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To the End of Time
A Collection of the Best of Olaf Stapledon
775 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1953
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About the author
Olaf Stapledon
105 books566 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 11, 2011
“To The End Of Time” is a collection of Olaf Stapledon’s four most famous novels: “Last and First Men”, “Star Maker”, “Odd John”, “Sirius”; and his novella, “The Flames”. On the surface, this pulls together all of his most significant works of fiction, but there are some problems with the collection as well. Also included is an Introduction by Basil Davenport, who also made the decisions on how to present the material. This collection was originally published in 1953, and in 1956 it ranked 13th on the Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll.
The collection opens with “Last and First Men” which was originally published in 1930 and which many people consider to be Stapledon’s best. However, in this case the editorial decision to truncate the work by omitting most of chapter one, all of chapter two, and part of chapter three makes this not a good choice for those who wish to read the novel. Many people have suggested omitting pieces of this long novel, but the final decision should be left to the reader, and not forced upon them by the editor.
My personal favorite is next, the amazing “Star Maker” which was originally published in 1937, and builds on top of “Last and First Men”, but does so in such a way that one doesn’t have to have read that work prior to reading Star Maker”. Next up is 1935’s “Odd John”, and that is followed by “Sirius” from 1944. The collection closes with “The Flames” which was originally published in 1947. All of these works are published in their entirety, so while this is not the book to buy if one wants to read “Last and First Men”, it is a good way to collect the three other major novels as well as the novella.
To be sure, there are a number of editions of “Star Maker” available which enhance the reading experience of that novel as well, so once again I would not pick this volume based solely on getting that particular work. Overall, I would give this collection four stars, but had it provided a complete copy of “Last and First Men” it would easily rank 5 stars for the convenience of getting all of Stapledon’s major works in one volume.
The collection opens with “Last and First Men” which was originally published in 1930 and which many people consider to be Stapledon’s best. However, in this case the editorial decision to truncate the work by omitting most of chapter one, all of chapter two, and part of chapter three makes this not a good choice for those who wish to read the novel. Many people have suggested omitting pieces of this long novel, but the final decision should be left to the reader, and not forced upon them by the editor.
My personal favorite is next, the amazing “Star Maker” which was originally published in 1937, and builds on top of “Last and First Men”, but does so in such a way that one doesn’t have to have read that work prior to reading Star Maker”. Next up is 1935’s “Odd John”, and that is followed by “Sirius” from 1944. The collection closes with “The Flames” which was originally published in 1947. All of these works are published in their entirety, so while this is not the book to buy if one wants to read “Last and First Men”, it is a good way to collect the three other major novels as well as the novella.
To be sure, there are a number of editions of “Star Maker” available which enhance the reading experience of that novel as well, so once again I would not pick this volume based solely on getting that particular work. Overall, I would give this collection four stars, but had it provided a complete copy of “Last and First Men” it would easily rank 5 stars for the convenience of getting all of Stapledon’s major works in one volume.
February 12, 2010
Published in 1953 by Funk&Wagnall's Company, To the End of Time contains several of Olaf Stapledon's masterworks, including "Last and First Men," "Star Maker," "Sirius," "The Flames," and what may be his best-known story, "Odd John." Selected and introduced by Basil Davenport, this collection gives us a detailed overview of Stapledon's vision, that of a universe that is at once inconceivably strange and all too familiar, whose tragedy is the ultimate futility of existence and the artist's creativity, and whose great triumph is its enormous diversity, complexity, and richness.
Stapledon's first novel, Last and First Men, was written in 1930, the same year in which Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, and modern science fiction, dating from the first publication of Amazing Stories, the first magazine in the field, was only four years old. His last, A Man Divided, was published in 1950. During the 20-year interval between those two dates, Stapledon produced a series of science-fiction novels expressing one of the greatest creative minds that ever graced the genre. Yet most of those novels, as of 1953, had never been published in America, and were unknown in this country in any first-hand medium as of that time. Since then, that glaring lack of attention to his work in America has since been made up for many times over; and even before 1953, his ideas and inventions turned up everywhere, though without his name attached to them. An inspiration to good writers and a vast quarry for hacks, he produced archetypal stories that became staples in the genre: the mutant who is both prodigy and monster; the dog whose intelligence is equal to ours; the ruin of a world due to a nuclear chain-reaction; the superman who is not the oppressor of humanity, but rather its potential savior and actual victim; alien intelligences like nothing Earth ever gave birth to, not animal, plant, fungal, or microbial; controlled evolution and artificial intelligence -- all these ideas are contained in Stapledon's fiction, and either originated with him or were taken from the literary world's junk-bin and polished by him to stellar perfection.
Davenport says of Stapledon that he was one of those individuals who can best say their stories in the form of myths. His mystic intuition, which could not be fully stated in logical form, was best expressed in the form of novels -- as was true of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. That Stapledon is not now ranked among those shining lights of the literary heavens is due not to any failure on his part, but rather to the ignorance of a public conditioned to regard science-fiction as the province of either nuts-and-bolts hardcore realism or the realm of fairies, unicorns, and other nebulosities. A contemporary of H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard, Stapledon belongs with them on the shelves of anyone who cares about the best of science-fiction and other visionary works.
Stapledon's first novel, Last and First Men, was written in 1930, the same year in which Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, and modern science fiction, dating from the first publication of Amazing Stories, the first magazine in the field, was only four years old. His last, A Man Divided, was published in 1950. During the 20-year interval between those two dates, Stapledon produced a series of science-fiction novels expressing one of the greatest creative minds that ever graced the genre. Yet most of those novels, as of 1953, had never been published in America, and were unknown in this country in any first-hand medium as of that time. Since then, that glaring lack of attention to his work in America has since been made up for many times over; and even before 1953, his ideas and inventions turned up everywhere, though without his name attached to them. An inspiration to good writers and a vast quarry for hacks, he produced archetypal stories that became staples in the genre: the mutant who is both prodigy and monster; the dog whose intelligence is equal to ours; the ruin of a world due to a nuclear chain-reaction; the superman who is not the oppressor of humanity, but rather its potential savior and actual victim; alien intelligences like nothing Earth ever gave birth to, not animal, plant, fungal, or microbial; controlled evolution and artificial intelligence -- all these ideas are contained in Stapledon's fiction, and either originated with him or were taken from the literary world's junk-bin and polished by him to stellar perfection.
Davenport says of Stapledon that he was one of those individuals who can best say their stories in the form of myths. His mystic intuition, which could not be fully stated in logical form, was best expressed in the form of novels -- as was true of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. That Stapledon is not now ranked among those shining lights of the literary heavens is due not to any failure on his part, but rather to the ignorance of a public conditioned to regard science-fiction as the province of either nuts-and-bolts hardcore realism or the realm of fairies, unicorns, and other nebulosities. A contemporary of H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard, Stapledon belongs with them on the shelves of anyone who cares about the best of science-fiction and other visionary works.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews