Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0009
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0007
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0003
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0010
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0005
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0004
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0011
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0008
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
Arthur C. ClarkePub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252041938.003.0002
Gary Westfahl
{"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}
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