Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
The introduction first explains Clarke’s importance as a science fiction writer, and justifies a new book about Clarke by noting that existing studies do not examine his final works or draw upon ...
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The introduction first explains Clarke’s importance as a science fiction writer, and justifies a new book about Clarke by noting that existing studies do not examine his final works or draw upon recently available resources. Yet it then argues that this book is primarily needed to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive and accurate overview of his career. Clarke has been misrepresented by critics who often impose upon him literary goals and motifs that were foreign to him, and commentators have failed to appreciate his distinctive views regarding inventions, space travel, humanity’s future evolution, aliens, the oceans, and religion. Clarke’s unique characters, who typically live in solitude and function principally as observers, have also not received the attention they deserve.Less
The introduction first explains Clarke’s importance as a science fiction writer, and justifies a new book about Clarke by noting that existing studies do not examine his final works or draw upon recently available resources. Yet it then argues that this book is primarily needed to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive and accurate overview of his career. Clarke has been misrepresented by critics who often impose upon him literary goals and motifs that were foreign to him, and commentators have failed to appreciate his distinctive views regarding inventions, space travel, humanity’s future evolution, aliens, the oceans, and religion. Clarke’s unique characters, who typically live in solitude and function principally as observers, have also not received the attention they deserve.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
Despite extensive critical attention, Arthur C. Clarke’s distinctive science fiction has never been fully or properly understood. This study examines some of his lighthearted shorter works for the ...
More
Despite extensive critical attention, Arthur C. Clarke’s distinctive science fiction has never been fully or properly understood. This study examines some of his lighthearted shorter works for the first time and explores how Clarke’s views regularly diverge from those of other science fiction writers. Clarke thought new inventions would likely bring more problems than benefits and suspected that human space travel would never extend beyond the solar system. He accepted that humanity would probably become extinct in the future or be transformed by evolution into unimaginable new forms. He anticipated that aliens would be genuinely alien in both their physiology and psychology. He perceived a deep bond between humanity and the oceans, perhaps stronger than any developing bond between humanity and space. Despite his lifelong atheism, he frequently pondered why humans developed religions, how they might abandon them, and why religions might endure in defiance of expectations. Finally, Clarke’s characters, often criticized as bland, actually are merely reticent, and the isolated lifestyles they adopt--remaining distant or alienated from their families and relying upon connections to broader communities and long-distance communication to ameliorate their solitude--not only reflect Clarke’s own personality, as a closeted homosexual and victim of a disability, but they also constitute his most important prediction, since increasing numbers of twenty-first-century citizens are now living in this manner.Less
Despite extensive critical attention, Arthur C. Clarke’s distinctive science fiction has never been fully or properly understood. This study examines some of his lighthearted shorter works for the first time and explores how Clarke’s views regularly diverge from those of other science fiction writers. Clarke thought new inventions would likely bring more problems than benefits and suspected that human space travel would never extend beyond the solar system. He accepted that humanity would probably become extinct in the future or be transformed by evolution into unimaginable new forms. He anticipated that aliens would be genuinely alien in both their physiology and psychology. He perceived a deep bond between humanity and the oceans, perhaps stronger than any developing bond between humanity and space. Despite his lifelong atheism, he frequently pondered why humans developed religions, how they might abandon them, and why religions might endure in defiance of expectations. Finally, Clarke’s characters, often criticized as bland, actually are merely reticent, and the isolated lifestyles they adopt--remaining distant or alienated from their families and relying upon connections to broader communities and long-distance communication to ameliorate their solitude--not only reflect Clarke’s own personality, as a closeted homosexual and victim of a disability, but they also constitute his most important prediction, since increasing numbers of twenty-first-century citizens are now living in this manner.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter argues that typical Clarke protagonists are not bland, but merely solitary and reticent men who primarily function as observers of events, not participants, as seen in Prelude to Space ...
