"Transience" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949 in the magazine ''

Startling Stories ''Startling Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1955 by publisher Ned Pines' Standard Magazines. It was initially edited by Mort Weisinger, who was also the editor of ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', S ...

''. It was later collected in ''

The Other Side of the Sky ''For the Memoir by Farah Ahmedi, See The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir'' ''The Other Side of the Sky'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by English writer Arthur C. Clarke, originally published in 1958. The stories all ori ...

'' and ''

The Nine Billion Names of God "The Nine Billion Names of God" is a 1953 science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. The story was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories ...

''.

Summary

The story is told through scenes of three children playing on the same beach on Earth, but across vast gulfs of time.

Development

Clarke wrote that the story was inspired by one of

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

's poems as well as his childhood memories.

Release

"Transience" was first published in the July 1949 issue of ''

''. The Beechhurst Press later published in the anthology volume ''

Looking Forward ''Looking Forward'' is the third and final studio album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and their fifth, overall. It is the fourteenth and final album when conflated with releases by the trio of Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was released on Reprise ...

'' in 1953. The story was also published in collections of some of Clark's work such as 1958's ''

'' and 1961's ''From the Ocean, from the Stars''. In 2001 the

University of Western Australia Press UWA Publishing, formerly known as the Text Books Board and then University of Western Australia Press, is a Western Australian publisher established in 1935 by the University of Western Australia. It produces a range of non-fiction and fiction t ...

published "Transience" in the anthology ''Earth is But a Star: Excursions Through Science Fiction to the Far Future''. "Transience" has been translated into four languages, Dutch, French, German, and Serbian.

Themes

Per

Gary Westfahl Gary Wesley Westfahl (born May 7, 1951) is an American scholar of science fiction. He has written reviews for the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''The Internet Review of Science Fiction'' and Locus Online. He worked at the University of California, River ...

, "Transience" is one of relatively few works by Clarke that mention the theme of

terraforming Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make ...

. Other themes in "Transience" include the passing of culture and time, the end of the world, and "the sea as seen".

Reception

John Hollow has described "Transience" as "more meditation than story". In a review for the 2001 collection ''Earth is But a Star: Excursions Through Science Fiction to the Far Future'', Jennifer Burwell favorably compared it to

Pamela Zoline Pamela Zoline (or Pamela Lifton-Zoline; born 1941) is an American writer and painter, born in Chicago, living in the United States in Telluride, Colorado. Background Among science fiction fans, she is known for her controversial short story "The ...

's "The Heat Death of the Universe" and noted that the story "barely hints at the circumstances that ultimately lead to humans abandoning their home on earth. Clarke at once invites the reader to immerse herself in the melancholy sensibility of the story, and invited to take the active role of a detective searching between the lines to uncover."

Adaptations

The story has been adapted into a musical piece ''The Tentacles of the Dark Nebula'' by

David Bedford David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...

References

External links

* {{Arthur C. Clarke Short stories by Arthur C. Clarke 1949 short stories Works originally published in Startling Stories