and I don't want to get mixed up with Hollywood.
If they are going to do something of mine, they will have to find someone else
to write the screenplays.