Where Hesperus Falls-Jack Vance short story

Where Hesperus Falls-Jack Vance short story

Where Hesperus Falls is an 8/10 page short story that was published first in October, 1956 in Fantastic Universe magazine.  Henry Revere is a man who lives in a very technologically advanced society where he is told, "you are not your own property. You are a ward of the race." Henry, you see, is over 96,000 years old and is kept living even though, "life long ago lost that freshness and anticipation which makes it enjoyable."  Bored with life, Henry keeps trying to kill himself but is thwarted each time by the intense surveillance and advanced medical skills of those who watch over him as his "servants."  He is not really a prisoner, but he is not allowed to die. Thousands of years ago Henry had been a bio-chemist and offered himself as the subject of an experiment. But this resulted in "an incalculable error had distorted the experiment, with my immortality as the perverse result."  He now finds himself being, "a living fossil, a curio among curious, a public ward, a creature denied the option of life or death."  Henry's only interest other than suicide is writing his great "History of Man."  What Henry does about his dilemma and how he does it are the basis of the story.  I’ve read this three time so far and rated it a 3 "Liked it."

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Narrow Land (1982 DAW)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Narrow Land (1984 Coronet)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled The Dark Side of the Moon (1986)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled When the Five Moons Rise (1992)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled World-Thinker and Other Stories (2017)