Childhood's End

Duncan Lawie, our in-house science fiction book reviewer has returned from Christmas, this time with a look at Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. With the recent appearances of Clarke in AfterY2k, I'm almost afraid to put anything up by him *grin*. Nonetheless, click below to read more about this somewhat flawed novel. Childhood's End author Arthur C. Clarke pages 200 publisher Pan, 1953/1990 rating 7/10 reviewer Duncan Lawie ISBN 0345347951 summary Alien visitation leads to transformation of the human race in a novel. Arthur C. Clarke has become an "elder figure" in this age of the Western World: each pronouncement he makes on the future is widely reported; he is generally credited with the invention of the communications satellite; he was knighted in 1998; there is a British science fiction award named after him. His career in science fiction has lasted 50 years and many of his novels are considered classics of the field. His early work has a distinctly different flavour to that of his American contemporaries whilst 2001:A Space Odyssey propelled his career to a whole new level.

Childhood's End was Clarke's fourth novel and is one of the books on which his career is founded. It was originally published in 1953 and republished with an introduction and a radically altered first chapter in 1990. It is a novel of visitation by aliens and the vast changes in humanity which result. Of course, many science fiction stories of every vintage could be summarised identically. Clarke displays his awareness of this early in the book when he outlines many of the alternative paths the novel could take and dismisses these possibilities. The story told is profound in comparison with much of the science fiction which had come before. However, the preconceptions which the modern reader is likely to have of this author will jar with the tale told. The original edition states that "the opinions expressed in this book are not those of the author". From reading his new introduction, it would appear that Clarke's subsequent development has distanced him from an even larger proportion of those opinions.

The first chapter discusses the coming of the aliens. The original version posits a space race between the Soviets and America entering the final stages of take off for the moon when alien spaceships appear in the sky. At the time of publication, the setting is clearly twenty years in the future. Because it is also clearly now in our past, Clarke has updated this with a prelude involving Russian and American co-operation for a Mars mission. The subsequent story is unchanged. Having read the original version, I feel that the new-grafted root might make the story even more dated in it's handling of emotion and interrelation between the sexes. However, perhaps these simply form part of the story environment for a reader unfettered by knowledge of the book's antiquity.

After the scene-setting arrival, events skip forward several years to describe the consolidation of the new order. The alien Overlords put backbone into the United Nations and bring about a genuine world government with widespread peace and prosperity despite fears regarding the nature of the aliens, who refuse to reveal themselves. This is followed by a time where humanity, under guidance, transforms the planet into a utopia. The populace of this new era is faced with the question of what to do next. The answers offered by the Overlords are as unpalatable as the physical form of the aliens would have been at the time of their arrival.

The structure of the novel reaches this point without faltering greatly. However, the requirement for continued human narrative is fractured by Einsteinian physics and by the paranormal. The author's desire to escape from the confines of Earth and offer a greater perspective complicate the story but offer intimations of the future awaiting the human race. This future is developed through paranormal mechanisms and disappears into realms undescribable, providing a lyricism at odds with much of the rest of the novel. The characters are often stilted and rather formal. Even in the worst extreme, their emotional life is considerably less interesting than their intellectual activity. The book almost overflows with ideas, making it "archealogically" interesting: it's influence can be sifted from much work of subsequent generations, from 'V' to The X Files. . This contributes to the reading experience but it is not a gripping book. Childhood's End will be worthwhile principally to those interested in the history of science fiction and the development of one of it's leading authors.

Unofficial Arthur C. Clarke homepage: http://www.lsi.usp.br/~bianchi/clarke/

You can purchase this book at fatbrain.

Comments

Dated, but in a good way.

[belgin]

Disclaimer: It has been close to eight years since I glanced at Chilhood's End, and I read the original version.

I would have to say that this book was definately a product of the fifties. Many aspects of the book played upon the fears and oddities of American culture in that era. There was the beginnings of many movements that have gained more momentum or died out referenced in the book. For instance, the very beginning of the book included a scene wherein viewers of a bullfight felt the wounds inflicted upon a bull. This references animal rights movements that were becoming more mainstream in this time period. There are a lot of other political references in this book.

One thing I would like to say, is that I don't think it is a good idea to try to move this book into the future with a new opening chapter. It is better viewed as a piece of science fiction in the time period for which it was written. The concepts built into it reflect a great deal on cold war mentalities, and the social structures of the time. In particular, it shows that our beliefs, irrational fears, and "The bad guys" are very much products of our society and media. There is nothing like the demonic appearance of the overlords and the strong Communist impression given of the Overmind to show that Clarke was trying to show people that good and bad are very relative. I am not sure if Clarke was a Communist, or was just trying to tick off that psychopath McCarthy.

