Hardly anything has approached the sheer audacity of its scale in SF ever since, mostly because the pulp constraints dictated it to be of minimal length, so Clarke's concepts had to be concentrated in a novella! Granted, it has been expanded into a novel, and not just once (I have not read Gregory Benford's version as yet), but this singular chunk of wide-eyed adventure reads better, perhaps, in a novella form. Brevity is certainly a virtue. Your mind's imagination can expand upon the vista, if you so desire.
The IMAX-large narrative consists of escaping the closed, stagnated world of the last City, undertaking the quest for Universal meaning and the uncovering of stupendous artifacts, the conflict between urban and pastoral ways of life, and many hints of Something Larger than yourself or your world. Edmond Hamilton might've written it. Leigh Brackett might've written it (in less optimistic tones, perhaps). Clarke however did it at the beginning of his career, with grace and a surprisingly "non-stuffy" style. This novel could benefit from a more fluid style of writing and more polished prose, but it remains a splendid canvas on which your imagination can fly — short, of course, of some Dante, William Hope Hodgson's or Tolkien's world-building.
Critics note that the space opera is undergoing a modern renaissance as a genre. True, we have a veritable British Invasion of fine writers (Reynolds, Stross, Hamilton, Banks, Asher, to name a few) and we may safely say that Grand Adventure is alive and well (maybe it just feels different among the endless "door-stopper" trilogies in Chapters, you know). One good example is Alastair Reynolds' recent gritty and sweeping in scale Pushing Ice, where a planet gets abducted into an alien cosmological structure, which in turn is a part and a mechanism in an even bigger super-structure of it all. We live in fortunate times indeed, able to sample such cool new epics together with the older classics of space adventures (and even some rare pulp stuff).
I hesitate however to broadly apply the term "modern space opera". Many books remain "adventures" only, and may be all the better for it. Stanley Weinbaum’s sophisticated planetary romps were definite Golden Age space adventures, but to graduate to the “opera” status, one has to shift the focus from the characters and single ideas to the “concepts” and “principalities and powers”. Yes, it is essentially a scale shift, and not always for the better. My personal preference would be toward scaled-down but more wondrous stories… simply because it is much harder to do it properly on a larger scale (it tends to dull your sense of wonder). It’s hard to write poetically about civilizations perishing in a blink. On the other hand, it is perfectly possible to write a monumentally engrossing thriller (with some grandiose and smart ideas) happening on a single spaceship, or a submarine (Frank Herbert did that in Under Pressure).
Article comments
1 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Interesting that you should write about the space opera - particularly given our modern unwillingness to venture beyond even the moon, and our insistence on spilling blood and money on stupid wars.
The review was fine, well written and does convey your own sense of wonder at Arthur Clarke's story. But there is a reason for the cynical "been there, done that," attitude, at least in this reader/writer.
Frankly, Avi, I was hoping to read about mining expeditions on Mars and the moons of Jupiter in the newspapers in my lifetime, not in revvified space operas in my middle age. The space operas were designed, amongst other things, to fire up the public imagination about space travel and its possibilities. The ability is certainly there, the money is certainly there. Alas, the will and imagination and sense of adventure is not.
"The problem is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
Wm. Shakespeare
2 - Avi Abrams
Exactly my point! That special "sparkle in the eye" is lost today not only in fiction, but in the whole direction of our world. One can make a point that we should clean up and learn to live peacefully in our own backyard before venturing outside in space etc, but even so - witness the modern times! (I too have dreamed that in 2001 there will be Mars artifacts for sale in Walmart). And I am not speaking only about space: ocean exploration fares even worse. I read that we know only of a tip-of-the-needle area (less than 1%) of the misty depths where such creatures as a giant squid live (but nobody has seen them). We have a choice either to ignore outside and read cool adventure fiction, or read cool adventure fiction and DO go outside. Seems like we are trying at least to cover the first "reading" step, but even then we get sideswiped by TV and who cares? culture.
BTW thanks for cool comment! Jerusalem is a good place for a sip of espresso.
3 - Mary K. Williams
We have a choice either to ignore outside and read cool adventure fiction, or read cool adventure fiction and DO go outside. Seems like we are trying at least to cover the first "reading" step, but even then we get sideswiped by TV and who cares? culture.
Great Points Avi (and Ruvy), though I do love my TV - you have to wonder why with all the brain power in the world, more hasn't been explored.
Welcome to BC Avi. : )
4 - Avi Abrams
Thank you for the warm welcome. It feels great to join the "sinister cabal" :)
I'd watch TV if the quality of it would approach the big screen movie quality. So far everything made-for-TV (excluding news) seem to have the following written all over it: "I have all the time in the world. So I'm going to leisurely tell my story, dilute it with water, add sugar, spread cheese on top of it, etc - 'cause viewers have all the time in the world, too". Hmm, many people hardly have time to look at their shoelaces, so that not to stumble running around. Don't you think TV people should tighten up their act? (the writers of a long-winded epics should probably cut on amount of pages, too - but this is dictated more by the publishing standards, alas) In the meantime my TV box is switched on only to watch the DVDs. Or should I loosen up a little there and just start to consume that stuff as a chewing gum, or Tetris?
5 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Avi, the only difference between the TV progrqamming and the TV news is that the news has been spiced with horse manure instead of cheese or milk or sugar...