Without knowing why, our narrator describes his life as a man who stays the same for millennia, even as others, one-by-one, are disinterred, slowly grow younger and younger.

The story is soft-spoken but moving, and for me, it was a good complement to T.H. White’s backward-time-traveler, Merlyn.
It is the same in all we do. Our houses grow new and we dismantle them and stow the materials inconspicuously away, in mine and quarry, forest and field. Our clothes grow new and we put them off. And we grow new and forget and blindly seek a mother.

Tags

(14)

Variants

(2)
  1. alternative byline.
    “The Man Who Never Grew Young,” as by Fritz Leiber, Jr., in Night’s Black Agents as by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Arkham House, 1947).
  2. canonical byline.
    “The Man Who Never Grew Young” by Fritz Leiber, in Avon Fantasy Reader, (No. 9, 1949).
  3. “L’homme qui ne rajeunissait jamais” [The man who never got younger] by Fritz Leiber, in Les lubies lunatiques de Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber (Casterman, August 1980).
  4. “Der Mann, der niemals jung wurde” [The man who never grew young] by Fritz Leiber, in Die besten Stories von Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber (Moewig, October 1980).
  5. “L’uomo che non divenne mai giovane” [The man who never became young] by Fritz Leiber, in Neri araldi della notte by Fritz Leiber (Casa Editrice La Tribuna, April 1979).
  6. “Čovek koji nikada nije postao mlad” [The man who never became young] by Fritz Leiber, in Najbolje svetske SF priče 1984, edited by Zoran Živković (Prosveta, 1984).

Translations

(4)
  1. alternative byline.
    “The Man Who Never Grew Young,” as by Fritz Leiber, Jr., in Night’s Black Agents as by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Arkham House, 1947).
  2. canonical byline.
    “The Man Who Never Grew Young” by Fritz Leiber, in Avon Fantasy Reader, (No. 9, 1949).
  3. French.
    “L’homme qui ne rajeunissait jamais” [The man who never got younger] by Fritz Leiber, in Les lubies lunatiques de Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber (Casterman, August 1980).
  4. German.
    “Der Mann, der niemals jung wurde” [The man who never grew young] by Fritz Leiber, in Die besten Stories von Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber (Moewig, October 1980).
  5. Italian.
    “L’uomo che non divenne mai giovane” [The man who never became young] by Fritz Leiber, in Neri araldi della notte by Fritz Leiber (Casa Editrice La Tribuna, April 1979).
  6. Serbian.
    “Čovek koji nikada nije postao mlad” [The man who never became young] by Fritz Leiber, in Najbolje svetske SF priče 1984, edited by Zoran Živković (Prosveta, 1984).