Star maker / Olaf Stapledon ; introduced and edited by Patrick A. McCarthy ; foreword by Freeman Dyson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stapledon, Olaf, 1886-1950.

Contributor:

McCarthy, Patrick A., 1945-

Series:

Wesleyan early classics of science fiction series

The Wesleyan early classics of science fiction series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cosmology--Fiction.

Cosmology.

Genre:

Science fiction.

Fiction.

Physical Description:

xxxiii, 314 pages ; 23 cm.

Edition:

Wesleyan University Press edition.

Place of Publication:

Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press, [2004]

Summary:

Widely regarded as one of the true classics of science fiction, Star Maker is a poetic and deeply philosophical work. The story details the mental journey of an unnamed narrator who is transported not only to other worlds but also other galaxies and parallel universes, until he eventually becomes part of the "cosmic mind." First published in 1937, Olaf Stapledon's descriptions of alien life are a political commentary on human life in the turbulent inter-war years. The book challenges preconceived notions of intelligence and awareness, and ultimately argues for a broadened perspective that would free us from culturally ingrained thought and our inevitable anthropomorphism. This is the first scholarly edition of a book that influenced such writers as C.S. Lewis and Arthur C. Clarke and which Jorge Luis Borges called "a prodigious novel."

Contents:

I The Earth 7

1. The Starting Point 7

2. Earth Among the Stars 11

II Interstellar Travel 16

III The Other Earth 27

1. On the Other Earth 27

2. A Busy World 32

3. Prospects of the Race 47

IV I Travel Again 60

V Worlds Innumerable 70

1. The Diversity of Worlds 70

2. Strange Mankinds 77

3. Nautiloids 87

VI Intimations of the Star Maker 94

VII More Worlds 100

1. A Symbiotic Race 100

2. Composite Beings 111

3. Plant Men and Others 120

VIII Concerning the Explorers 131

IX The Community of Worlds 137

1. Busy Utopias 137

2. Intermundane Strife 146

3. A Crisis in Galactic History 158

4. Triumph in a Sub-Galaxy 161

5. The Tragedy of the Perverts 168

6. A Galactic Utopia 172

X A Vision of the Galaxy 177

XI Stars and Vermin 187

1. The Many Galaxies 187

2. Disaster in Our Galaxy 189

3. Stars 194

4. Galactic Symbiosis 204

XII A Stunted Cosmical Spirit 210

XIII The Beginning and the End 213

1. Back to the Nebulae 213

2. The Supreme Moment Nears 218

3. The Supreme Moment and After 223

XIV The Myth of Creation 232

XV The Maker and His Works 236

1. Immature Creating 236

2. Mature Creating 246

3. The Ultimate Cosmos and the Eternal Spirit 253

XVI Epilogue: Back to Earth 258

Time Scales 267.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-311).

ISBN:

0819566926

0819566934

OCLC:

55010795