Journal Article

2017: A Clarke Odyssey, Canterbury Christ Church University, 9 December 2017

Speller, Maureen Kincaid

2018

Overview

[...]as Sawyer went on to argue, it was E.C. Tubb who first gave readers the idea of space travel as a living economy within a mundane environment, contrasting sharply with Clarke's 'stoic utopianism' and Heinlein's persistent argument for commercial space activity. [...]Thomas Connolly, who had passed his PhD viva only the day before, looked at the relationship between Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, arguing that Asimov's view of humanity was a largely mechanistic vision, marked by determinist sociohistorical forces such as psychohistory. [...]Patrick Parrinder suggested that belatedness is the key to reading Clarke's Action, and went on to note how his characters are often interested in archaeology, in a professional or amateur capacity. Parrinder argued that the Monoliths, Rama and the artificial moon labelled Jupiter 5 should all be considered as time capsules, and proposed that all Clarke's characters live in a future where they have a strong sense of their own belatedness.

• Publisher: Science Fiction Foundation
• Subject: British & Irish literature / Buddhism / Christianity / Clarke, Arthur C / Conferences / Heroism & heroes / Literary characters / Literary devices / Literary influences / Literature / Narrative techniques / Plot (Narrative) / Readers / Science fiction & fantasy / Short stories