Extra:
Arthur C. Clarke C.B.E. was born in Somerset in 1917.
In a longand illustrious career, he has written over fifty
books including '2001: A Space Odyssey'. He currently
lives in Sri Lanka.
'The Songs Of The Earth' is my favourite book, and had a
curious -indeed, unique - genesis. Early in 1957, the
year the Space Ageopened, the phrase "These are
the Songs of Distant Earth" poppedinto my mind from
nowhere. It kept circling inside my head, asSputnik was
to go around the Earth six months later, and the only way
of exorcising it was to sit down and hammer out a 12,000
word novella, which was printed next year in an American
sciencefiction magazine.
And there the matter rested until 1983, whenI decided to
expand the original story into a full length book.I set myself
a deliberate challenge: was it possible to write adramatic
but totally realistic novel about interstellar travel,in which
the speed limit set by the velocity of light was accepted,
and journeys between stars took decades - or even
centuries?
The writing proceeded with corresponding slowness, and
not untiltwo years later was the novel sent off to the
publishers. Bythen, I had departed almost completely from
the original story,and only the location and the basic idea
remained. It would, ifI maysay so, make a wonderful movie,
and indeed was once optioned byMichael Phillips ('Close
Encounters of the Third Kind', etc).
In the introduction to the novel, I referred to 'Star Trek'and
predicted that "No Warp 6 will ever get you from one
episode to another in time for next week's instalment. The
Great Producer in the sky has not arranged his programme
planning that way." Well, a major occupational hazard of
science-fiction writersis going out on a limb, which sooner
or later may be sawn off. Witness this item in the May 1994
issue of a periodical you are unlikelyto find at your local
newsagents. 'Classical and QuantumGravity':-
"Long a cliche of science-fiction writing, the warpdrive
has transported countless fictional characters through
light-years of interstellar space in the time it takes for you
orme to travel to the market." Unfortunately for real-world
spacetravellers, the warp drive has always been thought
to be inconsistent with the laws of physics. But all this has
changed.....Miguel Alcubierre, a physicist at the university
of Wales in Cardiff describes a space-travel scenario that
bears an uncanny resemblance to the warp drive of
science-fiction. With Alcubierre's warp drive,we could
reach any place in the universe in as short atime as we
please!
"The warp drive envisioned by Alcubierre ismade possible
by the subtleness of Einstein's general theory ofrelativity".
Well, I hope Mr. Alcubierre is right, but I am a little
sceptical. If warp 6 really is possible - where all the
tourists? Another technological forecast in 'The Songs of
DistantEarth', the Space Elevator, has fared rather better.
Building this would require a material strong enough to
stretch all the wayfrom stationary orbit down to the
Equator, without being snapped by Earth's gravity. Such
a material was discovered in 1993 bychemists at Rice
University, Texas: it's the tubular form of C60, better known
as Buckminsterfullerene. And by an extraordinary
coincidence, "Bucky" Fuller himself wrote the sleeve notes
of myrecording of 'The Fountains of Paradise', the novel
based on this idea. What a pity he did not live to see the
discovery of thematerial which now bears his name, and
which may make this dream come true!
Since the finale of the novel is a musical concert, I was
delighted when Mike Oldfield told me that he wished to
compose a suite inspired by it. I was particularly impressed
by the music hewrote for 'The Killing Fields' and now,
having played the CD of The Songs of Distant Earth', I
feel he has lived upto my expectations.
Welcome back into space, Mike: there's still lots of room
out here.
(C) 1994 Arthur C. Clarke
'The Songsof Distant Earth' was dedicated to my adopted
Sri Lankan family, which ha |
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