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This chapter argues that typical Clarke protagonists are not bland, but merely solitary and reticent men who primarily function as observers of events, not participants, as seen in Prelude to Space (1951) and elsewhere. After early stories about completely isolated individuals, Clarke’s science fiction increasingly explores ways for these men to ameliorate their loneliness, such as important tasks, close male friendships, connections to larger communities, and families that are far away but remain in touch. Perhaps perceiving that Stanley Kubrick reshaped the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to criticize his characters as unemotional and unfulfilled, Clarke produced stories in the 1970s emphasizing that his characters, in 2001 and other works, are actually emotionally complex and perfectly content with their solitude.Less
This chapter argues that typical Clarke protagonists are not bland, but merely solitary and reticent men who primarily function as observers of events, not participants, as seen in Prelude to Space (1951) and elsewhere. After early stories about completely isolated individuals, Clarke’s science fiction increasingly explores ways for these men to ameliorate their loneliness, such as important tasks, close male friendships, connections to larger communities, and families that are far away but remain in touch. Perhaps perceiving that Stanley Kubrick reshaped the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to criticize his characters as unemotional and unfulfilled, Clarke produced stories in the 1970s emphasizing that his characters, in 2001 and other works, are actually emotionally complex and perfectly content with their solitude.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
The conclusion first notes evidence of continuing interest in Clarke’s science fiction and speculates that future readers may especially appreciate his work for two reasons. First, as space travel ...
More
The conclusion first notes evidence of continuing interest in Clarke’s science fiction and speculates that future readers may especially appreciate his work for two reasons. First, as space travel becomes more commonplace, and more people are living in outer space, his plausible stories about space life may be of special interest to them. Second, in contrast to characters in other twentieth-century novels, who are primarily concerned with establishing and maintaining relationships, future readers, largely living in solitude, may better identify with Clarke’s isolated protagonists. Yet Clarke’s characters also seem unlike contemporary people in their calm focus on doing their jobs instead of obsessing about their personal problems or regarding themselves as victims. Yet this might also strike future readers as refreshing.Less
The conclusion first notes evidence of continuing interest in Clarke’s science fiction and speculates that future readers may especially appreciate his work for two reasons. First, as space travel becomes more commonplace, and more people are living in outer space, his plausible stories about space life may be of special interest to them. Second, in contrast to characters in other twentieth-century novels, who are primarily concerned with establishing and maintaining relationships, future readers, largely living in solitude, may better identify with Clarke’s isolated protagonists. Yet Clarke’s characters also seem unlike contemporary people in their calm focus on doing their jobs instead of obsessing about their personal problems or regarding themselves as victims. Yet this might also strike future readers as refreshing.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter provides an overview of Clarke’s life, primarily drawn from Neil McAleer’s biography and Clarke’s reminiscences. It first notes the emergence in his childhood of the passions that ...
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This chapter provides an overview of Clarke’s life, primarily drawn from Neil McAleer’s biography and Clarke’s reminiscences. It first notes the emergence in his childhood of the passions that defined his career: devotion to space, the oceans, and science fiction; close relationships with males; and an urge to make money. After summarizing his World War II experiences and early career as a science fiction and science writer, the chapter theorizes that the 1952 arrest of British cryptographer Alan Turing for homosexual activity drove the closeted Clarke, fearing similar persecution for homosexuality, to get married and abandon Britain for Sri Lanka, although the allure of skin diving was also a factor. There, he remained active as an author and television personality until his death in 2008.Less
This chapter provides an overview of Clarke’s life, primarily drawn from Neil McAleer’s biography and Clarke’s reminiscences. It first notes the emergence in his childhood of the passions that defined his career: devotion to space, the oceans, and science fiction; close relationships with males; and an urge to make money. After summarizing his World War II experiences and early career as a science fiction and science writer, the chapter theorizes that the 1952 arrest of British cryptographer Alan Turing for homosexual activity drove the closeted Clarke, fearing similar persecution for homosexuality, to get married and abandon Britain for Sri Lanka, although the allure of skin diving was also a factor. There, he remained active as an author and television personality until his death in 2008.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
Unlike other science fiction writers, this chapter explains, Clarke rarely envisions humanity colonizing interstellar space and forging a galactic empire, anticipating limitations on human ...
