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Last and First Men
Last Men in London
In his previous science-fiction novel, Last and First Men, Olaf Stapledon envisioned 2 billion years of history, in which modern humans represented the first and most primitive of 18 increasingly advanced species. In this companion piece, a being from the remote future travels back to the 20th century to inhabit the consciousness of an Englishman named Paul. From inside his subject's mind, the superintelligent mega-human observes Paul's childhood, his experiences during World War I, and his postwar life as a teacher. The narrative provides a compelling commentary on modern life, the horrors of warfare, and the disintegrating state of Western society.
British philosopher William Olaf Stapledon (1886–1950) introduced several innovative concepts to the science-fiction genre, and his books influenced Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, C. S. Lewis, John Maynard Smith, and many others. In this science-fictional self-portrait, he offers a captivating combination of memory, imagination, and social criticism.
British philosopher William Olaf Stapledon (1886–1950) introduced several innovative concepts to the science-fiction genre, and his books influenced Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, C. S. Lewis, John Maynard Smith, and many others. In this science-fictional self-portrait, he offers a captivating combination of memory, imagination, and social criticism.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
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About the author
Olaf Stapledon
99 books559 followersExcerpted from wikipedia:
William Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction.
Stapledon's writings directly influenced Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Stanisław Lem, C. S. Lewis and John Maynard Smith and indirectly influenced many others, contributing many ideas to the world of science fiction.
William Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction.
Stapledon's writings directly influenced Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Stanisław Lem, C. S. Lewis and John Maynard Smith and indirectly influenced many others, contributing many ideas to the world of science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 7, 2022
Olaf Stapledon is one of my favourite authors; I still think of his magnum opus, Star Maker, as the best book I've ever read. I can't think of any other book that affected me in quite that way. It's been a few years since I last read any Stapledon, and so when I started Last Men in London, my reading felt like an addict's fix or a cheerful homecoming. I loved this book, although I have to admit it pales in comparison to Stapledon's four most famous novels: his two future history books, Last and First Men and Star Maker, and his two character books, Odd John and Sirius.
Last Men in London was Stapledon's second published work of fiction, and it is a very strange book. I got the impression that Stapledon wasn't sure what to do after finishing Last and First Men, and also wanted to write something to help him make sense of the First World War (its build-up, his experiences in it, and its aftermath), and the strange but wonderful Last Men in London was the result. To give you a sense of the work's strangeness, here is an excerpt from the preface, which feels like a disclaimer, apologizing early lest readers expect a conventional narrative:
Also in the preface/disclaimer is the admission that
The narrator of the book is a member of the Eighteenth Human Species, introduced in Last and First Men, living on the planet Neptune two thousand million years in the future, who is telepathically exploring the past and using a human agent to write the document we are reading. For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with Last and First Men, the first two chapters are a summary of their way of life and their method of telepathic time travel. As someone who has read Last and First Men, and remembers it reasonably well, these chapters felt overlong: I also wouldn't recommend this book to people who aren't already Stapledon fans craving a bit more of his sweet, sweet cosmic vision.
Our Neptunian narrator tells us of his exploits inhabiting the mind of a man called Paul; he tells us of Paul's childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, and comments on human nature. Stapledon does a wonderful job of articulating the Neptunian view of our species, who consider us barely human, only a little more than beasts. The tone of an aloof far-future observer is pulled off brilliantly, a mix of condescension towards dumb primitive beings, and admiration for what we've achieved despite our gross limitations.
Slightly less than half of work is devoted to the three chapters about the Great War, the First World War, which the Neptunian describes as 'the Great Crisis of the age' which initiates the gradual but inevitable decline and fall of our species. The first is titled 'Origins of the European War' and gives us an overview of human history from ancient times until 1914. In the second, titled simply 'The War', our narrator presents experiences of the war observed from a variety of human vantage points, predominantly the aforementioned Paul and a German soldier called Hans. Paul's experiences are based on Stapledon's own: he joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit, a conscientious objector who still wanted to take part. This chapter was perhaps the hardest for Stapledon to write, and it doesn't read as well as the less experiential parts of the book: it feels like a list of events that occurred; much of it lacks both the psychological introspection and the admiration-condescension commentary which made the earlier chapters on Paul's life so compelling. The third War chapter, 'After the War', gives brief overview of the global aftermath of the war, and also the next stages of Paul's life.
