NP but LAST AND FIRST MEN

[Paul Cray]

"Star Maker" a whole 49p from Penguin on UK Kindle:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241442974/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=f3c7940288dd2895b459e36dd6fcea53&content-id=amzn1.sym.e4f48e2a-4f4e-495a-a95b-34f114e19c84%3Aamzn1.sym.e4f48e2a-4f4e-495a-a95b-34f114e19c84&hsa_cr_id=8922343310802&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=76337ab8-8709-4ff9-84f8-225d79577128&pd_rd_w=3Mt9M&pd_rd_wg=3oAUd&qid=1655922876&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_2_img&sr=1-3-fd947bf3-57d2-4cc9-939d-2805f92cef28

Which would be 49p well spent!

'A prodigious novel ... Stapledon's literary imagination was boundless'
Jorge Luis Borges

And Borges does provide an extract from "Star Maker" in his, in all ways
essential, anthology "The Book of Fantasy":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Fantasy.

https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/stapledon_olaf

Stapledon is very well known and regarded in sf circles even though
"[i]ronically, the acclamation he received late in life as an sf writer may
partially account for his total neglect by historians of modern
literature.".

I recall being at a panel at the British Eastercon sf convention in the
late 1990s and a friend of mine made a comment about Stapledon and Brian
Aldiss, who was on the panel, came up to him afterwards to praise him for
making the point. My friend and I were young then, so perhaps Aldiss was
surprised Stapledon was known to us.

"Star Maker" is in the recent Penguin series of sf classics, but perhaps
there are no nice recent US editions, so it could be Stapledon is
potentially better known in the UK than the US. Someone has been buying
those Penguins and Gollanczs over the last few decades.

Paul

On Wed, 22 Jun 2022 at 10:46, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> L&FM is told as if Mankind Itself is speaking!....And after a precis of
> WW1 and its effect on Europe, --remember published in 1930 or 31, it goes
> on to narrate other wars....Italy w a Mussolini figure attacks
> France.......soon, France bombs England and destroys 1/3rd of it......in
> weeks....
>
> Had no idea anyone, much less Aldiss, held it THAT high in
> esteem.....thought it was a wayward niche thing.....
>
> On Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 11:56 AM Paul Cray <pmcray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Brian W. Aldiss in "Trillion Year Spree" calls "Star Maker" "the one
>> great, grey holy book of science fiction" and he is right.
>>
>> The whole of the history of humanity explicated in "Last and First Men"
>> is reduced to a mere tick in the cosmic clock in "Star Maker". The sheer
>> imaginative force and scope of both works though is breathtaking. That they
>> have stayed in print indicates that Stapledon's obscurity is relative, It's
>> very likely that TRP would be acquainted with his work, but Aldiss says
>> that Stapledon neglect by the mainstream is "inexplicable".
>>
>> The early sections especially of "Last and First Men" might seem dated
>> today, but this isn't an issue with "Star Maker". It's a lot shorter than
>> "Last and First Men", but is presented on an exponentially bigger stage and
>> is certainly worth anyone's time to peruse. It should be generally
>> recognised as what it is, one of the very greatest novels of the C20th.
>>
>> Stapledon's "Odd John" and "Sirius" are also well worth reading.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> On Wed, 22 Jun 2022 at 04:00, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> For a speculative future historian, having a “Vision” would seem a
>>> requirement. I read SciFi as light stuff between more “serious” stuff.
>>> But
>>> really good SciFi can be very thought provoking. And reading stuff from
>>> the
>>> 30’s can be mind-blowing in how far-reaching and correct their vision can
>>> be.
>>>
>>> Let me know if this one is worth reading
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 5:35 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Olaf Stapledon wrote a couple famous SF novels
>>> > before Tom was even born...but they have stayed
>>> > in print because they are good and still read, it seems.
>>> >
>>> > I have wanted to read them but never have. I came across
>>> > a copy of them and have opened the one in the subject header.
>>> >
>>> > I wanted to share this definition of "vision" from his intro
>>> > to the original American edition because I often write
>>> > of TRP's vision and ask myself if I could define vision
>>> > if challenged since I too know detailing what Pynchon "believes"
>>> > about real life things is a fool's game. But a vision is not that.
>>> >
>>> > "But visions, if they are to be permanently helpful, must embody
>>> > the whole breadth and depth of experience. They must not be crude,
>>> > extravagant, lopsided. They must be conceived not only with originality
>>> > but with sanity, even if sanity has to take up a new orientation in
>>> > consequence
>>> > of the new vision."
>>> >
>>> > But I only decided to write and send this because of a later paragraph
>>> from
>>> > him in his
>>> > earlier-written Preface. Will follow very soon.
>>> > --
>>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>> >
>>> --
>>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>>
>>