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Stapledon's fiction often presents the strivings of some intelligence that is beaten down by an indifferent universe and its inhabitants who, through no fault of their own, fail to comprehend its lofty yearnings. It is filled with protagonists who are tormented by the conflict between their "higher" and "lower" impulses.<ref name="jk" />
Stapledon's fiction often presents the strivings of some intelligence that is beaten down by an indifferent universe and its inhabitants who, through no fault of their own, fail to comprehend its lofty yearnings. It is filled with protagonists who are tormented by the conflict between their "higher" and "lower" impulses.<ref name="jk" />


Stapledon's writings directly influenced [[Arthur C. Clarke]],<ref>https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/looking-far-far-future-olaf-stapledon/</ref> [[Brian Aldiss]],<ref>http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/06.html</ref> [[Stanisław Lem]], [[Bertrand Russell]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Alien Life Imagined: Communicating the Science and Culture of Astrobiology|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139851091|page=225|author=Mark Brake|quote=Stapledon's writings greatly influenced not only key players in our own story on pluralism, such as Arthur C. Clarke and Stanislaw Lem, but also figures as diverse as Jorge Luis Borges, Bertrand Russell, Tom Wintringham, Virginia Woolf, and Winston Churchill.}}</ref> [[John Gloag]],<ref>Ruddick, Nicholas, "Science Fiction", in Brian W. Shaffer, John Clement Ball, Patrick O'Donnell, David W. Madden and Justus Nieland, The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction. John Wiley & Sons, 2010 {{ISBN|1405192445}},(p. 333).</ref> [[Naomi Mitchison]],<ref>"Mitchison, Naomi", in ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature A Checklist, 1700–1974 : with Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II''. Robert Reginald, Douglas Menville, Mary A. Burgess Detroit – Gale Research Company. {{ISBN|0810310511}} (p. 1002)</ref> [[C. S. Lewis]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Leibovitz|first=Liel|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/81969/star-men|title=Star Men|journal=[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]]|date=1 November 2011|accessdate=1 March 2016}} Also, C.S. Lewis cites Olaf Stapledon as an inspiration in his preface to ''[[That Hideous Strength]]''.</ref> [[Vernor Vinge]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Menon |first=Anil |url=http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030915/vinge.shtml |title=Article: Interview: Vernor Vinge |publisher=Strangehorizons.com |date= |accessdate=24 November 2013}}</ref> [[John Maynard Smith]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Dvorsky|first=George|url=http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2004/04/john-maynard-smith-and-olaf-stapledon.html| title=John Maynard Smith and Olaf Stapledon|date=24 April 2004|accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref> and indirectly influenced many others, contributing many ideas to the world of science fiction. The "supermind" composed of many individual consciousnesses forms a recurring theme in his work. ''[[Star Maker]]'' contains the first known description of what are now called [[Dyson sphere]]s. [[Freeman Dyson]] credits the novel with giving him the idea, even stating in an interview that "Stapledon sphere" would be a more appropriate name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meaningoflife.tv/transcript.php?speaker=dyson |title=MeaningofLife.tv |publisher=MeaningofLife.tv |date= |accessdate=24 November 2013}}</ref> ''[[Last and First Men]]'' features early descriptions of [[genetic engineering]] and [[terraforming]]. ''[[Sirius (novel)|Sirius]]'' describes a dog whose intelligence is increased to the level of a human being's.
Stapledon's writings directly influenced [[Arthur C. Clarke]],<ref>https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/looking-far-far-future-olaf-stapledon/</ref> [[Brian Aldiss]],<ref>http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/06.html</ref> [[Stanisław Lem]], [[Bertrand Russell]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Alien Life Imagined: Communicating the Science and Culture of Astrobiology|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139851091|page=225|author=Mark Brake|quote=Stapledon's writings greatly influenced not only key players in our own story on pluralism, such as Arthur C. Clarke and Stanislaw Lem, but also figures as diverse as Jorge Luis Borges, Bertrand Russell, Tom Wintringham, Virginia Woolf, and Winston Churchill.}}</ref> [[John Gloag]],<ref>Ruddick, Nicholas, "Science Fiction", in Brian W. Shaffer, John Clement Ball, Patrick O'Donnell, David W. Madden and Justus Nieland, The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction. John Wiley & Sons, 2010 {{ISBN|1405192445}},(p. 333).</ref> [[Naomi Mitchison]],<ref>"Mitchison, Naomi", in ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature A Checklist, 1700–1974 : with Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II''. Robert Reginald, Douglas Menville, Mary A. Burgess Detroit – Gale Research Company. {{ISBN|0810310511}} (p. 1002)</ref> [[C. S. Lewis]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Leibovitz|first=Liel|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/81969/star-men|title=Star Men|journal=[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]]|date=1 November 2011|accessdate=1 March 2016}} Also, C.S. Lewis cites Olaf Stapledon as an inspiration in his preface to ''[[That Hideous Strength]]''.</ref> [[Vernor Vinge]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Menon |first=Anil |url=http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030915/vinge.shtml |title=Article: Interview: Vernor Vinge |publisher=Strangehorizons.com |date= |accessdate=24 November 2013 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203143751/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030915/vinge.shtml |archivedate=3 December 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[John Maynard Smith]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Dvorsky|first=George|url=http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2004/04/john-maynard-smith-and-olaf-stapledon.html| title=John Maynard Smith and Olaf Stapledon|date=24 April 2004|accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref> and indirectly influenced many others, contributing many ideas to the world of science fiction. The "supermind" composed of many individual consciousnesses forms a recurring theme in his work. ''[[Star Maker]]'' contains the first known description of what are now called [[Dyson sphere]]s. [[Freeman Dyson]] credits the novel with giving him the idea, even stating in an interview that "Stapledon sphere" would be a more appropriate name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meaningoflife.tv/transcript.php?speaker=dyson |title=MeaningofLife.tv |publisher=MeaningofLife.tv |date= |accessdate=24 November 2013}}</ref> ''[[Last and First Men]]'' features early descriptions of [[genetic engineering]] and [[terraforming]]. ''[[Sirius (novel)|Sirius]]'' describes a dog whose intelligence is increased to the level of a human being's.