Stapledon's best writing combines awe of the universe and awe of life, combining a sense of cosmic insignificance in the face of incomprehensibly vast and uncaring cosmos with a sense of the beauty and splendour and - yes - the significance of our tiny fleeting lives. The Stapledonian vision of humanity and the cosmos is both bleak and joyful, terrifying and uplifting. The best passages of Last Men in London are reminiscent of the best passages of Star Maker. I know of no author who can combine astronomical distances and timescales and an almost-nihilistic cosmic view with an uplifting and inspirational humanism as successfully as he does at his best.
The penultimate chapter of Last Men in London, 'The Modern World', contains many of the book's best passages. It presents a kaleidoscopic view of the world, covering all the social classes and jobs, religions, science, countries, the rich and the poor, the working and the unemployed, and it invites us to see everyone as a beautiful, complex individual who contains a 'whole cognized universe' within their minds. And he shows us this stupendous tapestry of humanity against the backdrop of the stars, of 'human littleness in the cosmos'. No other author manages to combine this contrast as well as Stapledon.
The final chapter explains the chronology between this book and Last and First Men, and also the later novel Odd John - I had not realised until reading this that Odd John takes place in the same universe as Last and First Men. Last Men in London is, because of the time-travel, a prequel-sequel to both other works.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I must admit that it is one for Stapledon Junkies not Stapledon Novices. And I know I enjoyed it so much because it was a Stapledon Fix after so long. I know that overall it doesn't compare that well against his four famous works, and is a intermediary work, between his first future history and his first character novel (Odd John was his next published work). But I loved this book. I love Stapledon's cosmic vision. I love his bleak and terriyfing yet joyful and uplifting outlook. I love his prose. I love his unconventionalness. Read Olaf Stapledon.
Last Men in London was Stapledon's second published work of fiction, and it is a very strange book. I got the impression that Stapledon wasn't sure what to do after finishing Last and First Men, and also wanted to write something to help him make sense of the First World War (its build-up, his experiences in it, and its aftermath), and the strange but wonderful Last Men in London was the result. To give you a sense of the work's strangeness, here is an excerpt from the preface, which feels like a disclaimer, apologizing early lest readers expect a conventional narrative:
Though this is a work of fiction, it does not pretend to be a novel. It has no hero but Man. Since its purpose is not the characterization of individual human beings, no effort has been made to endow its few persons with distinctive personalities. There is no plot, except the theme of man’s struggle in this awkward age to master himself and to come to terms with the universe.
Also in the preface/disclaimer is the admission that
This book is intelligible without reference to another fantasy, which I produced two years ago, and called Last and First Men.
The narrator of the book is a member of the Eighteenth Human Species, introduced in Last and First Men, living on the planet Neptune two thousand million years in the future, who is telepathically exploring the past and using a human agent to write the document we are reading. For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with Last and First Men, the first two chapters are a summary of their way of life and their method of telepathic time travel. As someone who has read Last and First Men, and remembers it reasonably well, these chapters felt overlong: I also wouldn't recommend this book to people who aren't already Stapledon fans craving a bit more of his sweet, sweet cosmic vision.
Our Neptunian narrator tells us of his exploits inhabiting the mind of a man called Paul; he tells us of Paul's childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, and comments on human nature. Stapledon does a wonderful job of articulating the Neptunian view of our species, who consider us barely human, only a little more than beasts. The tone of an aloof far-future observer is pulled off brilliantly, a mix of condescension towards dumb primitive beings, and admiration for what we've achieved despite our gross limitations.
Slightly less than half of work is devoted to the three chapters about the Great War, the First World War, which the Neptunian describes as 'the Great Crisis of the age' which initiates the gradual but inevitable decline and fall of our species. The first is titled 'Origins of the European War' and gives us an overview of human history from ancient times until 1914. In the second, titled simply 'The War', our narrator presents experiences of the war observed from a variety of human vantage points, predominantly the aforementioned Paul and a German soldier called Hans. Paul's experiences are based on Stapledon's own: he joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit, a conscientious objector who still wanted to take part. This chapter was perhaps the hardest for Stapledon to write, and it doesn't read as well as the less experiential parts of the book: it feels like a list of events that occurred; much of it lacks both the psychological introspection and the admiration-condescension commentary which made the earlier chapters on Paul's life so compelling. The third War chapter, 'After the War', gives brief overview of the global aftermath of the war, and also the next stages of Paul's life.