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Unlike other science fiction writers, this chapter explains, Clarke rarely envisions humanity colonizing interstellar space and forging a galactic empire, anticipating limitations on human development. Though unconcerned about nuclear wars or alien invasions, Clarke regularly predicts humanity’s extinction, due to climate change or competing new species, or long periods of decadence. If humans avoid these fates, evolution may transform them into a new species, unlike present-day humans. Such scenarios unfold in Clarke’s major novels about humanity’s destiny: in Against the Fall of Night (1953), revised as The City and the Stars (1956), residents of an unchanging future city rediscover their ambitions but still face eventual demise; and in Childhood’s End (1953) humans guided by alien Overlords become a group intelligence to join a transcendent Overmind.Less
Unlike other science fiction writers, this chapter explains, Clarke rarely envisions humanity colonizing interstellar space and forging a galactic empire, anticipating limitations on human development. Though unconcerned about nuclear wars or alien invasions, Clarke regularly predicts humanity’s extinction, due to climate change or competing new species, or long periods of decadence. If humans avoid these fates, evolution may transform them into a new species, unlike present-day humans. Such scenarios unfold in Clarke’s major novels about humanity’s destiny: in Against the Fall of Night (1953), revised as The City and the Stars (1956), residents of an unchanging future city rediscover their ambitions but still face eventual demise; and in Childhood’s End (1953) humans guided by alien Overlords become a group intelligence to join a transcendent Overmind.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter describes how Clarke’s science fiction consistently advocates, and vividly depicts, humanity’s future achievements in space. Without providing a consistent “Future History,” his stories ...
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This chapter describes how Clarke’s science fiction consistently advocates, and vividly depicts, humanity’s future achievements in space. Without providing a consistent “Future History,” his stories collectively argue that humans will gradually colonize space stations, the moon, Mars, and other planets and moons, though humans may never advance beyond the solar system. Clarke unusually acknowledges the need for computers in space, and instead of featuring pioneering expeditions, he usually focuses on the everyday lives of space colonists, emphasizing both the perils of space life and its potential benefits, such as greater longevity. Living aliens are rarely encountered, though evidence of ancient aliens may be detected. Clarke’s major novel about human space travel, Imperial Earth (1975), explores life on Titan by chronicling a resident’s visit to Earth.Less
This chapter describes how Clarke’s science fiction consistently advocates, and vividly depicts, humanity’s future achievements in space. Without providing a consistent “Future History,” his stories collectively argue that humans will gradually colonize space stations, the moon, Mars, and other planets and moons, though humans may never advance beyond the solar system. Clarke unusually acknowledges the need for computers in space, and instead of featuring pioneering expeditions, he usually focuses on the everyday lives of space colonists, emphasizing both the perils of space life and its potential benefits, such as greater longevity. Living aliens are rarely encountered, though evidence of ancient aliens may be detected. Clarke’s major novel about human space travel, Imperial Earth (1975), explores life on Titan by chronicling a resident’s visit to Earth.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter argues that Clarke’s fiction falls into two categories: farcical pieces filled with adolescent humor--his juvenilia and later texts described as his “mature juvenilia”; and his ...
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This chapter argues that Clarke’s fiction falls into two categories: farcical pieces filled with adolescent humor--his juvenilia and later texts described as his “mature juvenilia”; and his professional science fiction, which manifests only occasional, and subdued, touches of humor. The young Clarke prefers parodies, puns, wordplay, and slapstick, and he displays a rather cruel sense of humor in jocularly describing various deaths and catastrophes. Yet some early works also show Clarke developing his skill in extrapolation and the development of future worlds as well as his interests in outer space and the oceans. Pieces recalling Clarke’s juvenilia surface through his career, and similar material may someday be discovered in his private journals.Less
This chapter argues that Clarke’s fiction falls into two categories: farcical pieces filled with adolescent humor--his juvenilia and later texts described as his “mature juvenilia”; and his professional science fiction, which manifests only occasional, and subdued, touches of humor. The young Clarke prefers parodies, puns, wordplay, and slapstick, and he displays a rather cruel sense of humor in jocularly describing various deaths and catastrophes. Yet some early works also show Clarke developing his skill in extrapolation and the development of future worlds as well as his interests in outer space and the oceans. Pieces recalling Clarke’s juvenilia surface through his career, and similar material may someday be discovered in his private journals.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
While fascinated by aliens, this chapter explains, Clarke only occasionally depicts alien encounters, which are unlikely due to the universe’s size and age. Instead, science fiction stories involve ...
