 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.