Status
Call number
Publication
Description
A grand space adventure that imagines the far-flung future of humanity, a visionary classic by one of science fiction's greatest minds. A billion years into the future, Earth's oceans have evaporated and humanity has all but vanished. The inhabitants of the City of Diaspar believe their domed city is all that remains of an empire that had once conquered the stars. Inside the dome, the citizens of Diaspar live in technological splendor, free from the distractions of aging and disease. Everything is controlled precisely, just as the city's designers had intended. But a boy named Alvin has been born. And unlike his fellow humans, Alvin shows an insatiable-and dangerous-curiosity about the world outside the dome. His questions will send him on a quest to discover the truth about the city and humanity's history-as well as its future. A masterful and awe-inspiring work of imagination, The City and the Stars is considered one of Arthur C. Clarke's finest novels.… (more)
Media reviews
User reviews
The only thing I can complain about is that the science in it is at best iffy and most of the technology used is considered so advanced that it just works and we don't care how or if it makes any sense - or is regarded almost as being magic. It might annoy some people, but it is not the focus of the book and I accepted it as such.
I recommend this book to anyone, be it a fan of science fiction or not.
The City and
Although it has aged reasonably well, this book didn't really blow my mind--especially given how many of its concepts have been taken up and rehearsed in later science fiction works. It is tangent to, if not firmly within, the "dying earth" subgenre,as it features terrestrial posthumanity in a stagnant, insular society. It could have supplied some inspiration for Michael Moorcock's excellent Dancers at the End of Time books. Another work that may exhibit traces of its influence is John Boorman's Zardoz. Even Logan's Run bears some similarities to it in general shape. Clarke's protagonist Alvin, a "unique" who is in his person a calculated disruption of his engineered, sealed society, seems also to be echoed in the Neo of the Wachowskis' Matrix movies.
The book as a whole isn't terribly long, and the short chapters and intense plotting keep it moving at a fast clip.
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. Protagonist Alvin’s adventures propel man from the fearful adolescent of
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. The people of Earth, locked in decadence, are the new children of the cosmos. The other intelligences of the cosmos and Man have left the universe.
As in Childhood’s End, transcendence is a theme. It is also, as critics have noted, a “what’s over the next hill” story. The novel obviously owes its lyrical, sweeping, poignaint, grandiose tone not only to John W. Campbell’s “Night” and “Twilight”, but also Clarke’s reading of Olaf Stapledon’s and his uniquely sweeping vistas. Clarke may not have been the first to address some typically sf themes in this novel, but they seem early examples of the treatments: specifically I’m talking about the dichotomy of the contrasting societies of Diaspar and its physical sciences and Lys with its mental and biological sciences society. Clarke, in this novel, seems to have been one of the first to think of the computer as a tool for social administration. Diaspar, though a stagnant place, has some interesting features: storing popular, well-liked art, the simulations (Clarke was quick to grasp this feature of computerized information processing -- in essence, what we would today call virtual reality), its twisted byways.
This novel is also interesting for its religious themes. There is a rationalized form of reincarnation with the Hall of Creation. Man -- with the creation of the Mad Mind and Vanemonde -- assumes the role of Creator God and transcends the universe, and there is a prophet and his last disciple who faithfully awaits his return over millions of years and the Master’s robot servant -- compelled to silence least he reveal the truth of the Master. Clarke chides religions who insist they alone are true, calls the religious impulse a uniquely human aspect. Yet the Master’s message appeals to alien and human, and Clarke takes a ecumenical viewpoint in saying a religion that appealed to so many must have had much that was true and noble, even if the master’s evangelical message of miracles and prophecies was false and eventually deluded even its speaker.
There is also the interesting biology of the polyp patiently awaiting his master and the robot who -- at story’s end -- becomes a messanger to the galaxy of man’s rebirth. I liked many other elments of scenes of this novel: Vanemonde’s childlike state, Clarke’s use of immortality and the Halls of Creation though I’m not sure I agee with Clarke’s ideas about immortality leading to cultural stagnation and the necessity of ending. He sees immortality destroying personal intimacy by eliminating the need for the family and procreation and dulling life by taking the cutting, driving edge of death away. I also liked the legend of Shalmirane which turns out to be a myth to cover up Man’s cowardly retreat to Earthly isolation and stagnation, the starship buried in the sand, Alvin eventually questioning whether or not he’s just been obsessively selfish, and, of course, the eerie city of Diaspar at the end of time. Lastly, I liked Alvin being a rogue agent, a sport in the social planning of the closed system of Diaspar specifically intended to revolutionize, abolish, and change that system.
While the city of Diaspar and its inner workings are well developed, the characters are a bit underdeveloped, but adequte for the purpose. Clarke's novel is really a novel of ideas - reflections on culture, progress, and synergy. It's what Clarke does best, and he leaves the rounding out of the characters, even the city's most unique citizen Alvin, to the reader.