Some commentators have called Stapledon a Marxist, although Stapledon distanced himself from the label.<ref>"I am not a Marxist, but I have learned much from Marxists, and I am not anti-Marxist... Marxism and Christianity spring from the same emotional experience, but each in its way misinterprets, falsifies." quoted in Geoghegan, Vincent, ''Socialism and Religion: Roads to Common Wealth''.</ref> Stapledon's work also refers to then-contemporary intellectual fashions (e.g. the belief in [[extrasensory perception]]).
Some commentators have called Stapledon a Marxist, although Stapledon distanced himself from the label.<ref>"I am not a Marxist, but I have learned much from Marxists, and I am not anti-Marxist... Marxism and Christianity spring from the same emotional experience, but each in its way misinterprets, falsifies." quoted in Geoghegan, Vincent, ''Socialism and Religion: Roads to Common Wealth''.</ref> Stapledon's work also refers to then-contemporary intellectual fashions (e.g. the belief in [[extrasensory perception]]).
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==External links==
==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.sfhub.ac.uk/Stapledon.htm Olaf Stapledon Archive] at the [[University of Liverpool]] SF Hub
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051028102900/http://www.sfhub.ac.uk/Stapledon.htm Olaf Stapledon Archive] at the [[University of Liverpool]] SF Hub
* [http://olafstapledonarchive.webs.com Olaf Stapledon Online Archive, featuring out-of-print fiction, nonfiction and poetry, together with near-complete bibliography]
* [http://olafstapledonarchive.webs.com Olaf Stapledon Online Archive, featuring out-of-print fiction, nonfiction and poetry, together with near-complete bibliography]
* [http://www.gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-n-z.html#letterS Works at Project Gutenberg Australia]
* [http://www.gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-n-z.html#letterS Works at Project Gutenberg Australia]

