''Star Maker'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novel by British writer

Olaf Stapledon William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) was an English philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction''. New York ...

, published in 1937. Continuing the theme of the author's previous book, ''

Last and First Men ''Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future'' is a "future history" science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from t ...

'' (1930)—which narrated a history of the human species over two billion years—it describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing the scale of the earlier work. ''Star Maker'' tackles philosophical themes such as the essence of life, of birth, decay and death, and the relationship between creation and creator. A pervading theme is that of progressive unity within and between different civilisations. Some of the elements and themes briefly discussed prefigure later fiction concerning

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

and alien life forms. Arthur C. Clarke considered ''Star Maker'' to be "probably the most powerful work of imagination ever written", and Brian W. Aldiss called it "the one great grey holy book of science fiction".

Plot

A human narrator from England is transported out of his body via unexplained means. He realises he is able to explore space and other planets. After exploring in some detail a civilisation on another planet in our galaxy, at a level of development similar to our own that existed millions of years ago, thousands of light years from Earth (the "Other Earth"), his mind merges with that of one of its inhabitants. As they travel together, they are joined by still more minds or group-minds. This snowballing process is parallelled by the expansion of the book's scale, describing more and more planets in less and less detail. The disembodied travellers encounter many ideas that are interesting from both science-fictional and philosophical points of view. These include many imaginative descriptions of species, civilisations and methods of warfare, descriptions of the

multiverse The multiverse is the hypothetical set of all universes. Together, these universes are presumed to comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describ ...

, and the idea that the stars and pre-galactic

nebula A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...

e are intelligent beings, operating on vast time scales. A key idea is the formation of collective minds from many telepathically-linked individuals, on the level of planets, galaxies, and eventually the

cosmos The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...

itself. A symbiotic species, each individual composed of two species, both non-humanoid, is discussed in detail. Normally detached from the galaxy's turmoil, they intervene in a deus ex machina to end the threat of a civilisation dedicated to forcing its mentality onto one stellar civilisation after another. The climax of the book is the "supreme moment of the cosmos", when the cosmic mind (which includes the narrator) attains momentary contact with the titular "Star Maker". The Star Maker is the creator of the universe, but stands in the same relation to it as an artist to his work, and calmly assesses its quality without any feeling for the suffering of its inhabitants. This element makes the novel one of Stapledon's efforts to write "an essay in

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

making". After meeting the Star Maker, the traveller is given a "fantastic myth or dream" in which he observes the Star Maker at work. He discovers that his own cosmos is only one of a vast number, and by no means the most significant. He sees the Star Maker's early work, and he learns that the Star Maker was surprised and intensely interested when some of his early "toy" universes (for example, a universe composed entirely of music with no spatial dimensions) displayed "modes of behaviour that were not in accord with the canon which he had ordained for them". He sees the Star Maker experimenting with more elaborate universes, which include the traveller's own universe; a triune universe which closely resembles "Christian orthodoxy" (the three universes respectively being

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

, and reality with presence of a saviour); and a branching universe similar to that of the

many-worlds interpretation The many-worlds interpretation (MWI) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts that the universal wavefunction is Philosophical realism, objectively real, and that there is no wave function collapse. This implies that all Possible ...

of quantum mechanics. The Star Maker goes on to create "mature" universes of extraordinary complexity, culminating in an "ultimate cosmos", through which the Star Maker fulfills his own eternal destiny as "the ground and crown of all things". Finally, the traveller returns to Earth at the place and time he left, to resume his life there.

Reception

The novel is one of the most highly acclaimed novels in science fiction. On publication, ''Star Maker'' received admiring reviews from L. P. Hartley,

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

and Howard Spring. After the publication of ''Star Maker'', both

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

and C. E. M. Joad wrote letters to Stapledon praising the book. Its admirers at the time of first publication saw it as one of the most brilliant, inventive, and daring science fiction books. Among its more famous admirers were

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for oc ...

, Doris Lessing, and Stanisław Lem. Borges wrote a prologue for a 1965 edition and called it "a prodigious novel". Lessing wrote an afterword for a UK edition.

Freeman Dyson Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was a British-American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrix, random matrices, math ...

was also a fan, admitting to basing his concept of

Dyson sphere A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its power output. The concept is a thought experiment that attempts to imagine how a spacefaring civilization would meet its energy re ...

s on a section of the book, even calling "Stapledon sphere" a better name for the idea. Among science fiction writers, Arthur C. Clarke has been most strongly influenced by Stapledon. Some of Stapledon's contemporaries were appalled at the book's philosophy: in a letter to Arthur C. Clarke in 1943,

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

described the ending as "sheer devil worship". Simon Blumenfeld in the August 1937 issue of the '' Left Review'' also gave the novel a negative review. Blumenfeld said that Stapledon was one of a group of "utopia-mongers" who were uninterested in the contemporary world and its problems.

In popular culture

It is referenced by Nancy Bellicec ( Veronica Cartwright) as "must reading" in the 1978 version of '' Invasion of the Body Snatchers''.

References

External links

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Book transcript by Project Gutenberg of Australia
{{Authority control 1937 British novels 1937 science fiction novels British science fiction novels Astral projection in popular culture British philosophical novels Works about the future Hive minds in fiction Methuen Publishing books Future history Novels about extraterrestrial life Novels about genetic engineering Novels about God Novels about parallel universes Novels about telepathy Novels about the end of the universe Novels about time travel Novels about virtual reality Novels by Olaf Stapledon Religion in science fiction

Plot

Reception

In popular culture

See also

References

External links