Stapledon's best writing combines awe of the universe and awe of life, combining a sense of cosmic insignificance in the face of incomprehensibly vast and uncaring cosmos with a sense of the beauty and splendour and - yes - the significance of our tiny fleeting lives. The Stapledonian vision of humanity and the cosmos is both bleak and joyful, terrifying and uplifting. The best passages of Last Men in London are reminiscent of the best passages of Star Maker. I know of no author who can combine astronomical distances and timescales and an almost-nihilistic cosmic view with an uplifting and inspirational humanism as successfully as he does at his best.
The penultimate chapter of Last Men in London, 'The Modern World', contains many of the book's best passages. It presents a kaleidoscopic view of the world, covering all the social classes and jobs, religions, science, countries, the rich and the poor, the working and the unemployed, and it invites us to see everyone as a beautiful, complex individual who contains a 'whole cognized universe' within their minds. And he shows us this stupendous tapestry of humanity against the backdrop of the stars, of 'human littleness in the cosmos'. No other author manages to combine this contrast as well as Stapledon.
The final chapter explains the chronology between this book and Last and First Men, and also the later novel Odd John - I had not realised until reading this that Odd John takes place in the same universe as Last and First Men. Last Men in London is, because of the time-travel, a prequel-sequel to both other works.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I must admit that it is one for Stapledon Junkies not Stapledon Novices. And I know I enjoyed it so much because it was a Stapledon Fix after so long. I know that overall it doesn't compare that well against his four famous works, and is a intermediary work, between his first future history and his first character novel (Odd John was his next published work). But I loved this book. I love Stapledon's cosmic vision. I love his bleak and terriyfing yet joyful and uplifting outlook. I love his prose. I love his unconventionalness. Read Olaf Stapledon.
December 20, 2016
This book sits well with the two previous books by Stapledon that I have read. It continues the narrative outlined in 'Last and First Men', and it quite obviously precedes 'Star Maker'. The book describes in detail how a Neptunian Human from the far distant future assumes and controls a Terrestrial Human in the present. At least, it was the present when the book was written, between the wars.
This is an interesting literal device that allows the author, in the guise of the Neptunian Human, to describe and analyse our current way of doing things rom a completely dispassionate viewpoint. I like this technique. Stapledon points, on more than one occasion, to our impending doom, but without actually outlining what that doom consists of. I found that to be unsatisfying in the book.
The book is developed much along the lines of Winwood Reade, and it helps to have read 'The Martyrdom of Man' prior to reading Stapledon. These are large, panoramic, views of the human condition. The analysis is crisp, but the conclusions are a bit fuzzy. I would imagine that it is much easier to determine what is wrong with the human condition than to outline what needs to be done to put it right. I was left thinking that the author was telling me that everything will be alright if only we could be a bit nicer to each other.
As a piece of fiction, I quite enjoyed the book. I felt little sympathy for the Neptunian Human after he contrived in the death of Hans, a parallel German he was occupying at the same time as Paul. I would have thought that he would have been prevented by Neptunian protocol from interfering with Hans rather than to be the agency of his death. After all, his mission was to observe and to learn, not to take an active part in shaping events.
There were times when the book felt a little bit long. It didn't quite flow as well as the other two books and there were passages where the narrative got a bit bogged down. All in all, I enjoyed the book, but I wouldn't rush back to read it again.
This is an interesting literal device that allows the author, in the guise of the Neptunian Human, to describe and analyse our current way of doing things rom a completely dispassionate viewpoint. I like this technique. Stapledon points, on more than one occasion, to our impending doom, but without actually outlining what that doom consists of. I found that to be unsatisfying in the book.
The book is developed much along the lines of Winwood Reade, and it helps to have read 'The Martyrdom of Man' prior to reading Stapledon. These are large, panoramic, views of the human condition. The analysis is crisp, but the conclusions are a bit fuzzy. I would imagine that it is much easier to determine what is wrong with the human condition than to outline what needs to be done to put it right. I was left thinking that the author was telling me that everything will be alright if only we could be a bit nicer to each other.