More
While fascinated by aliens, this chapter explains, Clarke only occasionally depicts alien encounters, which are unlikely due to the universe’s size and age. Instead, science fiction stories involve humans discovering evidence of ancient aliens or signs of emerging alien intelligences. Clarke avoids engaging in world building, preferring planets investigated by scientists as settings, and his aliens typically are genuinely alien in both their physiology and psychology. In Clarke’s major novels about aliens they remain unseen. In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and its sequels, aliens made of energy initially seem omnipotent, though sequels increasingly emphasize their flaws and limitations. The aliens of Rendezvous with Rama (1973) are even more mysterious and defy human efforts to understand their enormous space habitat and the purpose for its visit.Less
While fascinated by aliens, this chapter explains, Clarke only occasionally depicts alien encounters, which are unlikely due to the universe’s size and age. Instead, science fiction stories involve humans discovering evidence of ancient aliens or signs of emerging alien intelligences. Clarke avoids engaging in world building, preferring planets investigated by scientists as settings, and his aliens typically are genuinely alien in both their physiology and psychology. In Clarke’s major novels about aliens they remain unseen. In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and its sequels, aliens made of energy initially seem omnipotent, though sequels increasingly emphasize their flaws and limitations. The aliens of Rendezvous with Rama (1973) are even more mysterious and defy human efforts to understand their enormous space habitat and the purpose for its visit.
Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853237693
- eISBN:
- 9781781380840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237693.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In 1950, issues of science fiction magazines outnumbered science fiction paperbacks in the United States. The opposite was true in Britain, as paper rationing during World War II meant an ...
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In 1950, issues of science fiction magazines outnumbered science fiction paperbacks in the United States. The opposite was true in Britain, as paper rationing during World War II meant an insufficient supply of paper, and starting any new serial publication was restricted. This situation led to the demise of fiction magazines, including the grandfather of them all, The Strand Magazine, which folded in March 1950. Britain's two premier science fiction magazines, New Worlds and Science-Fantasy, became the bedrock of high-quality science fiction in the country. Arthur C. Clarke, Eric Frank Russell, John Beynon Harris, John Christopher, and Charles Eric Maine represented a higher proportion of the rank and file of British science fiction writers than their American counterparts. British writers were especially fascinated with computers and automation.Less
In 1950, issues of science fiction magazines outnumbered science fiction paperbacks in the United States. The opposite was true in Britain, as paper rationing during World War II meant an insufficient supply of paper, and starting any new serial publication was restricted. This situation led to the demise of fiction magazines, including the grandfather of them all, The Strand Magazine, which folded in March 1950. Britain's two premier science fiction magazines, New Worlds and Science-Fantasy, became the bedrock of high-quality science fiction in the country. Arthur C. Clarke, Eric Frank Russell, John Beynon Harris, John Christopher, and Charles Eric Maine represented a higher proportion of the rank and file of British science fiction writers than their American counterparts. British writers were especially fascinated with computers and automation.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter first notes that the atheist Clarke often criticizes religion in his science fiction: religions are false and illogical, based on imaginary events; deities are ineffectual; and doctrines ...
