Terry Blanton wrote:
I never did understand what inspired Sir Clarke to write this novel.
That should be "Sir Arthur."
That's an interesting question. Yesterday a reviewer wrote: "In
Childhood's End, Clarke revealed himself as a fatalist and a mystic."
I told him I disagree. He referred me to:
". . . the entry for Clarke in "The Science Fiction Encyclopedia,"
edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls, revised edition (London:
Orbit, 1999)."
I would like to see that. If anyone has a copy, please send it to me.
I will check the Chamblee library.
Anyway, I told the reviewer:
"I think it would be more accurate to say he revealed a taste for
mystical fiction. He was not actually mystical. This is analogous to
saying that a murder mystery writer reveals a fascination with
violence and death even though he himself would not think of
committing a crime.
Clarke was often asked if he seriously believed in something like the
mass mind and the mystical aspects of the book. He said no; it was
just fiction. I suppose he had deep seated yearning toward the
mystical. But he was an atheist to the core, as you probably know."
I don't have any mystical & religious inclinations either, but I
greatly enjoy reading novels and fantasies about them, and listening
to Handel's "Messiah."
Clarke expressed admiration for the Buddhist and Muslim religions. I
can dig the former but I did not see why he liked the latter. They
seem like opposites to me.
Clarke expressed many different views about all kinds of things. He
was one of those people who could see all sides to an issue, and who
"contained multitudes" within -- a regular Walt Whitman. He was a
complicated person. More complicated that his detractors realized,
and more than he himself let on. He was certainly no Dr. Pangloss or
a naive technophile, as some people thought.
For details, see N. McAleer, "Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized
Biography" (1992), 430 pages.
- Jed