As a piece of fiction, I quite enjoyed the book. I felt little sympathy for the Neptunian Human after he contrived in the death of Hans, a parallel German he was occupying at the same time as Paul. I would have thought that he would have been prevented by Neptunian protocol from interfering with Hans rather than to be the agency of his death. After all, his mission was to observe and to learn, not to take an active part in shaping events.
There were times when the book felt a little bit long. It didn't quite flow as well as the other two books and there were passages where the narrative got a bit bogged down. All in all, I enjoyed the book, but I wouldn't rush back to read it again.
June 28, 2024
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070615: ...but then, I like to read philosophy, so that this book is rather thin on character, didactic, schematic on plot, does not bother me. this is a book very much of its time, its provenance, its unargued idealisation of rationality, on a universal scale, on a personal scale. did not like this near as much as his work Star Maker...
070615: ...but then, I like to read philosophy, so that this book is rather thin on character, didactic, schematic on plot, does not bother me. this is a book very much of its time, its provenance, its unargued idealisation of rationality, on a universal scale, on a personal scale. did not like this near as much as his work Star Maker...
September 22, 2009
Olaf Stapledon’s “Last Men in London” is the third and of Stapledon’s Last Men stories. “Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future” from 1930 was a tremendous work providing a future history of mankind 2 billion years into the future. The book was driven by ideas and significant events which changed the species of man. In “Far Future Calling”, a radio play based on the same concept, the future is told by two First Men actors who are viewing images provided by two Last Men from the distant future. It is a much shorter work, but one which is a bit more personal because of the two sets of actors through which the story is told. “Last Men in London” again takes up the idea, and this time it has a much more personal drive to the story.
The book opens with the narrator of the Last Men telling the reader more about his life and the society in the future. This is a more detailed look than what was given in the first two works combined. The discussion of the Racial Mind which the Last Men experience is a welcome addition to Stapledon’s vision as is the more detailed discussion of the exploration of the past by the Last Men; discussing they historical discoveries as they worked their way back through time and the earlier races of men to discover the First Men.
The narrator has prepared a First Man, whom he calls Paul, so that his mind can go with Paul and observe history through Paul’s eyes and ears. The section of the book that deals with Paul is the bulk of the story. It starts with a brief telling of Paul’s childhood, and then a much more detailed discussion of Paul during the build-up to World War I, as well as the war years and then the post war years. The Last Man discusses how he influenced Paul and those around him to learn about the world and the First Men through Paul.
The last chapter of the book is also very interesting, because it is here that Stapledon experiments with the concept of a “Superman”, which would become the subject of his next novel “Odd John”. One can see the foundations of “Odd John” being laid here, though in this case the “Superman” is called Humpty, and the discussion is very abbreviated when compared to the 1935 novel.
This is an interesting book, and a nice complement to “Last and First Men”, but it is not nearly on the same level. This book focuses mostly on the 20th Century and in particular the period around World War I. Stapledon also helps develop the civilization of the Last Men, but there is very little mention of all the time between the two. The chapter where he delves into the concept of “Supermen” is interesting mainly from a perspective of the writings of Stapledon as a whole and could easily have been left out of this book without disrupting the story. This one ranks around 3½ stars, but I am rounding it down as it isn’t as good as Stapledon’s four main novels.
The book opens with the narrator of the Last Men telling the reader more about his life and the society in the future. This is a more detailed look than what was given in the first two works combined. The discussion of the Racial Mind which the Last Men experience is a welcome addition to Stapledon’s vision as is the more detailed discussion of the exploration of the past by the Last Men; discussing they historical discoveries as they worked their way back through time and the earlier races of men to discover the First Men.
The narrator has prepared a First Man, whom he calls Paul, so that his mind can go with Paul and observe history through Paul’s eyes and ears. The section of the book that deals with Paul is the bulk of the story. It starts with a brief telling of Paul’s childhood, and then a much more detailed discussion of Paul during the build-up to World War I, as well as the war years and then the post war years. The Last Man discusses how he influenced Paul and those around him to learn about the world and the First Men through Paul.
The last chapter of the book is also very interesting, because it is here that Stapledon experiments with the concept of a “Superman”, which would become the subject of his next novel “Odd John”. One can see the foundations of “Odd John” being laid here, though in this case the “Superman” is called Humpty, and the discussion is very abbreviated when compared to the 1935 novel.