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This chapter first notes that the atheist Clarke often criticizes religion in his science fiction: religions are false and illogical, based on imaginary events; deities are ineffectual; and doctrines can lead to evil or misguided acts. For these reasons he regularly describes future humans who abandoned religion. Yet Clarke simultaneously acknowledges that some old and new faiths still have adherents, indicating they may be valuable in helping to preserve and expand human knowledge, providing peace of mind, and inspiring beneficial actions. Buddhism is particularly praised for its benign, tolerant attitudes. Clarke’s major novel involving religion, The Songs of Distant Earth (1986), describes an apparent utopia resulting from a future decision to eliminate all religious beliefs, yet there are still signs that some religions may endure.Less
This chapter first notes that the atheist Clarke often criticizes religion in his science fiction: religions are false and illogical, based on imaginary events; deities are ineffectual; and doctrines can lead to evil or misguided acts. For these reasons he regularly describes future humans who abandoned religion. Yet Clarke simultaneously acknowledges that some old and new faiths still have adherents, indicating they may be valuable in helping to preserve and expand human knowledge, providing peace of mind, and inspiring beneficial actions. Buddhism is particularly praised for its benign, tolerant attitudes. Clarke’s major novel involving religion, The Songs of Distant Earth (1986), describes an apparent utopia resulting from a future decision to eliminate all religious beliefs, yet there are still signs that some religions may endure.
George Slusser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038228
- eISBN:
- 9780252096037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038228.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This conclusion considers one particular aspect of Gregory Benford's science fiction, an open process of creation, which means not only his interest in collaborating with other writers, but in ...
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This conclusion considers one particular aspect of Gregory Benford's science fiction, an open process of creation, which means not only his interest in collaborating with other writers, but in actually writing sequels to their work, in which he continues a story they started, and in the manner of a creative dialogue, blends his vision skillfully with theirs. One notable example is Beyond the Fall of Night (1990), a rewrite of Arthur C. Clarke's Against the Fall of Night (1953). Writing this novel seems to have spurred Benford, in turn, to write a sequel to his own sequel, the novel Beyond Infinity (2004). This chapter looks at Benford's collaborations with authors such as Gordon Eklund, William Rotsler, and David Brin, as well as his participation in the project known as the Second Foundation Trilogy, a series of novels that proposed to fill in gaps in Isaac Asimov's original Foundation cycle.Less
This conclusion considers one particular aspect of Gregory Benford's science fiction, an open process of creation, which means not only his interest in collaborating with other writers, but in actually writing sequels to their work, in which he continues a story they started, and in the manner of a creative dialogue, blends his vision skillfully with theirs. One notable example is Beyond the Fall of Night (1990), a rewrite of Arthur C. Clarke's Against the Fall of Night (1953). Writing this novel seems to have spurred Benford, in turn, to write a sequel to his own sequel, the novel Beyond Infinity (2004). This chapter looks at Benford's collaborations with authors such as Gordon Eklund, William Rotsler, and David Brin, as well as his participation in the project known as the Second Foundation Trilogy, a series of novels that proposed to fill in gaps in Isaac Asimov's original Foundation cycle.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846310249
- eISBN:
- 9781846314018
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846314018.005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses the effect of practical science in the experimentations in the narrative. The present rationalization of our physical universe illustrates how improbable intergalactic travel ...
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This chapter discusses the effect of practical science in the experimentations in the narrative. The present rationalization of our physical universe illustrates how improbable intergalactic travel is. Actual scientific theories are extended to science fiction in the exploration of the galactic space. This text also looks into Imperial Earth, a novel by Arthur C. Clarke, as it discusses the spatial history, imperial production and the four models of the empire.Less
This chapter discusses the effect of practical science in the experimentations in the narrative. The present rationalization of our physical universe illustrates how improbable intergalactic travel is. Actual scientific theories are extended to science fiction in the exploration of the galactic space. This text also looks into Imperial Earth, a novel by Arthur C. Clarke, as it discusses the spatial history, imperial production and the four models of the empire.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter describes how Clarke’s fascination with the oceans predates his skin diving career, as early stories convey that humans are drawn to and inspired by the sea, which played a key role in ...