Revision as of 01:57, 28 November 2017

Olaf Stapledon
Born(1886-05-10)10 May 1886
Seacombe, Wallasey, Cheshire, England, UK
Died6 September 1950(1950-09-06) (aged 64)
Caldy, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom
OccupationNovelist, philosopher
GenreScience fiction, philosophy
Notable worksStar Maker, Last and First Men, Odd John

William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of

Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
.

Life

Stapledon was born in

MA degree in 1913.[3][4] After a brief stint as a teacher at Manchester Grammar School he worked in shipping offices in Liverpool and Port Said from 1910 to 1912. From 1912 to 1915 Stapledon worked with the Liverpool branch of the Workers' Educational Association.[2]

During the

First World War he served as a conscientious objector.[2] Stapledon became an ambulance driver with the Friends' Ambulance Unit in France and Belgium from July 1915 to January 1919; he was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery.[5] On 16 July 1919 he married Agnes Zena Miller (1894–1984), an Australian cousin.[2] They had first met in 1903, and later maintained a correspondence throughout the war. They had a daughter, Mary Sydney Stapledon (1920–2008), and a son, John David Stapledon (1923–2014). In 1920 they moved to West Kirby
.

Stapledon was awarded a PhD degree in philosophy from the University of Liverpool in 1925 and used his doctoral thesis as the basis for his first published prose book, A Modern Theory of Ethics (1929).[5] However, he soon turned to fiction in the hope of presenting his ideas to a wider public. The relative success of Last and First Men (1930) prompted him to become a full-time writer. He wrote a sequel, Last Men in London, and followed it up with many more books of both fiction and philosophy.[6]

For the duration of the Second World War Stapledon abandoned his pacifism and supported the war effort.

World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace in Wrocław, Poland. He attended the Conference for World Peace held in New York City in 1949, the only Briton to be granted a visa to do so. In 1950 he became involved with the anti-apartheid movement. After a week of lectures in Paris, he cancelled a projected trip to Yugoslavia and returned to his home in Caldy, where he died very suddenly of a heart attack.[5]

Stapledon was cremated at Landican Crematorium. His widow and their children scattered his ashes on the sandy cliffs overlooking the Dee Estuary, a favourite spot of his that features in more than one of his books. Stapledon Wood, on the south-east side of Caldy Hill, is named after him.[8]

Works

Stapledon's fiction often presents the strivings of some intelligence that is beaten down by an indifferent universe and its inhabitants who, through no fault of their own, fail to comprehend its lofty yearnings. It is filled with protagonists who are tormented by the conflict between their "higher" and "lower" impulses.[2]

Stapledon's writings directly influenced Arthur C. Clarke,[9] Brian Aldiss,[10] Stanisław Lem, Bertrand Russell,[11] John Gloag,[12] Naomi Mitchison,[13] C. S. Lewis,[14] Vernor Vinge,[15] John Maynard Smith[16] and indirectly influenced many others, contributing many ideas to the world of science fiction. The "supermind" composed of many individual consciousnesses forms a recurring theme in his work. Star Maker contains the first known description of what are now called Dyson spheres. Freeman Dyson credits the novel with giving him the idea, even stating in an interview that "Stapledon sphere" would be a more appropriate name.[17] Last and First Men features early descriptions of genetic engineering and terraforming. Sirius describes a dog whose intelligence is increased to the level of a human being's.

Some commentators have called Stapledon a Marxist, although Stapledon distanced himself from the label.[18] Stapledon's work also refers to then-contemporary intellectual fashions (e.g. the belief in extrasensory perception).

