Bøger af Olaf Stapledon

Ny Jord – Tidsskrift for naturkritik er et multidisciplinært tidsskrift, der orienterer sig på tværs af århundreder og landegrænser og bringer videnskab, litteratur og kunst side om side i ønsket om at bidrage til en kvalificeret samtale om naturen i en tid, hvor vores forestillinger og idéer om den ændres markant.

First published nearly 70 years ago, this text is regarded as one of the most influential science fiction novels of the 20th century. Olaf Stapledon creates a history of the evolution of humankind over the next two billion years.

Adapted to film in 2020, starring Tilda Swinton.

"No book before or since has ever had such an impact upon my imagination," declared Arthur C. Clarke of Last and First Men. This masterpiece of science fiction by British philosopher and writer Olaf Stapledon (1886-1950) is an imaginative, ambitious history of humanity's future that spans billions of years. Together with its follow-up, Star Maker, it is regarded as the standard by which all earlier and later future histories are measured. The protagonist of this compelling novel is humanity itself, stripped down to sheer intelligence. It evolves through the ages: rising to pinnacles of civilization, teetering on the brink of extinction, surviving onslaughts from other planets and a decline in solar energy, and constantly developing new forms, new senses, and new intellectual abilities. From the present to five billion years into the future, this romance of humanity abounds in profound and imaginative thought.

Olaf Stapledon influyó directamente en Arthur C. Clarke, Brian W. Aldiss, Stanislaw Lem, C. S. Lewis y John Maynard Smith, e indirectamente en muchos otros, contribuyendo con creativas e inteligentes ideas al mundo de la ciencia ficción, muchas de éstas inspiradas por su profundo interés por la filosofía. "Star Maker", traducido como Hacedor de estrellas -obra sobre la que Jorge Luis Borges afirmó "Hacedor de estrellas es, además de una prodigiosa novela, un sistema probable o verosímil de la pluralidad de los mundos y de su dramática historia"1 - contiene la primera descripción conocida de las esferas de Dyson. En ese libro, como también en La última y la primera humanidad (Last and first men) y en otras novelas, aborda temas como la evolución biológica, la genética, el cosmos, otras formas de vida y el desarrollo de la inteligencia y la espiritualidad como características de la vida.

Olaf Stapledon influyó directamente en Arthur C. Clarke, Brian W. Aldiss, Stanislaw Lem, C. S. Lewis y John Maynard Smith, e indirectamente en muchos otros, contribuyendo con creativas e inteligentes ideas al mundo de la ciencia ficción, muchas de éstas inspiradas por su profundo interés por la filosofía. "Star Maker", traducido como Hacedor de estrellas -obra sobre la que Jorge Luis Borges afirmó "Hacedor de estrellas es, además de una prodigiosa novela, un sistema probable o verosímil de la pluralidad de los mundos y de su dramática historia"1 - contiene la primera descripción conocida de las esferas de Dyson. En ese libro, como también en La última y la primera humanidad (Last and first men) y en otras novelas, aborda temas como la evolución biológica, la genética, el cosmos, otras formas de vida y el desarrollo de la inteligencia y la espiritualidad como características de la vida.

El hacedor de estrellas, como otros libros de Stapledon ha sido la fuente de influencia para autores de la talla de James Blish, Isaac Asimov y Arthur C. Clarke (que han reconocido su endeudamiento con él, después de H.G. Wells), y de películas como La Guerra de las Galaxias y Star Trek. Muchas ideas básicas de la literatura de Ciencia Ficción encuentran sus orígenes en esta obra. Eric Frank Russell y Theodore Sturgeon han escrito acerca de razas simbióticas; Robert A. Heinlein, Clifford D. Simak e Isaac Asimov acerca de los imperios estelares, y los científicos Fred Hoyle y Arthur C. Clarke sobre estrellas y nebulosas inteligentes, todos temas stapledonianos.

Stapledon era agnóstico, hostil hacia las instituciones religiosas, pero no así hacia la búsqueda espiritual presente en esas corrientes de pensamiento. Esa postura filosófica no era compartida por H. G. Wells y provocó un distanciamiento de los dos escritores en ese punto, como muestra la correspondencia que mantuvieron. Ninguna de sus novelas o cuentos han sido filmados, aunque George Pal compró los derechos de "Odd John". A lo largo de su vida trabajó también con otros estilos literarios, escribiendo diversos libros sobre temas políticos y éticos, en los cuales abogó por el crecimiento de los valores espirituales, que definió como los valores expresivos de un anhelo por un estado de mayor conciencia en cada individuo, dentro de un contexto más amplio: la personalidad de una comunidad.

2020 Reprint of the 1937 Edition. Star Maker tackles philosophical themes such as the essence of life, of birth, decay and death, and the relationship between creation and creator. A pervading theme is that of progressive unity within and between different civilizations. Some of the elements and themes briefly discussed prefigure later fiction concerning genetic engineering and alien life forms. Sir Arthur C. Clarke considered Star Maker to be "probably the most powerful work of imagination ever written", and Brian W. Aldiss called it "the one great grey holy book of science fiction".A single human narrator from England is transported out of his body via unexplained means. He realizes he is able to explore space and other planets. After exploring a civilization on another planet in our galaxy at a level of development similar to our own that existed millions of years ago thousands of light years from Earth (the "Other Earth") in some detail, his mind merges with that of one of its inhabitants, and as they travel together, they are joined by still more minds or group-minds. This snowballing process is paralleled by the expansion of the book's scale, describing more and more planets in less and less detail.

Two great novels: definitive fictionalization of mutated superman and an alien intelligence finds himself in an all too "human" world.

An extraordinarily perceptive analysis of two possible future paths of humanity.

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