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 First Edition cover | |
| Author | Olaf Stapledon |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Bip Pares |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | 1937 (Methuen) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 339 |
| ISBN | 1-85798-807-8 |
Star Maker is a science fiction novel by British writer Olaf Stapledon, published in 1937. Continuing the theme of the author's previous book, Last and First Men (1930)—which narrated a history of the human species over two billion years—it describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing the scale of the earlier work. Star Maker tackles philosophical themes such as the essence of life, of birth, decay and death, and the relationship between creation and creator. A pervading theme is that of progressive unity within and between different civilisations.
Some of the elements and themes briefly discussed prefigure later fiction concerning genetic engineering and alien life forms. Arthur C. Clarke considered Star Maker to be "probably the most powerful work of imagination ever written", and Brian W. Aldiss called it "the one great grey holy book of science fiction".[1]
- ^ Aldiss, Brian (1973). Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction. Doubleday. p. 208. ISBN 978-0385088879.