This is an interesting book, and a nice complement to “Last and First Men”, but it is not nearly on the same level. This book focuses mostly on the 20th Century and in particular the period around World War I. Stapledon also helps develop the civilization of the Last Men, but there is very little mention of all the time between the two. The chapter where he delves into the concept of “Supermen” is interesting mainly from a perspective of the writings of Stapledon as a whole and could easily have been left out of this book without disrupting the story. This one ranks around 3½ stars, but I am rounding it down as it isn’t as good as Stapledon’s four main novels.
January 1, 2010
Read online. This book does not stand up well next to Stapledon's other "Last Men" books. The auto biographical context is interesting, but would have worked better with a different construct. The author does do a good job with the themes like the divided nature of man and finding one's place in the world. Perhaps it is the lack of worldbuilding that sets it apart from Last and First Men and Star Maker. At any rate, it is not a bad book, but I'm probably rounding down because of my subjective disappointment when compared to those other works.
September 7, 2024
I try not to review books that I haven't finished, but I really tried y'all. This book broke me around the 80% mark.
Our Neptunian narrator from Last and First Men returns, such to my chagrin. The novel starts with a hundred pages that covers many of the concepts that were so belabored in Last and First Men. This mostly consists of him telling the reader that Neptunian society is so far evolved and amazing that pathetic minds such as ours couldn't even begin to understand. We're too stupid and shortsighted to understand some of the concepts, so he doesn't even feel the need to bother trying to explain them.
To be honest, I skimmed and skipped over these pages, eventually resorting to reading summaries to understand what I'd missed. I usually have very good reading comprehension, but this tested even my limits, covering things that really had nothing to do with the very loose story Stapledon was trying to tell.
We're introduced to Paul, a "modern" (1930s) day man who the Neptunian is controlling by entering his mind in the past. The Neptunian is trying to effect changes in Paul to shift his thinking away from the "modern day" man and be more like the Neptunians, but honestly, it comes across as torture porn. The Neptunian fills Paul's head with horrific visions to change his personality into one of numbness.
Paul is forced to be mean to his friends, reject a girl that he likes, and be completely horrid to people. At one point, he tries to save a small Jewish boy who is being picked on by a bully and grabs a hot coal from the fireplace to make the bully back off. The downside is that he's so numb to everything from the constant torture that the pain from the hot coal barely registers.
He becomes a teacher and one day after class, he experiences a breakdown. In our modern day, one could say he's having PTSD flashbacks. Does the Neptunian offer him sympathy? Nope! It gives him increased awful visions to make him more numb and change him closer to the author's personal philosophy.
Before Paul can sign up to go off to World War I, though, the Neptunian vomits up another 80 pages (Yes, I checked) of the author's personal views disguised as the Neptunian view of Europe, the war, Earth. I started to waver and eventually skipped this section of the book.
I picked back up with Paul driving an ambulance during the War, but by this time the book had completely lost my attention.
It's never really explained what end goal the Neptunian had for Paul's personality. It felt like Paul was being driven to a psychopathic break while being completely isolated from everyone and everything he cared for. Surely, if the goal was to change something, wouldn't that be easier if Paul had a support group of really good friends?
I rated this 2 stars. This may seem weird for a book that I didn't finish, but I did like a few things.
One intriguing aspect of Neptunian society was their contrasting attitudes towards sex and eating. While public sexual relations were accepted, eating was considered taboo, requiring mouths to be covered with aprons. This juxtaposition, while interesting, felt somewhat disconnected from the main narrative, highlighting Stapledon's tendency to introduce intriguing concepts without fully exploring them.
Stapledon also implied that Paul had attraction to both male and females. At one point, he is enthralled by a priest named Archangel. This is very progressive for a book written in the early 1930s and serves to give Paul at least some background. Too bad nothing much was done with it.
Our Neptunian narrator from Last and First Men returns, such to my chagrin. The novel starts with a hundred pages that covers many of the concepts that were so belabored in Last and First Men. This mostly consists of him telling the reader that Neptunian society is so far evolved and amazing that pathetic minds such as ours couldn't even begin to understand. We're too stupid and shortsighted to understand some of the concepts, so he doesn't even feel the need to bother trying to explain them.
