Olaf Stapledon

"My career has been more exciting than brilliant. Born in 1886 on Merseyside, I spent much of my childhood in Egypt. After an education at Abbotsholme School and Balliol, I taught in the Manchester Grammar School for one nerve-shattering year. I then went into a shipping office and was a misfit, both on Merseyside and on the Suez Canal. There followed a period as tutor in W.E.A. classes up and down the North-West. In the first War to end War I served for three years on a motor convoy of the Friends' Ambulance Unit, attached to the French army. After the war I went back to W.E.A. work. I then took up philosophy and psychology, lecturing in these subjects both extramurally and, for a short spell, in the University of Liverpool. After writing a technical work on philosophy, I ventured into fantastic fiction, interspersed with books of a more or less philosophical type. Probably my best-known book is Last and First Men .

"I am married, and have a daughter and a son. I live beside the Dee estuary, and in this war I spend much time producing potatoes and cabbages with more energy than skill." --Olaf Stapledon (in Beyond the 'Isms , UK pbk, 1942).

Died 1950.

"Stapledon attempted to adapt both Last and First Men and Last Men in London into the medium of Radio Theatre. The script, known as 'Far Future Calling', was very poor and the BBC decided not to go ahead with the project.

"Stapledon also wrote a novel entitled The Flames . It concerns creatures who live on the surface of the sun. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate this novel and can give you no further information about it.

"I have heard faint rumours of a film of Odd John which is currently in pre-production. Bear in mind, however, that these are only rumours and I can find absolutely no proof to back them up." --Daniel J.Geduld (in a personal e-mail, Wednesday 11 June 1997).

"The atmosphere Stapledon generates is chill but intoxicating. Reading his books is like standing on the top of a high mountain. One can see a lot of planet and much of the sprawling uncertain works of man, but little actual human activity; from such an altitude, all sense of the individual is lost." --Brian W.Aldiss (in Trillion Year Spree , 1986).

http://www.netside.net/~szot/
("I have a Home Page which includes section re: Olaf, as well as a section on the sci-fi show Babylon 5. I'm casting about for a little feedback on how it appears on different screens under various circumstances, as well as feedback on it's content." --F.L.Szot, e-mail: szot@netside.net)