If you’ve been with me for awhile–or at least long enough to know me for book reviews–you may have noticed that I rarely cover new or very recent books. There’s a good reason for that: I rarely read new or very recent books. It’s not that I have anything against them; it’s just that I’m so far behind on great books of the past that I’ll never catch up!
But I’m not alone in this, nor in my love for–especially–classic science fiction. To that end, I recently discovered the existence of the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award. This award, founded in 2001, exists to recognize and promote some of the great science-fiction authors of the past, who may have fallen out of print and out of common knowledge. Unlike most literary awards, it’s not an award for a particular book; it’s for the author, and so various works by each author may fall under this umbrella. Naturally, I was hooked at once! And so, I assembled a list of authors and books, using the article I linked above, and set out to dip my toes in this particular forgotten pool of science-fiction.
I will say up front that I’m not planning to make a series of posts about this. I already have The Great Reddit Reading List to work through; and frankly, it’s going to take me a very long time to do that. I don’t need another series (especially considering that I have multiple Doctor Who review series running over at the Time Lord Archives as well). However, I do like to cover interesting things as I cover them; and so occasionally entries from the list of award winners may show up here. No pressure!
There’s nothing like starting at the top; and so I started with the first name listed in the article, Olaf Stapledon (05/10/1886-09/06/1950). The book I picked up was his Star Maker (link is to Amazon; you can get the Kindle edition for $0.99–note he’s listed as “William Olaf Stapledon”). The book was published in 1937 in the UK.
Star Maker (link to Wikipedia this time) is the story of an unnamed protagonist who, unexpectedly, finds his consciousness adrift in the universe. He quickly learns he is drifting through both time and space; and soon he learns to control his course. He discovers a species of beings similar to humans, with similar lives and problems, and is able to attach himself to one of them. Soon both of them learn to leave their bodies and travel together, eventually meeting up with a large group of like-minded individuals, who travel together backward and forward in time, seeking more like themselves. They eventually begin to trace the course of civilization, in anticipation of a great unity of minds that will reveal the being–the Star Maker, as he calls it–that created the universe. (He’s very careful to draw a distinction between the Star Maker and God as commonly depicted, because he makes the point that all of the cultures they meet have various gods, all of whom in some way reflect the Star Maker, but incompletely so.) In the end, he does so, and is both dismayed and wonderstruck by what he finds.
The book is a bit didactic, reading more like a series of lectures, or perhaps a travelogue–but that’s not unusual, given its era. It certainly doesn’t cover the usual conventions of a modern novel, and that may put some people off. However, it will be attractive to anyone who’s ever been enchanted by, say, Gulliver’s Travels. On the other hand, if you’re looking for action and adventure, this is not the book for you. Nevertheless, it’s been praised in the past; notably, Arthur C. Clarke considered it “one of the finest works of science fiction ever written” (Wikipedia, again).
There are some ideas here which become much more common in later science fiction–especially, the idea that humanity (and other forms of life) is progressing toward a sort of group mind, a global (or even galactic or universal) consciousness that will represent a utopia of sorts. I haven’t had the time to properly research the idea yet; but I wonder if this book is the ur-text, the prototype for that idea in fiction. (Thanks to Ken Jennings and John Roderick of the Omnibus! podcast for that wonderful term, “ur-text”, which I will most definitely use as often as I can.) Certainly I don’t recall seeing it in any older texts. We’ll see it come up again and again, though; perhaps the most famous example I can give you is the planet Gaia (and possibly later Galaxia) in the latter novels of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, which exists as a single united mind. The book also wrestles with the concepts of life and death, of individual worth and contribution to a whole, of the meaning of history, and of man’s relation to God (or, if you prefer, creation to creator). With regard to that last: Stapledon appears to be a proponent of theistic evolution, the idea that God started creation, but then allowed it to evolve on its own; but Stapledon seems to suggest that some form of guidance was involved, as similar patterns arise repeatedly on many worlds.
Oddly enough, in my opinion, Stapledon’s narrator doesn’t seem to be particularly affected in the end by what he experiences. Oh, he’s certainly wonderstruck; but there are no great life lessons, no great changes. He barely passes judgment on the things he’s seen. I think there’s a theme in that, although I don’t think it’s what Stapledon intended: I think it illustrates the idea that no matter what happens to us, we still have to keep going, keep living. We may be exalted by the events of our lives, but underneath it all, we’re still human, and that’s an essential part of us. The narrator returns to his own life, and carries on. (Must…resist…temptation to make a point about politicians…)
Anyway. It’s an interesting read, but I found it a bit of a slog; I’m certainly familiar with this style of writing, but it’s not my preference. Still, I’m glad I read it. I was surprised to learn that the book’s influence has been quite extensive; in addition to influencing a number of famous authors, it is responsible to some degree for the sci-fi “Big Dumb Object” concept known as a Dyson Sphere (creator Freeman Dyson even suggested they would be better known as “Stapledon Spheres”). I love digging into obscure-but-influential material such as this, and learning the sources of things that I as a reader (or sometimes viewer) have taken for granted. It’s not the easiest read; but if this type of material is your cup of tea, you’ll find it enjoyable and fascinating.
Happy reading!
It’s a new year, and a new reading challenge! What are you reading this year? Having unfortunately not met my goal last year, I’ve scaled back a bit, to thirty books in 2019; so far I’ve completed two. You can join me on Goodreads, and post your own challenge!
Timewalkerauthor 