To be honest, I skimmed and skipped over these pages, eventually resorting to reading summaries to understand what I'd missed. I usually have very good reading comprehension, but this tested even my limits, covering things that really had nothing to do with the very loose story Stapledon was trying to tell.
We're introduced to Paul, a "modern" (1930s) day man who the Neptunian is controlling by entering his mind in the past. The Neptunian is trying to effect changes in Paul to shift his thinking away from the "modern day" man and be more like the Neptunians, but honestly, it comes across as torture porn. The Neptunian fills Paul's head with horrific visions to change his personality into one of numbness.
Paul is forced to be mean to his friends, reject a girl that he likes, and be completely horrid to people. At one point, he tries to save a small Jewish boy who is being picked on by a bully and grabs a hot coal from the fireplace to make the bully back off. The downside is that he's so numb to everything from the constant torture that the pain from the hot coal barely registers.
He becomes a teacher and one day after class, he experiences a breakdown. In our modern day, one could say he's having PTSD flashbacks. Does the Neptunian offer him sympathy? Nope! It gives him increased awful visions to make him more numb and change him closer to the author's personal philosophy.
Before Paul can sign up to go off to World War I, though, the Neptunian vomits up another 80 pages (Yes, I checked) of the author's personal views disguised as the Neptunian view of Europe, the war, Earth. I started to waver and eventually skipped this section of the book.
I picked back up with Paul driving an ambulance during the War, but by this time the book had completely lost my attention.
It's never really explained what end goal the Neptunian had for Paul's personality. It felt like Paul was being driven to a psychopathic break while being completely isolated from everyone and everything he cared for. Surely, if the goal was to change something, wouldn't that be easier if Paul had a support group of really good friends?
I rated this 2 stars. This may seem weird for a book that I didn't finish, but I did like a few things.
One intriguing aspect of Neptunian society was their contrasting attitudes towards sex and eating. While public sexual relations were accepted, eating was considered taboo, requiring mouths to be covered with aprons. This juxtaposition, while interesting, felt somewhat disconnected from the main narrative, highlighting Stapledon's tendency to introduce intriguing concepts without fully exploring them.
Stapledon also implied that Paul had attraction to both male and females. At one point, he is enthralled by a priest named Archangel. This is very progressive for a book written in the early 1930s and serves to give Paul at least some background. Too bad nothing much was done with it.
March 6, 2024
"Even though, in all his ages, he yearned to creep back into the warm close peace of the womb, he craved also to absorb into his blood the atmosphere of a wider world."
There's a lot of quotable existentialist/philosophical messages and definitely does not read like a typical scifi novel -- while Last and First Men is a breathtaking grand scale journey of humankind's evolution through billions of years into the future, as told by godlike beings with a contemplative tone, often matter-of-fact and emotionally detached from some catastrophes that humans have faced. In Last Men in London these godlike beings go back to the 'past' and focus on an individual's life amid war in the early 20th century, similar to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, but without the sarcasm/humor/absurdism (detached contemplative tone continues). So, from feeling insignificant in the greater scheme of things in the first, to finding inner peace and coming to terms with that insignificance in the second. Not for everyone for sure due to the writing style and very dense concepts of human's place/purpose in the universe, and I find this second novel dry and less exciting (because it's more nuanced and 'down to earth' unlike the first, not scifi escapist enough lol), but has very important critiques about the Great War such as the pacifist hypocrisy of the Red Cross organization and collective survivors' guilt, among other unique glimpses on the Silent Generation ("...on the whole less trustworthy, less firm with themselves, less workmanlike, less rigorous in abstract thought, less fastidious in all spheres, more avid of pleasure, more prone to heartlessness, to brutality, to murder."). I am lightheartedly naming him the 'grandfather of cancel culture' lol as he pretty much criticized everyone in society e.g. the religious, scientists, philosophers etc.