When you try to take this book out of the fifties, it quickly ceases to make as much sense. The book was designed to shock people in a time of prosperity and mild close-mindedness into thinking a bit more about their predjudices and beliefs.

B. Elgin

Childhood's End - true SciFi

[jabber]

I would caution everyone reading this review to consider the meaning of good sci-fi versus books written for entertainment. True sci-fi is deeper, and the world it presents is there to make a point, not to 'wow' you into buying a sequel.

Childhood's End is a gem, in the true sci-fi genre. As is Wells' Time Machine. TM is laughable by modern entertainment standards, but the subject matter is arguably more true now than when it was first written.

TM was written in the social context of the industrial revolution, and it's a cautionary tale which speculates on what may be is the industrial-age haves and have-nots continue on their then-existing paths. We have a similar have/have-not situation now, in the industrial age. Most of us 'haves' map well to the Wellesian Morlocks. Think about it.

Childhood's End was written at a time of high tension between the US and the USSR. We were trying to out do one another, and the race to the moon was a good way to posture superiority. The fact was, we were itching for a fight, but couldn't afford one considering the nuclear repercussions.

The arrival of the Overlords, their power and complete subjugation of the world's authority over it's percieved/chosen destiny was a crushing blow to mankind as portrayed in the book. This is where the formality of interactions comes from. We were afraid of being controlled, we couldn't fight back, we had to behave 'well'.

All the while we were treated well, all our problems were taken care of, and we had time for leisure. Consider Maslow's pyramid of needs... Kerellian (Care Alien) and the Overlords created conditions ripe for our spontaneous maturation. By solving our problems for us, they allowed us to make our transcendence into Adulthood.

The story is brilliant. The bitter irony of the alien's true form, and mission. Their role in the elevation of humanity out of Childhood. Knowing our fate and knowing that they were charged with our fruition. Knowing their own full potential.

Read the original book, not the revision. Clarke foresaw a great number of modern day items. (somehow he missed the personal computer though)

Also, keep in mind religion, and Shelly's Mont Blanc.

I tried to not give anything away. Really, I did.

Right, but not all right

[YU Nicks NE Way]

I first read Childhoood's End immediately after the first moon landing, so perhaps my opinions are as dated as Clarke's. I think that anyone who reads it today needs to understand how jarring and rvolutionary it was when it was published.

It's a book about aliens landing, a literary tradition going back to The War of the Worlds. It's unique in that the aliens just don't care. They neither love us nor hate us; at best, they feel a certain distant benevolence. Humanity doesn't matter very much; at best, it's just another one of many races that will evolve to the next stage, and at worst, it's a cancer to be expunged.

This is actually a frequent theme of Clarke's work, and it may be his greatest single contribution to speculative fiction. Most authors write about humanity as if it matters; Clarke repeatedly rubs our face in the fact that we don't matter on a universal scale. We only matter to ourselves.

There's actually an interesting historical note here. I'd wager that almost nobody reading this would admit to having ever read any significant body of work directly influenced by Existentialism. That's not true: the conflict in Childhood's End, and, more importantly, in Sentinel and 2001 is exactly the Existentialist dilemma: how can one act well in a world where one does not matter.

And the next time somebody sneers at you for your taste in literature, point that out to them. Eat you heart out, Jean-Paul Sartre!

Two remarkable things about the novel

[LinuxParanoid]

The review somehow misses the two things which made Childhood's End a book I regard more highly than the 90+% of pulp sci-fi which I don't remember much of 5-10 years later.

The most satisfying part of the book is reading the "denouement" that comes not at the end, but in the middle of the book when the aliens' physical appearance is revealed after decades of concealment. The reason for the concealment (which I don't want to give away here) is quite clever, thought provoking and original. Like a good mystery, there's growing suspense and anticipation, yet once the secret is revealed, all the previous comments fit into
place.

The book is a little unusual for standard sci-fi in its tribute to a previous literary-philosophical strand of thought developed by a popular American author in the 1800s, Ralph Waldo Emerson. The end of the book is not primarily about "paranormal" themes as the reviewer states, its really a sci-fi exploration of trancendentalist themes, the joint-consciousness of the "overmind". Few sci-fi books provide interesting, original depictions of religious concepts, and this is one of them.

--LP