Obituary

"Obituary" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the August 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and reprinted in Asimov's 1968 collection Asimov's Mysteries. The story originated when Asimov read the obituary of his friend Cyril Kornbluth in The New York Times, and found himself feeling envy at the size and prominence of Kornbluth's obituary and frustration at the knowledge that he would never know whether his own obituary would be equally prominent. Nine months after Kornbluth's death, Asimov decided to exorcise his feelings by writing this story. Discussing "Obituary" in his autobiography, Asimov notes that it is the only story he wrote with a female narrator. Plot summary The story is narrated by the unnamed wife of an independently wealthy theoretical physicist named Lancelot Stebbins. Stebbins is a bitter man who feels frustration at his lack of fame in his chosen field, and after twenty-five years of marriage, his wife is increasingly unhappy with the state of affairs. At one point when she had remarked that he could at least expect some fame when his obituary appeared, Stebbins responded by screaming that he would never get to read it, and then spitting at her.