Star Maker

by Olaf Stapledon

Overview

'A prodigious novel ... Stapledon's literary imagination was boundless' Jorge Luis Borges

A lasting influence on successive generations of science fiction writers and on the physicist Freeman Dyson, this poetic, philosophical tale of one man's unexpected voyage through the universe is imbued with a sense of mystery and vast cosmic loneliness.

'The most wonderful novel I have ever read ... Star Maker remains light years ahead' Brian Aldiss

'Probably the most powerful work of imagination ever written' Arthur C. Clarke

'A unique genius' Doris Lessing

'One of the most creative thinkers of our time' Greg Bear

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141992914
Publisher:	Penguin UK
Publication date:	06/03/2021
Series:	Penguin Science Fiction
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Olaf Stapleon (1886-1950) was born in Cheshire and educated at the University of Oxford. In his early career he worked as a teacher in Manchester and in shipping offices in Liverpool and Egypt. A pacifist and conscientious objector, he drove ambulances in the First World War and won a medal for bravery. He was later awarded a doctorate in philosophy and turned to fiction writing in the hope of making his ideas more widely available. His two masterpieces, Last and First Men (1930) and Star Maker (1937), contributed many ideas to science fiction and profoundly influenced numerous subsequent writers.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xi
	Acknowledgments	xvii
	Introduction	xix
	Preface	3
I	The Earth	7
1.	The Starting Point	7
2.	Earth Among the Stars	11
II	Interstellar Travel	16
III	The Other Earth	27
1.	On the Other Earth	27
2.	A Busy World	32
3.	Prospects of the Race	47
IV	I Travel Again	60
V	Worlds Innumerable	70
1.	The Diversity of Worlds	70
2.	Strange Mankinds	77
3.	Nautiloids	87
VI	Intimations of the Star Maker	94
VII	More Worlds	100
1.	A Symbiotic Race	100
2.	Composite Beings	111
3.	Plant Men and Others	120
VIII	Concerning the Explorers	131
IX	The Community of Worlds	137
1.	Busy Utopias	137
2.	Intermundane Strife	146
3.	A Crisis in Galactic History	158
4.	Triumph in a Sub-Galaxy	161
5.	The Tragedy of the Perverts	168
6.	A Galactic Utopia	172
X	A Vision of the Galaxy	177
XI	Stars and Vermin	187
1.	The Many Galaxies	187
2.	Disaster in Our Galaxy	189
3.	Stars	194
4.	Galactic Symbiosis	204
XII	A Stunted Cosmical Spirit	210
XIII	The Beginning and the End	213
1.	Back to the Nebulae	213
2.	The Supreme Moment Nears	218
3.	The Supreme Moment and After	223
XIV	The Myth of Creation	232
XV	The Maker and His Works	236
1.	Immature Creating	236
2.	Mature Creating	246
3.	The Ultimate Cosmos and the Eternal Spirit	253
XVI	Epilogue: Back to Earth	258
	A Note on Magnitude	265
	Time Scales	267
	Glossary	271
	Notes	281
	Bibliography	307

What People are Saying About This

Robert Shelton

“Star Maker is a masterpiece in the field of science fiction, a bursting to the brim compendium of ideas for later science fiction writers.”

From the Publisher

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"Star Maker is a masterpiece in the field of science fiction, a bursting to the brim compendium of ideas for later science fiction writers."—Robert Shelton, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Michigan State University

Robert Crossley

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."
— Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

Editorial Reviews

The Wesleyan Early Classics of Science Fiction presents the first scholarly edition of Olaf Stapledon's 1937 masterpiece, Star Maker, edited by Patrick A. McCarthy. Physicist Freeman Dyson provides a foreword. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"Star Maker is a masterpiece in the field of science fiction, a bursting to the brim compendium of ideas for later science fiction writers."—Robert Shelton, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Michigan State University

From the Publisher