The Naked Sun
Dust-jacket of the first edition
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| Author | Isaac Asimov |
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| Cover artist | Ruth Ray |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Robot series |
| Genre | Science fiction, Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
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Publication date
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January 1957 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 187 pp |
| Preceded by | The Caves of Steel |
| Followed by | The Robots of Dawn, "Mirror Image"' |
The Naked Sun is an English-language science fiction novel, the second in Isaac Asimov's Robot series. Like its famous predecessor, The Caves of Steel, this is a whodunit story. The book was first published in 1957 after being serialized in Astounding Science Fiction between October and December 1956.
The story arises from the murder of Rikaine Delmarre, a prominent "fetologist" (fetal scientist, responsible for the operation of the planetary birthing center reminiscent of those described in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World) of Solaria, a planet politically hostile to Earth, whose death Elijah Baley is called to investigate, at the request of the Solarian government. He is again partnered with the humanoid robot R. Daneel Olivaw, and asked by Earth's government to assess the Solarian society for weaknesses.
The book focuses on the unusual traditions and culture of Solarian society. The planet has a rigidly controlled population of 20,000, and robots outnumber humans ten thousand to one. People are taught from birth to avoid personal contact, and live on huge estates, either alone or with their spouse only. Face-to-face interaction, and especially impregnating a woman, when replacement of a decedent is necessary, was seen as unavoidable but dirty. In contrast, when "viewing" each other (as opposed to in-person "seeing"), they are free of modesty, and have no problem if an interlocutor sees the other's naked body. For communication they use holography, then the subject of experiments by physicists. (Asimov was a physicist.) A two-way teleconference allowed the participants to hear and see each other, but in 3D, almost unheard of among the public at the time, for whom color television was a novelty.
Baley insists on face to face conversations, traveling in a closed vehicle because of his own agoraphobia, from his life in the enclosed cities of Earth.
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Wikipedia