To get a sense of the far future from words penned over half a century ago is a testimony to Clarke's wonderful imagination. A most fitting tribute and highly recommended if you are in the mood for contemplating the passage of vast expanses of time.
Clarke's search for that all knowing intelligence has nothing to do with religion. It is nothing that can be invented internally, one of his characters sums up what might be in Clarke's mind
“he (man) suffered from an incurable malady which, it seemed attacked only homo sapiens amongst all the intelligent races of the universe. That disease was religious mania. Throughout the earlier part of its history the human race had brought forth an endless succession of prophets, seers, sages, and evangelists who convinced themselves and their followers that to them alone were the secrets of the universe revealed."
Diaspar has not had a human newborn for ten million years, then along comes Alvin a unique event. There have been a few other "uniques" recorded in the history bank memories of the machines, but they have all disappeared. As Alvin approaches adulthood he feels the confines of the city and starts to look outside. His escape fuels the story and once again homo sapiens are reaching for the stars. Like other Clarke novels this is a story of a search for something else and readers have to go with the flow and allow themselves to be swept along by Clarke's vision, however opaque that maybe.
Arthur C Clarke was a fine writer and storyteller, he was able to put flesh onto the skeletons of his visions and so in this novel the futuristic city of Diaspar is lavishly described. He is able to place his readers into a world that he invents without resorting to pages of background material. He is largely free from the sexism and racism that can mar other writers of this period. One can still pick up his novels and feel the wonder even if the world of science fiction writing has now moved on from the sometimes naive writing of the period. I was hooked from the start and stayed with it till the end 4 stars.
Still, the fantastic opening makes up for the lackluster finale. My take: Worth reading if you get the chance.
Alvin is a young man coming of age in a static society, in an enormous city, far, far in the future. Once, humanity had reached the stars. But something had happened to cause a retreat. At the expense of growth, we achieved stability. Alvin, uniquely, is not satisfied with this. He feels a need to explore, to discover what else might be out there, to learn about the past and find a new future.
Like many of Clarke's novels, this is primarily about a big idea, rather than characters. But what an idea! Mere survival, let alone stability, on the time-scale depicted here, is a towering achievement. In the hands of a lesser writer, this would have been little more than a story of rebellion against stultification. It's easy to support the lone hero against the forces that would have him conform. But Clarke manages to put both sides of the case. Is Alvin right to risk so much, for such uncertain rewards?
Recommended for Clarke fans, or those who like thinking about deep time.
This story was a good enough read, but it never truly gripped me. Mankind has apparently edited out all the traits it found undesirable, so the characters all seem to be paragons of patience and understanding. While this is all well and good from the perspective of future society, it makes it harder to identify properly with most of them. The only flaw they seem to have retained is fear.
Clarke is masterful when it comes to describing the society of the future, however. The insights into the structure and machinery behind the city is inspired. I did at one point think that the insistence on the infallibility of the computers and machines was a bit too much, especially as the expectation was never reversed by a breakdown, but that's nitpicking. The glimpses into the great forgotten past are the most interesting of all. As Alvin, the main character, finally gets out and about and stumbles over the remains of galactic civilisation, we are at Clarke's greatest strength; the incomprehensible artefacts that clearly have much story behind them, but whose true purpose are never revealed to us. No one but Clarke can write mystery like this so masterfully, and I could easily get lost in the speculation.
Of course, this is also the most frustrating part of Clarke's writing, knowing that the answers I so want will not come.
Overall, it is a good book, especially if your tastes lean towards the "science" part of science fiction. Clarke is a artisan at world building, but the characters leave something to be wanted.
As for the story you have your post `incident' society that has adapted into
Yet, if he had stopped there, maybe the book would not be great. Maybe, the book would just be good or very good. However, there
Will we run from the fear of the unknown, or disease, to the point where we cut ourselves off from the universe and live in bubbles?
With science advancing the way it is, will we achieve some kind of bland immortality?
Will we lose touch with ourselves?
Read the book, pause and think. It may raise similar questions in your mind as well.
This is Arthur C. Clarke's first novel, the fifth novel of his that I have read, and now I feel like I don't have to read any
His ideas are so big, they become remote, and it becomes difficult for this reader to relate to his characters, who often seem to function as mouthpieces, or engage with his stories. Once again, Clarke fails to produce any realistic female characters, and for a visionary who can imagine humankind's far future, he seems incapable of placing a woman in a role other than secretary or concubine. This quality doesn't endear him to me. But as concerned as he is with humanity, the human element seems to be missing from his novels. His ideas are fascinating, but his people seem lacking.
My favorite novel by Clarke is 2001. The rest were interesting and thought-provoking, but I'm not sure I'd call them required reads.
Reading science fiction classics; available for free loan to Amazon Prime members on Kindle. (2013)
This isn't my favourite Clarke novel. The science is functional, used more to expand the
Diaspar existing unchanged for billions of
The whole "Let's become mortal and have babies!" ending is ridiculous.
Also wouldn't the sun have expanded into a red giant and melted the Earth by now?
Whether