Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0009
Gary Westfahl
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.
{"title":"Future Faiths","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115840422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0007
Gary Westfahl
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.
{"title":"Alien Encounters","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"81 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132493917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0003
Gary Westfahl
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.
{"title":"Jocular Juvenilia","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0003","url":null,"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"65 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126084410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0010
Gary Westfahl
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.
本章认为，典型的克拉克的主人公并非平淡无奇，而仅仅是孤独和沉默寡言的人，他们主要是作为事件的观察者，而不是参与者，就像在《太空前奏》(1951)和其他地方看到的那样。在早期关于完全孤立的个人的故事之后，克拉克的科幻小说越来越多地为这些男人探索改善他们孤独的方法，比如重要的任务，亲密的男性友谊，与更大的社区的联系，以及远离但保持联系的家庭。也许是察觉到斯坦利·库布里克(Stanley Kubrick)重塑了电影《2001:太空漫游》(2001:A Space Odyssey, 1968)，批评他的角色缺乏情感和成就感，克拉克在20世纪70年代创作了一些故事，强调他的角色，在《2001》和其他作品中，实际上是情感复杂的，完全满足于他们的孤独。
{"title":"The Solitary Observer","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133215088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0005
Gary Westfahl
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.
{"title":"The Conquest of Space","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126877689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0004
Gary Westfahl
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.
这一章解释了尽管克拉克重视新技术，但他的故事经常以负面的眼光看待发明家和发明。从《白鹿的故事》(Tales from the White Hart, 1957)中的俱乐部故事可以看出，他的科幻小说发明者的动机通常是值得怀疑的;他们的机器经常出现故障，或者有不良的副作用;即使功能正常，发明也可能被滥用。经过长时间的发展，机器可能会变得完美，但也可能变得无用或屈服于时间的摧残。在克拉克唯一一部以新机器为主题的小说《天堂的喷泉》(1979)中，这些担忧都有所体现。在这部小说中，一名工程师的自我驱使他建造了一座太空电梯;灾难困扰着它的建设;当气候变化使地球不适合居住时，这个装置最终被遗弃了。
{"title":"Marvelous Machines","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127508305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0011
Gary Westfahl
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.
{"title":"Conclusion","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122172986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0008
Gary Westfahl
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.
{"title":"Under the Sea","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"357 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115849575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0002
Gary Westfahl
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.
{"title":"Biographical Sketch","authors":"Gary Westfahl","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":158893,"journal":{"name":"Arthur C. Clarke","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133371198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：