There's a lot of quotable existentialist/philosophical messages and definitely does not read like a typical scifi novel -- while Last and First Men is a breathtaking grand scale journey of humankind's evolution through billions of years into the future, as told by godlike beings with a contemplative tone, often matter-of-fact and emotionally detached from some catastrophes that humans have faced. In Last Men in London these godlike beings go back to the 'past' and focus on an individual's life amid war in the early 20th century, similar to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, but without the sarcasm/humor/absurdism (detached contemplative tone continues). So, from feeling insignificant in the greater scheme of things in the first, to finding inner peace and coming to terms with that insignificance in the second. Not for everyone for sure due to the writing style and very dense concepts of human's place/purpose in the universe, and I find this second novel dry and less exciting (because it's more nuanced and 'down to earth' unlike the first, not scifi escapist enough lol), but has very important critiques about the Great War such as the pacifist hypocrisy of the Red Cross organization and collective survivors' guilt, among other unique glimpses on the Silent Generation ("...on the whole less trustworthy, less firm with themselves, less workmanlike, less rigorous in abstract thought, less fastidious in all spheres, more avid of pleasure, more prone to heartlessness, to brutality, to murder."). I am lightheartedly naming him the 'grandfather of cancel culture' lol as he pretty much criticized everyone in society e.g. the religious, scientists, philosophers etc.
July 21, 2020
For whatever reason, I found I just couldn't get into this book. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was about it, yet I found myself just largely indifferent to proceedings. Which is surprising as I am actually quite into a lot of vintage science fiction from HCM Watson's The Decline and Fall of the British Empire which was written in 1890 to the classics of 1950-60 and more modern stories such as those by Niven. So it's not just that Last Men In London is an early scifi book written in 1932. There's just something about it that, was frankly, dull. Perhaps it was the absence of relatable (or even fleshed our characters), or the strange circumstances or setting of the novel.
I read in one review after having finished this book that the reviewer thought 'There are serious problems with the book and at times it's virtually unreadable.' as well as stating 'I wouldn't recommend you read this without reading the other first, mainly because Last and First Men is an amazing book but this novel will put you off Stapledon for life.' and I can say he's spot on in those respects, and now having read this I have absolutely no desire at all to pick up another Stapledon book.
Overall, unless you're a really die hard scifi fan I'd avoid it. If you're really wanting to dive in perhaps take the above quoted reviewers tip and read Last and First Men first.
I read in one review after having finished this book that the reviewer thought 'There are serious problems with the book and at times it's virtually unreadable.' as well as stating 'I wouldn't recommend you read this without reading the other first, mainly because Last and First Men is an amazing book but this novel will put you off Stapledon for life.' and I can say he's spot on in those respects, and now having read this I have absolutely no desire at all to pick up another Stapledon book.
Overall, unless you're a really die hard scifi fan I'd avoid it. If you're really wanting to dive in perhaps take the above quoted reviewers tip and read Last and First Men first.
November 27, 2021
4/5 - Este libro es un intento del autor por entender el estado del mundo y de la humanidad como consecuencia del cataclismo existencial que representó la Primera Guerra Mundial.
Se siente como la tercera parte de una trilogía (aunque cronológicamente no fue así) que, de las escalas cósmicas a las escalas humanas, está conformada por 1) su brillante "Star Maker" (mi libro favorito), 2) "Last and First Men", y 3) este libro, que termina haciendo referencia a otra obra más: "Odd John".
"Last Men in London" tiene sus puntos brillantes y sus fallas, pero a través de toda su extensión es palpable la preocupación de Stapledon y su mirada analítica, como el filósofo que fue, ante el mundo que le tocó vivir, así como sus esperanzas por un mundo futuro más luminoso, comprensivo y empático, aunque nunca desprovisto de inevitables tragedias.
Se siente como la tercera parte de una trilogía (aunque cronológicamente no fue así) que, de las escalas cósmicas a las escalas humanas, está conformada por 1) su brillante "Star Maker" (mi libro favorito), 2) "Last and First Men", y 3) este libro, que termina haciendo referencia a otra obra más: "Odd John".
"Last Men in London" tiene sus puntos brillantes y sus fallas, pero a través de toda su extensión es palpable la preocupación de Stapledon y su mirada analítica, como el filósofo que fue, ante el mundo que le tocó vivir, así como sus esperanzas por un mundo futuro más luminoso, comprensivo y empático, aunque nunca desprovisto de inevitables tragedias.