Last and First Men, a "future history" of 18 successive species of humanity, and Star Maker, an outline history of the Universe, were highly acclaimed by figures as diverse as

religious institutions,[22] but not to religious yearnings, a fact that set him at odds with H. G. Wells in their correspondence.[citation needed
]

None of Stapledon's novels or short stories has been adapted for film or television, although George Pal bought the rights to Odd John. Castle of Frankenstein magazine reported in 1966 that David McCallum would play the title role.[23]

Together with his philosophy lectureship at the University of Liverpool, which now houses the Olaf Stapledon archive, Stapledon lectured in

industrial history and psychology. He wrote many non-fiction books on political and ethical subjects, in which he advocated the growth of "spiritual values", which he defined as those values expressive of a yearning for greater awareness of the self in a larger context ("personality-in-community").[2] Stapledon himself named his spiritual values as intelligence, love and creative action.[24]

In nations with "life + 70 years" copyright regimes, Stapledon's published works will be in the public domain from 2021.

Bibliography

Fiction

Non-fiction

Poetry

  • Latter-Day Psalms (1914)

Collections

See also

References

  1. ISBN 1135285349
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0912289279
    (pp. 693–6).
  3. ISBN 978-0-916732-55-4
  4. ^ Oxford University Calendar, 1915, p. 182
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780415668286
    (pp. 85–108).
  6. ISBN 978-0-684-16740-4
  7. ISBN 1872210198
    (p. 50)
  8. ^ "Cheshire Now – Caldy Hill". Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  9. ^ https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/looking-far-far-future-olaf-stapledon/
  10. ^ http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/06.html
  11. ISBN 9781139851091
    . Stapledon's writings greatly influenced not only key players in our own story on pluralism, such as Arthur C. Clarke and Stanislaw Lem, but also figures as diverse as Jorge Luis Borges, Bertrand Russell, Tom Wintringham, Virginia Woolf, and Winston Churchill.
  12. ISBN 1405192445
    ,(p. 333).
  13. ISBN 0810310511
    (p. 1002)
  14. ^ Leibovitz, Liel (1 November 2011). "Star Men". Tablet. Retrieved 1 March 2016. Also, C.S. Lewis cites Olaf Stapledon as an inspiration in his preface to That Hideous Strength.
  15. ^ Menon, Anil. "Article: Interview: Vernor Vinge". Strangehorizons.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Dvorsky, George (24 April 2004). "John Maynard Smith and Olaf Stapledon". Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  17. ^ "MeaningofLife.tv". MeaningofLife.tv. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  18. ^ "I am not a Marxist, but I have learned much from Marxists, and I am not anti-Marxist... Marxism and Christianity spring from the same emotional experience, but each in its way misinterprets, falsifies." quoted in Geoghegan, Vincent, Socialism and Religion: Roads to Common Wealth.
  19. ^ Blackwood, Algernon. "Cosmic Thrillers",(Review of Last and First Men, Time and Tide, 20 December 1930. Reprinted in Fantasy Commentator magazine, 6(2):134–136. Fall 1988.
  20. ISBN 1-85798-806-X
    pp. ix–xi.
  21. ISBN 9780684843117
    .
  22. ISBN 9780815602811
    . In a lecture to the New Renascence School in London, he reiterated the central paradox of his own spiritual life: "Agnosticism, far from destroying religion, is the gateway to live religion." ...In a 1949 anthology on religion, Olaf gave simple, precise expression to a problem he had wrestled with all his life: the emotional inadequacy of atheism and the intellectual unacceptability of theism. Spirit, for him, meant a character of aspiration, not a substance attributed to souls or deities.
  23. ^ "Article: "The Man from M.O.N.S.T.E.R." Castle of Frankenstein, volume 2, No. 4 (1966)". David McCallum Fans Online. Retrieved 25 January 2008.
  24. ^ Olaf Stapledon. "The Great Certainty". Retrieved 5 May 2016.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Olaf Stapledon.
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