Last and First Men and Star Maker (Paperback)

Philosophical treatises vary according to the philosopher, of course. Nietsche's "Beyond Good and Evil", "The Birth of Tragedy", and "The Case of Wagner" are all much more eccentric and seemingly glib than Satre's more rigorous "Being and Nothingness", "Search for a Method", and the essays in his "Between Marxism and Existentialism". Camus in "The Myth of Sisyphus" falls somewhere in between. (So much for proto and post existentialism.)

In any case, a philosophical novel typically involves a scene or a series of scenes such as that in "Brave New World" in which the Savage and his two friends are confronted by the World Controller. In other words, various characters sit around and argue. The novelist with a philosophical bent typically finds it necessary or convenient to make different characters espouse different contending points of view. Stapledon doesn't do this, and not because he is more subtle than Aldous Huxley-he is much less subtle in fact-but because his "novels" are not so much works of "philosophy" as tracts.

"The stength of the US empire is tied to fossil fuels, which are beginning to run out according to 'peak oil' researchers....If you want to explore the deepest ideas ever discussed in SF..."

Western economies have utterly depended on fossil fuels since the first industrial revolution in the early nineteenth century. This was hardly news in 1930 when "The First and Last Men" was published. As it happens, it has been predicted many times that they would shortly run out, and each time new sources have been discovered. Of course, there is only a finite amount on the planet, and they WILL eventually run out. You didn't have to be prescient in 1930 to foresee THAT. (In any case, the object of science-fiction, very much including science-fiction that takes place in the future, is not to predict, but to illuminate.) Are these among "the deepest ideas discussed in SF"? If you think so, I'll wager you've not read "Brave New World", a single work of Stanislaw Lem, or even "Planet of the Apes" (don't judge it by the awful movie).

Certainly, the author is more sophisticated and better educated than someone like Philip K. Dick and, for that matter, countless other science-fiction writers whose names are remembered only by hardcore devotees, but it seems to me we have two choices: Either we judge this work by how well it succeeds as 1) light entertainment or by how well it succeeds as 2) literature. Even its fiercest apologists admit it fails dismally as entertainment. If on the other hand, we're maintaining it succeeds as literature, then we need to compare it to literary works, not pulp science-fiction. Its proponents are unwilling to do that because it so obviously falls short.

On the other hand, this writer's vision is beyond amazing. True, in the short term, he missed the rise of Nazism. However, look at the long term predictions in the first book: England is replaced by America as the world power. China rises later as the next new superpower as Europe slowly fades. America conquers not by military force but by the force of its entertainment media and business skills. Europe represents "old" values against the "new" American and China. America and China form the ultimate superpower based on business trade. The ultimate survival of the new world civilization is tied to fossil fuels, and civilization collapses when they are exhausted.

Hmmm, today we see America the superpower (as England was in the 19th century) with China rising fast. America has an huge military arm, but the real story is cultural imperalism via US media - which has created a one-sided world culture trumpeting the crasser American values (which might map to the "worship of motion" Stapledon describes). Ties between America and China are being forged ever deeper via "globalization" trade. Despite the EU, Europe has a rapidly aging population combined with ultra-low birthrates - which will give west Europe an "old" perspective by 2020. The stength of the US empire is tied to fossil fuels, which are beginning to run out according to "peak oil" researchers. Not bad shooting across an ocean and 3/4 of a century.

In short, if you want novel styling and pace, this isn't for you. If you want to explore the deepest ideas ever discussed in SF (Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke all cite Stapledon for ideas) check out these books.