The last generation

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The last generation (. English Childhood's End ) is a science fiction - novel by Arthur C. Clarke from the year 1953 . He addresses the appearance of an extraterrestrial race .

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The plot begins with the sudden appearance of large alien spaceships over the major cities of the world. The extraterrestrial beings, called "overlords", make contact by radio and announce their intention to help humanity. The only direct contact between the two races is established through the UN Secretary General Rikki Stormgren, who communicates with the Overlords' envoy, Karellen, through a mirrored window in his spaceship. The form and nature of the Overlords remain hidden from him. However, Karellen assures that he will show himself to mankind in 50 years, if at least the existence of aliens has become a matter of course.

After 50 years, the Overlords put their promise into action: Their appearance resembles that of the devil , with armor-like skin, horns and tail - just as people imagine it. However, people are not frightened and quickly get used to it. The Overlords help mankind to prosperity, health and peacefulness. A golden age is dawning.

After 100 years of earthly presence, the Overlords reveal their true intentions: They serve a creature made of pure energy called "Overmind". The aim is to accompany the evolution of the human species to a higher level in order to enable the fusion between humans and Overmind. The overlords themselves are incapable of this fusion, they have got stuck in their evolutionary stage.

One day, telepathic and telekinetic abilities will be revealed in human children. Because of this, the children become estranged from their parents and are quarantined by the Overlords on the Australian continent. The adults do not want to reproduce any further, remain childless and live their existence until death, while Overmind and the estranged children grow closer and closer until they finally merge.

As an adult, only one person experiences these processes, all of which Clarke dates to the 21st century. Jan Rodricks had smuggled himself onto an Overlord supply ship, reached Carina , the home constellation of the Overlords, and only came back to earth after 80 years. At this point the rest of humanity is already extinct. He remains as the last person on planet earth to witness the final merger between the former children of humans and Overmind. After the Overlords leave Earth, Rodrick reports on the planet's final hours.

Humans rise to a higher level of existence and the childhood of the human race is over.

particularities

For the last people who do not unite with Overmind, AC Clarke had to come up with an idea of ​​their own. An explanation also had to be found as to why no more children were born. There are two clues about people's sterility and its end. In a statement from the Overlords, the speaker gives the people:

“And what should I do with you, the survivors, when your purpose is fulfilled? It would be the simplest and perhaps most merciful to destroy yourself as you would kill a mortally wounded animal that you love. But I can't do that. You can choose your future yourself, in the years that will remain with you. "

- Arthur C. Clarke : The Last Generation

The people take refuge in competitions that z. T. are similar to wars. Later it is explained to the children:

“For reasons the Overlords could not explain, but which Jan suspected was psychological, no children had been born to replace those who had left. Homo sapiens was extinct. "

- Arthur C. Clarke : The Last Generation

Effects

The appearance of the alien ships over the largest cities on earth influenced Roland Emmerich , who adopted this scenario in his film Independence Day . Clarke himself was inspired by the Second World War: When he drove towards London in 1941, he saw numerous balloons over the city.

In the computer game StarCraft , the terms "Overlords" and "Overmind" are used in a similar way. Also that the Overmind wants to unite with a person with telepathic powers.

Stephen Baxter adopted in his novel Zeit (1st novel of the Multiverse cycle) the idea that gifted children, who have become estranged from the rest of humanity, live isolated in Australia in a militarily guarded zone. In Baxter's novel, the children also leave earth, but here to create their own biosphere on the moon.

The band Van der Graaf Generator named their song "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End" on the album Still Life after the novel. Also processed the band Pink Floyd on their album Obscured by Clouds parts of the novel in the song Childhood's End .

In 2015, the miniseries Childhood's End was published based on the novel .

additional

Clarke had put a disclaimer in front of the book: The opinions expressed in the book were not those of the author. He was referring to a statement by the overlord Karellen, who certifies that people are not suitable for conquering space. In his other works, Clarke was a strong advocate of space travel. In a foreword from 1989, Clarke applied the disclaimer to another aspect: in the book, para-scientific skills such as telepathy and telekinesis are possible. Clarke, however, was a strong skeptic of any supernatural goings-on.

The novel has a forerunner in the 1950 short story Guardian Angel .

expenditure

filming

literature

  • Adam Roberts : Inversions and Crossings. Arthur C. Clarke's "The Last Generation". In: Alien Contact . Science fiction and fantasy yearbook. Volume 4, Shayol Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-926126-55-8 , pp. 176-182
  • Helmut Schütz: Arthur C. Clarke: Childhood's End. In: Hartmut Heuermann (Ed.): The science fiction novel in Anglo-American literature. Interpretations. Bagel, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-590-07454-X , pp. 144-165

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ Arthur C. Clarke in the foreword to the new edition of The Last Generation. Heyne, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-453-87534-6 , p. 15