A. Biographical Introduction
Arthur C. Clarke, one of the most highly regarded twentieth century science fiction writers, is known for accessible and dynamic portrayals of the scientific aspects of astronomy and physics in his fiction. Arthur C. Clarke was born on December 16, 1917, in Minehead, Somersetshire, England, to Charles Wright and Norah Willis Clarke. He began to read science fiction around the age of twelve and quickly became enamored with the genre. He wrote for his school publication until economic circumstances forced him to secure a position as an auditor for the British government. While in London, Clarke joined the British Interplanetary Society, a science fiction and space enthusiasts club, where he was introduced to other science fiction writers and editors. Soon he began to publish short stories as well as scientific articles addressing the feasibility of space travel. In 1941 Clarke enlisted in the Royal Air Force, serving as a radar instructor. During this period Clarke published an article in Wireless World advocating the use of synchronous satellites for communication, a revolutionary idea at the time. After the war, Clarke earned degrees in physics and in pure and applied mathematics from King's College University of London. Clarke won critical acclaim for his non fiction book The Exploration of Space (1952) which reviewers contend is one of the first books to present an accurate scientific discussion in a manner accessible to the public. After the success of his novel Childhood's End (1953), Clarke was able to pursue writing full time. During the 1960s and 1970s, Clarke continued to build on his reputation and developed an avid following, and he published a novel almost every year. Clarke and famed director Stanley Kubrick united to write the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968. The movie was nominated for an Oscar and is now regarded as a pioneering effort in cinema. Clarke followed the film with a novel of the same name which expands upon events in the movie. His 1973 novel Rendezvous with Rama earned him four of the highest honors for science fiction: the Nebula, Hugo, John W. Campbell Memorial, and Jupiter Awards. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Clarke continued his “Odyssey” series with three additional novels, concluding with 3001: A Space Odyssey in 1997. Clarke is also noted for his involvement in television, beginning with his co broadcast of the Apollo space missions and for his work on several space exploration documentaries. In addition, he has published numerous nonfiction books about deep sea diving and he operates a diving school in Sri Lanka, where he has resided since the 1950s. He was knighted in 1999.
Throughout his lengthy career, Clarke has been a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction. In his nonfiction writing, Clarke is admired for his lucid, dynamic prose, and his ability to explain complicated scientific ideas. The same skill carries over into his fiction, which is based upon factual scientific information selected from the fields of astronomy and physics, prompting Clarke to incorporate new ideas and theories into his books as time progresses. His early works can be divided into two categories: works in which he concentrates on technology and space adventure; and novels in which he focuses on metaphysical themes. One of his most highly regarded novels, Childhood's End, falls into the second category. In the book Clarke describes an alien life force which creates utopia on earth, only to destroy the planet before abducting all the children. The novel treats the potentially negative consequences of human contact with aliens, and examines transcendental philosophy and the nature of utopias. 2001: A Space Odyssey is based upon Clarke's earlier short story “The Sentinel”. In the story, aliens place giant black monoliths on the earth and moon to aid humans in their development. While traveling through space to investigate the forces responsible for the monoliths, super computer HAL 9000 attempts to take control of its spacecraft in order to sabotage the mission. Only astronaut Dave Bowman survives. This work focuses on the relationship of man to technology, illuminating the dangers of total human dependence upon machines, and also focuses on the tenuous uncertainty of human life in the universe. Clarke's later work includes the novels Rendezvous with Rama (1973) and The Fountains of Paradise (1979). The former centers upon human exploration of an alien spacecraft and the resulting unexpected impact of aliens on humans. In The Fountains of Paradise, Clarke depicts a Godlike man who combines intelligence with technological developments. In the subsequent novels of the “Odyssey” series, Clarke advances his story through generations of astronauts, exploring their difficulties in comprehending the galaxy. In the last novel of the series, 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997), Clarke introduces the idea that the aliens who created the monoliths in the first novel were not acting for the good of humanity, but were working toward the sinister purpose of controlling humans.
Critics are generally less enthusiastic about the work Clarke has published since the 1970s, but he is still largely regarded as among the most influential science fiction writers of all time—one who helped set the parameters of the science fiction genre and who consistently introduced new concepts and ideas in his work. Critics note his strong interest in technology and his accurate depiction of new developments in space exploration. In addition, reviewers argue that in his fiction Clarke depicts an unusually varied and complex portrayal of alien life. Instead of using the stereotypical threat of alien life forms that are vastly different from humans and bent on destruction, Clarke chooses to illuminate the nature of humanity through a juxtaposition of human and alien life forms. Scholars note that in novels such as Childhood's End and Rendezvous with Rama, Clarke scrutinizes problems facing humankind as heavily as he analyzes issues of technology and alien encounters. Although critics almost universally criticize the later “Odyssey” novels, several note that while the books do not measure up to Clarke's earlier works, the later fiction still surpasses the efforts of many contemporary science fiction authors.
B. Introduction to 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), written by Arthur C. Clarke at the very beginning of the space age, is the result of much accumulated research on the future of man in space and in time. Clarke succeeds wonderfully in his pursuit of this subject and shares his educated insight with the reader.
In the background to the story in the book, an ancient and unseen alien race uses a mechanism with the appearance of a large crystal Monolith to investigate worlds all across the galaxy and to encourage the development of intelligent life. The book shows one such monolith appearing in ancient Africa, three million years B.C., where it inspires a starving group of the hominid ancestors of human beings to conceive of tools. The ape men use their tools to kill animals and eat meat, ending their starvation. They then use the tools to kill a leopard that had been preying on them; the next day, the main ape character, Moon Watcher, uses a club to kill the leader of a rival tribe, thus becoming master of the universe. The book suggests that the monolith was instrumental in awakening intelligence, and enabling the transition of the ape men to a higher order, with the ability to fashion crude tools and thereby to hunt and forage for food in much more efficient fashion.
