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Arthur C. Clarke is one of my favorite science fiction writers, Ciel. Of
particular preference are his short stories "The Star" and "The Nine Billion Names of God". They put religion into perspective and have great twists. Sad...
posted by
saul_relative
on March 21, 2008 at 11:12 AM
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Good for you. Maybe you might want to consider sharing it with us! sam
posted by
sam444
on March 19, 2008 at 11:11 AM
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Teddy, you're right-- he was one of the brilliant ones!
And he was by all accounts a very nice man.
My dad once saw him at the Museum Bookstore buying a big stack of books. Clarke blushed mightily when spotted, because they were all copies of one of his own books. He never said why he was buying them--to give them away, or to get them off the shelves... or... ?
posted by
Ciel
on March 19, 2008 at 11:09 AM
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Naut, you have missed out!
While a good deal of popular sci fi and its cousin, fantasy, are formulaic trash, no better than the formula romance novel, it, like those romances, come from a nobler background.
Formula romance novels are the great grandchildren of the likes of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, JANE EYRE, even PRIDE & PREJUDICE. And there are still fine, profound, heart-breaking and heart-warming romances being written, but there is still this ocean of contrived, flat-affect detritus hacked out regularly.
Sci fi at least requires some imagination--but there is plenty of stuff that is as formulaic, hack-written and essentially pointless except as cheap escape, and no imagination makes up for lack of writing and story-telling talent or skill.
But there are worlds of speculation, of logical projection, of a degree of finesse that makes it hard to say when the science ends and the fiction begins. There are some great writers in the field, some marvelous story-tellers, and true visionaries who open our minds to possibilities, both wonderful and appalling, and give us insight and the will to chart or change course. They reframe the world for us, giving us new perspectives. And sometimes they entertain us immensely, transport us to other worlds.
A great idea, like attempting to recreate and explore the prehistoric world of our ancestors, can be written from notes gleaned at the library by someone who knows the formulas, and writes from intellect but without true inspiration, and without a great deal of natural skill. Then another writer comes along and takes the very same theme, and writes a wonder that transports you, leaves you with a feeling that you were there... I recommend to you REINDEER MOON by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, who did her research as an anthropologist living among bush people in Africa.
My paper!--long lost in the past 30 years... I don't remember what I wrote, though I might, when I read the book again.
posted by
Ciel
on March 19, 2008 at 11:05 AM
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Hagi, thanks for dropping by!
I was also a big fan of Heinlein, Clarke, and the rest.
My dad, and astronomer who had worked diligently at making astronomy and science accessible to the public, through his efforts at the Hayden Planetarium in NY, and who didn't read sci fi, was invited along on a comet-watching cruise along with a collection of big-name sci fi writers, including Asimov and Heinlein and Robert Silverberg, and others... This was that same year I was reading CHILDHOOD'S END for the girl who didn't get sci fi.
Later that year, I called home one night, considerately around 8 PM because my folks were always in bed by 9. But they were not home. I called every 15 minutes until about 10 o'clock when they finally answered the phone. It seems they had just gotten home from Robert Heinlein's annual cocktail party.
I coulda screamed! I was the one who had read his books, every one I could get my hands on... Arrrrgggghhhhhhhh!
posted by
Ciel
on March 19, 2008 at 10:46 AM
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He was brilliant.
posted by
teddypoet_TheGoodByeFade
on March 19, 2008 at 6:26 AM
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Ciel
It is sad news, although he had a full life, and all lives end. But I must confess something: I have virtually never read any science fiction, not Clark's, not Asimov's, not anyone's that comes to mind. The reason is that the fiction always seems to get in the way of the science, which is endlessly fascinating all by itself, to me at least...
But I wish you'd post that paper of yours...
posted by
Nautikos
on March 19, 2008 at 5:43 AM
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Sad news.
I really adore those old-school sci-fi writers. Well, nothing beats Heinlein, but A.C.Clarke... I think I'll dig up his book from my library and read it today.
Thanks for bringing the news. 
posted by
hagi
on March 19, 2008 at 2:24 AM
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