Commentaires client les plus utiles
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4.0étoiles sur 5
Homo-Superior, Oct. 25 2009
Olaf Stapledon's "Odd John: A Story Between Jest and Earnest", published in 1935, is his third novel and it takes the idea of the evolution of homo sapiens into a new race, an idea which he touched on briefly at the end of his second novel "Last Men in London", and this time he devotes the entire work into looking at the interaction between homo sapiens and the new race homo superior. The idea of Supermen was not new, Philip Wylie's "Gladiator" from 1930 is one example which predates "Odd John" and "Last Men in London" for that matter, though Wylie's superman was man-made and not a product of evolution.
What makes Stapledon unique is not the subject matter, but the way he deals with it. The story is told through the eyes of the narrator, an adult human, who is a friend of the Wainwrights. The narrator describes John Wainwright, i.e. Odd John, as a child and through his development growing up and the events that take place. Stapledon's works always have a strong philosophical approach to them, and "Odd John" is no different. He doesn't attempt to show the world through John's eyes, but rather the reaction of a "normal" human to a super-human, and the reaction of humanity to the realization that homo-superiors exist.
Stapledon looks at moral and ethical issues of the interaction between the two species. Man kills animals often enough, so if homo-superior considers homo-sapiens animals, would they have any ethical problem with killing them? Would homo-sapiens have any problem defending their existence by murdering off the homo-superiors before they become too strong? There are a couple aspects missing from the philosophical discussions which occur between the narrator and John, and those are the ideas of sentience and intelligence. Clearly John considers homo-sapiens as inferior, but he also recognizes they are sentient and intelligent beings, thus the comparison between the interaction between homo-superior and homo-sapiens, and that between homo-sapiens and animals, isn't really valid.
Despite the lack of such a discussion, this is still a very good book, and Stapledon's works are always worth reading, because they are very different from what any other author at the time or since has produced. Even though this novel has traditional characters and scope, unlike his "Last and First Men" and "Star Maker", "Odd John" is still essentially driven by ideas more than characters and plot.
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4.0étoiles sur 5
Hauntingly strange, Mai 3 2004
The main character learns to talk as a baby and his first utterance surprises his parents. From then on he develops many superior abilities. He goes forth into the world on his life's odyssey and meets other superhumans, including one evil one, a superior mind utterly filled with malice (which is terrifying to read about). Another is seen as mad and lives in an asylum, showing that these mutants don't always have an easy ride.While some say Stapledon's style is dry (it's always been fashionable to accuse sci fi writers of a geeky inability to depict humans and moods), i find it very easy to read and you can zip through Odd John quickly and effortlessly. The full title - "Odd John: A Story Between Jest and Earnest" implies that Stapledon may have felt much of the story carries an irony. Each reader must let this mysterious work perform its alchemy on them and make their own mind up.
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