April 17, 2024
The Last of the Last
This book is a continuation of Last and First Men. It’s far more introspective with a more expressive narrative and actual characters to follow throughout. That put most people off after the first book which featured a different style. But, I understand why he made the change. He wanted to speak to that which makes us most human and offer us an alternative to the world we’re currently building, which is so confused and bloodied by a lack of focus on what we could be. He instead declares, “Be better. Touch grass or something.” But in far more eloquent words, through a character that grows alongside us and reaches conclusions that also take us time to absorb. This book would be far more influential were it better known.
That said, I encourage you to read it and develop a keener sense of what it means…or should mean, to be human
This book is a continuation of Last and First Men. It’s far more introspective with a more expressive narrative and actual characters to follow throughout. That put most people off after the first book which featured a different style. But, I understand why he made the change. He wanted to speak to that which makes us most human and offer us an alternative to the world we’re currently building, which is so confused and bloodied by a lack of focus on what we could be. He instead declares, “Be better. Touch grass or something.” But in far more eloquent words, through a character that grows alongside us and reaches conclusions that also take us time to absorb. This book would be far more influential were it better known.
That said, I encourage you to read it and develop a keener sense of what it means…or should mean, to be human
June 11, 2023
Completing the Olaf Stapledon canon here 🦍 this is a good one to end on - embodies why I don’t give every book of his 5 stars (Odd John yes)… first 50 pages feel written by a god… then god doesn’t know how to wrap things up.
June 30, 2021
This is the greatest science fiction novel ever written...
March 14, 2015
I've read "Star Maker", "Odd John" and "Sirius", but not yet "Last and First Men". It has the Neptunian as the narrator, and Paul, the narrator's host, as a semblance of a main character.
This book is written in the signature Stapledon's narration style. It puts into words many interesting yet vague ideas about the nature of humanity as a whole, making it feel like a lively essay in modern anthropology. True, some of the implied ideas are questionable, but overall the reading experience is like a mind exercise. The writing, with its long conceptual sentences, often holds something that resembles academic-level dryness, making it feel like a heavy read sometimes. And of course, like Stapledon's other works, it is punctuated by the preachy tone, and made even more so by the fact that this book was written in a detached, auto biographical context.
But as I mentioned, the dryness was quite obvious, and compared with other works that I've read from him, it didn't bring much of anything new or fantastic, mostly it's accommodating the authors' philosophies with the happenings and life in the early twentieth century. The amusement factor was lower here compared to his other works.
My favorite part would be when he touched on Paul's encounter with a superhuman, hinting at the concept Stapledon explored in "Odd John". That's where it gets the most intriguing. I'd give this part 4 stars, brief as it is. In fact, its brief yet impressive presentation makes it feel like "Odd John" summarized, and a less boring version.
It's an interesting read if you're interested in anthropology and sociology tinged with the spirit of humanism presented in Stapledon's semi-fictional approach. But it's not his best, hence my rating of 3 stars.
Still, it's enough to encourage me to read "Last and First Men" next. I heard it's his most highly-acclaimed work, and better.
This book is written in the signature Stapledon's narration style. It puts into words many interesting yet vague ideas about the nature of humanity as a whole, making it feel like a lively essay in modern anthropology. True, some of the implied ideas are questionable, but overall the reading experience is like a mind exercise. The writing, with its long conceptual sentences, often holds something that resembles academic-level dryness, making it feel like a heavy read sometimes. And of course, like Stapledon's other works, it is punctuated by the preachy tone, and made even more so by the fact that this book was written in a detached, auto biographical context.
But as I mentioned, the dryness was quite obvious, and compared with other works that I've read from him, it didn't bring much of anything new or fantastic, mostly it's accommodating the authors' philosophies with the happenings and life in the early twentieth century. The amusement factor was lower here compared to his other works.
My favorite part would be when he touched on Paul's encounter with a superhuman, hinting at the concept Stapledon explored in "Odd John". That's where it gets the most intriguing. I'd give this part 4 stars, brief as it is. In fact, its brief yet impressive presentation makes it feel like "Odd John" summarized, and a less boring version.
It's an interesting read if you're interested in anthropology and sociology tinged with the spirit of humanism presented in Stapledon's semi-fictional approach. But it's not his best, hence my rating of 3 stars.
Still, it's enough to encourage me to read "Last and First Men" next. I heard it's his most highly-acclaimed work, and better.
June 18, 2008
Unlike Last and First Men, the autobiographical element of this semi-sequel makes it more readable.
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