11 ms·
The Star – Arthur C. Clarke (1967) [pdf]
- watersb 5y agoMerry Christmas indeed.
- _kst_ 5y agoIsn't that still under copyright?
- AndrewDucker 5y agoIt is, yes.
- dotancohen 5y agoYes, this work was created after Mickey Mouse was created.
- rbanffy 5y agoAnd he died well after Disney…
- rbanffy 5y agoI claim pointing people to this story is fair use during the holidays.
- _kst_ 5y agoI'm reasonably sure that "fair use" doesn't mean what you think it means.
- nine_k 5y agoArthur Clarke apparently had some beef with Christianity all his writing life, but sometimes he went as bitter as this.
- dotancohen 5y agoInterestingly, his equally-aethiest contemporary Asimov accepted the role of religion in people's lives. I forget which book, but Asimov mentions friendly teasing between himself and a religious friend in one of the prefaces. Something about moving the Bible back out of the Fiction section of his personal library.
- southpawflo 5y agoI vaguely remember something along those lines as well, perhaps about C. S. Lewis and the Narnia series? It's been a while though.
- ud_0 5y agoCould you elaborate a bit on what you mean by "as bitter as this"? Reading the story with no context, it seems almost reverential to Christianity: We're in the far future and space-faring humans still worship the old religion(s). A supernova that occurred roughly during the time of a key event in the religion's history turned out to have killed off another distant civilization. There is an observation that bad things can happen to good civilizations and how that doesn't square with a benevolent creator deity. Do you perceive one of these as harsh criticism or was there some other issue in the text that I missed?
- nine_k 5y agoHere he basically accuses God of destroying a beautiful and desperate world to produce the light show at the Christ's birth time on Earth. I don't see much reverence in this, just a recognition of power, like that a powerful villain might have.
- pantalaimon 5y agoHow can he accuse one who does not exist? The story merely describes a cosmic catastrophe, that some people in a primitive tribe that had not discovered science yet would interpret as a sign of god, much like lightning. And the irony that this event that became so central to this religion was in fact a stellar cataclysm that had nothing to do with earth.
- divbzero 5y agoI like how Arthur C. Clarke accurately referenced SN 1054 [1] and SN 1572 [2]. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1572 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1572
- vmilner 5y agoThis was absolutely brilliantly read on BBC radio by the actor John Shrapnel some years ago (with 4 other stories from "The Nine Billion Names of God" collection). Unfortunately I can't find a link to it.
- divbzero 5y agoYou must be referring to this series [1] from BBC Radio. [1]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010gkzz/episodes/guide https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010gkzz/episodes/guide
- belter 5y agoUnfortunately get a "Sorry, this episode is not currently available"
- vmilner 5y agoYes - that's why I didn't link to it myself - but it may help to find the audio elsewhere.
- vmilner 5y agoYes - the Sentinel was particularly good too. They have very gentle background effects that work perfectly.
- specialist 5y agoOh no! "Sorry, This episode is not currently available." Darn. "The Nine Billion Names of God" story has long stuck with me. (Kinda messed me up, tbh.) I'd love to hear an audio version.
- gtech1 5y agoSo the edge of the observable universe was 6000 ly away ? Something doesn’t add up