Jocular Juvenilia

Abstract

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.