The book then leaps eons to the year 2001, detailing Dr. Heywood Floyd's travel to Clavius Base on the Moon. Upon his arrival, Floyd attends a meeting. A lead scientist explains that they have found a magnetic disturbance in Tycho, one of the Moon's craters, designated Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One (TMA1). An excavation of the area has revealed a large black slab; it is precisely fashioned to a ratio of exactly 1∶4∶9. Such a construction rules out any naturally occurring phenomena, and at three million years of age, it was not crafted by human hands. It is the first evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life. Floyd and a team of scientists drive across the moon to actually view TMA1.
The book then leaps forward 18 months to the Discovery One mission to Saturn. David Bowman and Frank Poole are the only conscious human beings aboard Discovery One spaceship. Three of their colleagues are in a state of suspended animation, to be awakened when they near Saturn. The HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent computer, maintains the ship and is a vital part of life aboard.
While Poole is receiving a birthday message from his family back home, HAL tells him that the AE35 unit of the ship is going to malfunction. Poole takes one of the extra vehicular pods and swaps the AE35 unit, which is critical for sustaining communication with Earth. Bowman conducts tests on the AE35 unit that has been replaced and determines that there was never anything wrong with it. Later, HAL claims that the replacement AE35 unit will fail. Apprehensive, Poole and Bowman radio back to Earth; they are told that something is wrong with HAL and are given orders to disconnect him. These instructions are interrupted as the signal is broken. HAL informs them that the AE35 unit has malfunctioned.
Poole takes a pod outside the ship to bring in the failed AE35 unit. As he is removing the unit, the pod, which he had left further from the ship, begins moving toward him. He is powerless to move out of the way in time and is killed by the impact; his spacesuit is ripped open. Bowman is shocked by Poole's death and is deeply distressed. He is unsure whether HAL, a computer, really could have killed Poole. He decides that he will need to wake up the other three astronauts. He has a long argument with HAL who refuses to obey his orders, insisting that Bowman is incapacitated. Bowman threatens to disconnect him if his orders are not obeyed, and HAL relents, giving him manual control to wake the sleeping scientists.
As Bowman begins to awaken his colleagues, he feels a cold chill; HAL has opened the inner and outer airlock doors to space, venting the ship's atmosphere. The pressure on board is rapidly dropping as the ship is equalizing with the vacuum of space. Bowman makes his way into a sealed emergency shelter which has an isolated oxygen supply and spare spacesuit. He then puts on the spacesuit and reenters the ship, knowing that HAL has killed the three hibernating astronauts. Bowman then laboriously disconnects the computer, puts the ship back in order and manually reestablishes contact with Earth. He then learns that the true purpose of the mission is to explore Japetus (the third largest moon of Saturn), in the hope of contacting the society that buried the monolith on the Moon.
Bowman learns that HAL had begun to feel guilty and conflicted about keeping the purpose of the mission from him and Poole, which ran contrary to his stated mission of gathering information and reporting it fully. This conflict had started to manifest itself in little errors. Given time, HAL might have been able to resolve this crisis peacefully, but when he was threatened with disconnection, he defended himself, believing his very existence to be at stake.
Bowman spends months on the ship, alone, slowly approaching Japetus. A return to Earth is out of the question, as HAL's sudden decompression of Discovery severely damaged the ship's air filtration system, leaving Bowman with far less breathable air than either returning to Earth or waiting for a rescue ship would require. Hibernation is impossible without HAL to monitor it. During his long approach, he gradually notices a small black spot on the surface of Japetus. When he gets closer, he realizes that this is an immense black monolith, identical to TMA1, only much larger, which the scientists back on Earth name “TMA2”.
He decides to go out in one of the extra vehicular pods and investigate the monolith. Inert for aeons, the monolith reveals its true purpose as a stargate when it opens and pulls in Bowman's pod. Before he vanishes, Mission control hears him proclaim：“The thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God! —it's full of stars!”
Bowman is transported via the monolith to a star system far outside our galaxy. During this journey, he goes through a large interstellar switching station, and sees other species' spaceships going on other routes like “Grand Central Station” of the universe.
He is brought to what appears to be a nice hotel suite, carefully constructed from monitored television transmissions, to make him feel at ease. Bowman goes to sleep. As he sleeps, his mind and memories are drained from his body. David Bowman is made into a new immortal entity that can live and travel in space: a Star Child. The Star Child then returns to our Solar System and to Earth. After slightly testing his newfound powers by setting off several megatons of nuclear energy, Bowman reflects that he is now master of his universe.
2001: A Space Odyssey explores the danger of technological advancement. Two specific perils of technology are delved into in great detail. First, the HAL 9000 computer puts forward the troubles that can crop up when man builds machines, the inner workings of which he does not fully comprehend and therefore cannot fully control. Second, the book explores the perils related with the atomic age. In this novel the Cold War is still on, and at the end of the book one side has launched nuclear weapons at the other. It is only through the Star Child's intervention that humanity is saved. Beside, 2001 A Space Odyssey takes a panoramic overview of evolutionary progress. The novel acknowledges that humanity is not the end, but only a step in the evolutionary process. One way this process might continue, the book imagines, is that humans will learn to rid themselves of their technological trappings as well as corporeal bodies, and eventually return to an embryonic state.