The Legacy of Olaf Stapledon: Critical Essays and an Unpublished Manuscript

Although better known today for such classic and influential science fiction novels as Last and First Men, Odd John, Star Maker and Sirius, Olaf Stapledon also wrote eight other science fiction books, seven volumes of philosophy and social criticism, and hundreds of reviews, lectures, and articles. Common to all his works is a moral vision that is characterized by ecstatic joy and revolutionary zeal, though tempered by detachment and skepticism. This is the first book collection of original essays devoted entirely to Stapledon. Where previous critical interpretation has concentrated on individual works by the author, these essays deal with larger issues in Stapledon's writings and with his relationship to such forces as Marxism and literary modernism.

The articles develop new avenues for the exploration of Stapledon's work, focusing on philosophical, linguistic, political, and structural elements, and showing how Stapledon's non-fictional writing may illuminate aspects of the fiction. In addition, the book includes Stapledon's hitherto unpublished manuscript Letters to the Future as well as a primary and secondary bibliography. An important contribution to the study of science fiction and fantasy, The Legacy of Olaf Stapledon will be of interest to scholars and students of Stapledon and of the genre.


About the Author

PATRICK A. McCARTHY is Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies in English at the University of Miami. He is the author of The Riddles of Finnegans Wake and of Olaf Stapledon, and many articles on modern literature, and editor of Critical Essays on Samuel Beckett.

CHARLES ELKINS is Professor of English and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Florida International University in Miami. He is co-editor of Science-Fiction Studies and has published several articles on science fiction writers, including Olaf Stapledon.

MARTIN HARRY GREENBERG is Professor of Political Science and Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He has co-authored or co-edited more than a dozen books on science fiction, including the award-winning Science Fiction and Fantasy Series and Sequels (1986).