Campbell’s “Night” and “Twilight”, but also Clarke’s reading of Olaf Stapledon’s and his uniquely sweeping vistas. The novel obviously owes its lyrical, sweeping, poignaint, grandiose tone not only to John W. It is also, as critics have noted, a “what’s over the next hill” story. As in Childhood’s End, transcendence is a theme. The other intelligences of the cosmos and Man have left the universe. The people of Earth, locked in decadence, are the new children of the cosmos. We start the narrative in a cave (at least the image of one) and end with the stars, with the illusion and threat of white worms to the reality of Vanemonde’s pure mentality and the threat of the Mad Mind which will be freed one day. Clarke builds, block upon block, a suspenseful story that moves ever outward. Protagonist Alvin’s adventures propel man from the fearful adolescent of Diaspar’s and stagnation in Lys to its place - again - among the stars. Spoilers follow.Like Clarke’s Childhood’s End, this book uses the metaphor of childhood to weave a story of loss and gain, the poignancy of innocence lost, and adventure. Some reactions upon reading this book in 1990.
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