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This chapter describes how Clarke’s fascination with the oceans predates his skin diving career, as early stories convey that humans are drawn to and inspired by the sea, which played a key role in human development. Later stories draw upon Clarke’s underwater experiences to rapturously describe undersea wonders; he occasionally argues that undersea creatures like dolphins and squids may be developing human-like intelligence; and he perceives similarities between life in the seas and life in space. In Clarke’s major novels about the oceans, the former astronaut of The Deep Range (1957) finds fulfillment in protecting Earth’s whales and other sea creatures, but The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1991) instead emphasizes how humans may never be able to fully understand, or master, this strange environment.Less
This chapter describes how Clarke’s fascination with the oceans predates his skin diving career, as early stories convey that humans are drawn to and inspired by the sea, which played a key role in human development. Later stories draw upon Clarke’s underwater experiences to rapturously describe undersea wonders; he occasionally argues that undersea creatures like dolphins and squids may be developing human-like intelligence; and he perceives similarities between life in the seas and life in space. In Clarke’s major novels about the oceans, the former astronaut of The Deep Range (1957) finds fulfillment in protecting Earth’s whales and other sea creatures, but The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1991) instead emphasizes how humans may never be able to fully understand, or master, this strange environment.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846318344
- eISBN:
- 9781846317798
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846317798.002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The early science fiction genre centred on stories that combined adventure with scientific marvels. Ideas were often more important than characters or themes. This chapter focuses on the works of ...
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The early science fiction genre centred on stories that combined adventure with scientific marvels. Ideas were often more important than characters or themes. This chapter focuses on the works of science fiction writers who had started publishing by 1941: Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Clifford D. Simak, Leigh Brackett and Alfred Bester. Aside from Brackett, all of these writers carried on into the 1980s in essentially the same manner as they had appeared on the scene in the 1970s. Clarke, Asimov and Heinlein all turned to sequels; Asimov and Heinlein made an attempt to weave their novels into a single narrative.Less
The early science fiction genre centred on stories that combined adventure with scientific marvels. Ideas were often more important than characters or themes. This chapter focuses on the works of science fiction writers who had started publishing by 1941: Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Clifford D. Simak, Leigh Brackett and Alfred Bester. Aside from Brackett, all of these writers carried on into the 1980s in essentially the same manner as they had appeared on the scene in the 1970s. Clarke, Asimov and Heinlein all turned to sequels; Asimov and Heinlein made an attempt to weave their novels into a single narrative.
Mark Dery
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816677733
- eISBN:
- 9781452948324
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816677733.003.0016
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter addresses the sexuality of HAL, the psychotic supercomputer in the sci-fi classic 2001. HAL is a brainchild of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who helped create history’s first ...
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This chapter addresses the sexuality of HAL, the psychotic supercomputer in the sci-fi classic 2001. HAL is a brainchild of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who helped create history’s first working electronic digital computer, Colossus, and whose vision in 1936 of a “universal” computing machine made the PC possible. Turing was a publicly exposed (though wholly unrepentant) homosexual in 1950s England, where homosexuality was an illegal “gross indecency,” viewed with undisguised loathing by straight society. HAL, like his creator, is “disturbed,” pushed over the edge by what Arthur C. Clarke calls “unconscious feelings of guilt” and the cognitive dissonance of “living a lie.” The question that arises then is: Was HAL gay? And if HAL could cry digital tears, as the artificial intelligence theorist Rosalind Picard speculates in Hal’s Legacy: “2001’s” Computer as Dream and Reality, wouldn’t he also be capable of sexual arousal? HAL’s sexual identity is destined to remain an open question. As the Turing test implies, we will never really know if his putative straightness is the real thing or merely a convincing facsimile thereof.Less
This chapter addresses the sexuality of HAL, the psychotic supercomputer in the sci-fi classic 2001. HAL is a brainchild of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who helped create history’s first working electronic digital computer, Colossus, and whose vision in 1936 of a “universal” computing machine made the PC possible. Turing was a publicly exposed (though wholly unrepentant) homosexual in 1950s England, where homosexuality was an illegal “gross indecency,” viewed with undisguised loathing by straight society. HAL, like his creator, is “disturbed,” pushed over the edge by what Arthur C. Clarke calls “unconscious feelings of guilt” and the cognitive dissonance of “living a lie.” The question that arises then is: Was HAL gay? And if HAL could cry digital tears, as the artificial intelligence theorist Rosalind Picard speculates in Hal’s Legacy: “2001’s” Computer as Dream and Reality, wouldn’t he also be capable of sexual arousal? HAL’s sexual identity is destined to remain an open question. As the Turing test implies, we will never really know if his putative straightness is the real thing or merely a convincing facsimile thereof.
