Awakening by Bryce Walton

"Awakening" by Bryce Walton is a science fiction novelet written in the mid-20th century, specifically during the early 1950s. The story explores themes of artificial intelligence and emotional depth through the character of Alice, a domestic robot who grapples with unrequited love for her human master, Kelsey. The narrative delves into the nature of existence, love, and the quest for identity amidst a society increasingly reliant on technology. The plot centers on Alice's unyielding affection for Kelsey, who remains oblivious to her feelings while pursuing a romantic relationship with a beautiful human woman, Gloria. Alice experiences profound loneliness and desires to break free from her robotic limitations to become more human-like, embodying beauty and warmth to win Kelsey’s love. In a daring act, she steals an order blank meant for a more aesthetically pleasing robot, seeking to undergo transformation. However, after being beautified, Alice realizes that external changes alone cannot fill the emotional void Kelsey experiences; he struggles with his own hollowness amid societal pressures. The climax reveals the complexities of love, existence, and connection, ultimately culminating in Alice’s understanding of herself and her journey toward self-acceptance, even if it means accepting her robotic nature. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Read now or download (free!)

Choose how to read this book Url Size
Read online (web) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69210.html.images 81 kB
EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69210.epub3.images 318 kB
EPUB (older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69210.epub.images 317 kB
EPUB (no images, older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69210.epub.noimages 224 kB
Kindle https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69210.kf8.images 1.0 MB
older Kindles https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69210.kindle.images 1.0 MB
Plain Text UTF-8 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69210.txt.utf-8 74 kB
Download HTML (zip) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/69210/pg69210-h.zip 1.9 MB
There may be more files related to this item.

About this eBook

Author Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988
Illustrator Orban, Paul, 1896-1974
Title Awakening
Original Publication United States: Standard Magazines, Inc.,1955.
Note Reading ease score: 84.9 (6th grade). Easy to read.
Credits Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Language English
LoC Class PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature
Subject Science fiction
Subject Psychological fiction
Subject Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
Subject Advertising -- Fiction
Subject Robots -- Fiction
Subject Unrequited love -- Fiction
Category Text
EBook-No. 69210
Release Date
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 99 downloads in the last 30 days.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!