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Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke

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In article <514f1970-e063-40f4-bb33-f2e16d78c1bf@googlegroups.com>,
 <desiegel60@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Monday, August 13, 2018 at 3:10:37 PM UTC-4, William Hyde wrote:
>> On Sunday, August 12, 2018 at 8:02:51 PM UTC-4, a425couple wrote:
>> > Over in my old thread, "OT opinion - Sorry Nerds--",
>> > "desiege" mentioned "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke
>> > 
>> > That is one I had never heard of and it was not in my books.
>> > It was quite interesting.
>> > 
>> > I read it from here:
>> >
>http://www.gdhsenglish.com/thompson/assets/pdfs/ENG3U1%20pdf's/Short%20Stories/BEFORE%20EDEN.pdf
>> > 
>> > One can listen to it (Helps me keep on track) from here:
>> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQHwIdST2PQ
>> > 
>> > And here, is a synopsis of it:
>> > http://thescifidigest.blogspot.com/2012/04/before-eden-arthur-c-clarke.html
>> > 
>> > "Before Eden - Arthur C. Clarke
>> > Clarke's Before Eden starts as any generic planetary exploration
>> > would. Two men from an expedition who investigate the polar regions
>> > of Venus and find the less harsh atmosphere ready for the evolution
>> > of life. But has it already? The plot takes through a vivid
>> > scientific expedition that visualizes barren Venusian landscape
>> > and something even more curious, a moving shape that hints at
>> > early evolution.
>> > The story's success is that it doesn't tread a cliched path, but
>> > instead takes the reader by surprise in the very last paragraph."
>> > 
>> > or
>> > https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22608644-before-eden
>> > 
>> > one comment is "One of the overlooked gems of Clarke's oeuvre.
>> > A very atmospheric first contact story, with a really unexpected
>> > (and cautionary) twist ending. Though the past or present existence
>> > of life on Venus is a big enigma, this is a great bit of hard SF on
>> > the topic. Read it (or listen to it) with an open mind and you'll
>> > be pleasantly surprised."
>> 
>> In 1961 Clarke published three stories which are (IMO) very good, and
>quite different from his usual work.
>> 
>> "Before Eden" "Death and the Senator" and "Hate" take a darker view of
>the world than Clarke generally did, before or after.  This doesn't - as
>far as I know, correlate with any negative event in Clarke' life.
>> 
>> Perhaps is was a conscious attempt to expand his range as a writer. 
>If so, it worked.  He might have gone on in this vein, but the next year
>he caught Polio, and soon after that 2001 began to take up most of his
>fiction writing time.
>> 
>> William Hyde
>
>I would argue that "Breaking Strain" is at least as dark as "Death and
>he Senator". The title is an allusion to one of kKipling's darker
>verses, after all. 
>
>"Death and he Senator" is about the tragedy that a great limit on
>medical treatment (in this case zero G) creates when many more poeple
>need the treatment than cna possibly have it. 
>
>I don't recall "Hate" off hand.
>
>"Before Eden" is a cautionary tale, and i believe has been used at NASA
>to illustrate the need for care in what we send to other worlds, much as
>"Superiority" has been used for reading at West Point, or so I have
>read. 
>
>There are a few other rather dark stories by Clarke: "A Walk in the
>Dark", for example, or the one where (spoiler) the only earth artifact
>remaining is a Disney film (I can't recall the title at the moment).

"History Lesson."  _Startling Stories_, May 1949.  (I have it in a
falling-apart Conklin omnibus.)  There are actually a few other
artifacts in the cairn, but it's the Donald Duck ("with its
characteristic expression of arrogant bad temper") opus that the
Venusians find most interesting.

>For
>the matter of that the original story "The Sentinal" before it was used
>to craft _2001_ was not exactly all light.

Yes; you could compare its darker interpretation to Leinster's
_The Black Galaxy_ (also _Startling Stories), March 1949, later
reprinted as a "Galaxy Novel", 1954).

-- 
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

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"Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> - 2018-08-12 17:02 -0700
  Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> - 2018-08-13 12:10 -0700
    Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> - 2018-08-13 14:31 -0500
    Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2018-08-13 20:25 +0000
      Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2018-08-13 21:27 +0000
        Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2018-08-13 14:49 -0700
          Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2018-08-13 23:41 +0000
            Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2018-08-13 21:57 -0400
    Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke - "Death and the Senator" a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> - 2018-08-13 19:32 -0700
    Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke desiegel60@gmail.com - 2018-08-14 13:14 -0700
      Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2018-08-14 20:40 +0000
        Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2018-08-31 07:17 -0500
      Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> - 2018-08-15 12:42 -0700
  Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke frank.scrooby@gmail.com - 2018-08-15 00:26 -0700
    Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-08-15 01:18 -0700
      Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke frank.scrooby@gmail.com - 2018-08-15 01:53 -0700
        Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-08-15 02:11 -0700
          Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke frank.scrooby@gmail.com - 2018-08-15 03:35 -0700
          Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Lawrence Watt-Evans <misenchantedpress@gmail.com> - 2018-08-15 10:11 -0400
            Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2018-08-15 13:15 -0700
              Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Lawrence Watt-Evans <misenchantedpress@gmail.com> - 2018-08-16 10:17 -0400
          Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke hamish.laws@gmail.com - 2018-08-15 16:57 -0700
            Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2018-08-16 00:11 +0000
            Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2018-08-16 00:25 +0000
              Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke desiegel60@gmail.com - 2018-08-16 09:47 -0700
                Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke - into stowaway a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> - 2018-09-03 20:10 -0700
                Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke - into stowaway a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> - 2018-09-03 20:38 -0700
        Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Jack Bohn <jack.bohn64@gmail.com> - 2018-08-15 07:27 -0700
        Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2018-08-15 13:06 -0700
        Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-08-15 15:56 -0700
        Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> - 2018-08-16 12:22 -0500
          Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-08-16 16:16 -0700
    Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2018-08-15 13:57 +0000
      Re: "Before Eden" a short story by Arthur Clarke Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-08-15 15:49 -0700

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