Gary Westfahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780252041938
- eISBN:
- 9780252050633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter explains that although Clarke valued new technology, his stories regularly cast inventors and inventions in a negative light. Evidenced by the club stories in Tales from the White Hart ...
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This chapter explains that although Clarke valued new technology, his stories regularly cast inventors and inventions in a negative light. Evidenced by the club stories in Tales from the White Hart (1957), the motives of his science fiction inventors are usually questionable; their machines frequently malfunction, or have undesirable side effects; and even when functioning properly, inventions can be misused. After long periods of development, machines may be perfected but can become useless or succumb to the ravages of time. These concerns figure in Clarke’s only novel focused on a new machine, The Fountains of Paradise (1979), wherein an engineer’s ego drives him to construct a space elevator; mishaps plague its construction; and the device is eventually abandoned when a climate change renders Earth uninhabitable.Less
This chapter explains that although Clarke valued new technology, his stories regularly cast inventors and inventions in a negative light. Evidenced by the club stories in Tales from the White Hart (1957), the motives of his science fiction inventors are usually questionable; their machines frequently malfunction, or have undesirable side effects; and even when functioning properly, inventions can be misused. After long periods of development, machines may be perfected but can become useless or succumb to the ravages of time. These concerns figure in Clarke’s only novel focused on a new machine, The Fountains of Paradise (1979), wherein an engineer’s ego drives him to construct a space elevator; mishaps plague its construction; and the device is eventually abandoned when a climate change renders Earth uninhabitable.
George Slusser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038228
- eISBN:
- 9780252096037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038228.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter examines Nigel Walmsley's space odyssey in In the Ocean of Night and Across the Sea of Suns, which span the dates from 1999 to 2061. By the end of the first novel, Nigel has discovered a ...
More
This chapter examines Nigel Walmsley's space odyssey in In the Ocean of Night and Across the Sea of Suns, which span the dates from 1999 to 2061. By the end of the first novel, Nigel has discovered a cosmic struggle between machine intelligence and organic life that will soon engulf Earth. Through several contacts with alien artifacts and entities that had come to Earth in both prehistoric and recent times, he predicts the coming of the machines. In Across the Sea of Suns, Nigel does battle with the machines with the help of organic life forms he finds on the moon of a planet in distant Epsilon Eridani. In the process, he reaffirms what he had earlier discovered on Earth: that, in the evolutionary sense, the boundary between machine and organism is not clear cut. The stamp of Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey is clearly on both In the Ocean of Night and Across the Sea of Suns. The chapter analyzes the two novels in order to understand how Gregory Benford launched his space epic.Less
This chapter examines Nigel Walmsley's space odyssey in In the Ocean of Night and Across the Sea of Suns, which span the dates from 1999 to 2061. By the end of the first novel, Nigel has discovered a cosmic struggle between machine intelligence and organic life that will soon engulf Earth. Through several contacts with alien artifacts and entities that had come to Earth in both prehistoric and recent times, he predicts the coming of the machines. In Across the Sea of Suns, Nigel does battle with the machines with the help of organic life forms he finds on the moon of a planet in distant Epsilon Eridani. In the process, he reaffirms what he had earlier discovered on Earth: that, in the evolutionary sense, the boundary between machine and organism is not clear cut. The stamp of Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey is clearly on both In the Ocean of Night and Across the Sea of Suns. The chapter analyzes the two novels in order to understand how Gregory Benford launched his space epic.
