"Olaf Stapledon - Bio" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stapledon Olaf)

years into the future. Despite its vast scope, "The Last Judgement" runs to less than 7,000 words.
Haldane was already a scientist of renown, having made and being destined yet to make major
contributions to the science of genetics. To the general public he was even better known as a
controversial popularizer of science with leftist leanings. His penchant for science fiction never
left him. He enjoyed Last and First Men and wrote its author, "Where have you been hiding all
this time?" As late as 1958 he sent a letter of enthusiastic praise to Fred Hoyle for the latter’s
novel The Black Cloud, being particularly delighted with its realistic presentation of scientists
and the concept of intelligent clouds.
Once convinced of his true calling, Olaf Stapledon began to reduce his intensive lecturing and
special classes to provide ample time for writing. This meant he would be in the house and
underfoot even more than previously. Fortunately for his wife he proved to be one of the most
amiable of men, unflaggingly even-tempered, rarely raising his voice, and seemingly interested
in everything, whether related to his work or not. Visitors were welcome and treated with
courtesy. Olaf also had the knack of perceiving their personal concerns and involving himself
with them. He was not only considerate of his family but of virtually everyone he met.
Agnes Stapledon had a wide variety of her own interests, including the community, the
schools, and local activities. She found her husband always ready to hear details of these,
evaluate problems seriously, and offer suggestions. Inevitably this resulted in a high degree of
amiable reciprocity on her part. Olaf used her for a sounding board for his ideas, and her
assistance in the final revision of his manuscripts helped them attain their polished clarity. A part
of this involved checking spelling, which she has said was not one of her husband’s strong
points. After his death it was she who transcribed the notes for The Opening of the Eyes, with
their many difficult-to-decipher abbreviations, wrote the dedication to the work, and attended to
all other details preceding publication.
 Olaf’s good sense of humor helped their relationship. He enjoyed good-natured jokes and
entered into the spirit of fun on every occasion. His health was always good, which undoubtedly
contributed to his even disposition. For all his easy-going casualness, however, he was extremely
systematic in almost everything he did— as is proved, for example, by the extraordinary
completeness of his scrapbooks. He could never be called an absent-minded professor.
Evidence of his devotion as a parent is still in his home. Wedged in a wall of books, many of
them inherited from his father, is a little volume titled Verses for Mary and David. These are
Olaf’s original (and extremely well-written) rhymes for his children, hand-lettered and illustrated
by him in color. Through a good part of his life Stapledon dabbled in painting. At one time he
even joined an art class in London. One result of this, his painting of a harvested cornfield, still
hangs in the Stapledon home. It shows a good color sense and a style that lies between realism
and impressionism. Some readers will be surprised to learn that he did the cover jacket for the
English edition of his book Odd John. The original is in crayon in shades of pink, blue and black
and is quite striking as a visualization of the protagonist of the novel.
A catalog of the books in his home would have to be made to help determine what he may
have read. These are present in literally every room, since his wife was an avid reader with an
intellectual curiosity of her own. Serious philosophical volumes are there in great concentration.
A cursory examination also reveals George Du Maurier’s Peter Ibbetson, David Lindsay’s A
Voyage to Areturus, Erewhon Revisited by Samuel Butler, the 1929 edition of The Purple Cloud
of M.P. Shiel and H.G. Wells’ The World of William Clissold. (Stapledon, incidentally, had a
short correspondence with H.G. Wells, which included a discussion of science fiction films.)
This library leaves us no reason to doubt his assertion that he could not remember ever having
read a science fiction magazine up to the time of writing Star Maker. However, he did admit to
having read books by Verne, Wells, and—shockingly for some who might like it otherwise—
Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Most of Stapledon’s papers (which are willed to the University of Liverpool) his wife wisely