The Stapledon Mythos – An Overview

Olaf Stapledon's novels Last and First Men (1930) and Star Maker (1937) are recognised two of the greatest classics of science fiction, together telling the complete history of mankind and of our entire universe. The books stand out for their epic scope, their imaginative world-building, and their philosophical through-lines. But they have never been best-sellers, and they have slowly faded out of the public consciousness. Here, I summarise the mythology built up in these books, along with two of Stapledon's other novels—Last Men in London and Odd John—set in the same continuity. Last and First Men: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20200531 Last Men in London: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20200157 Odd John: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20190178 Star Maker: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20200108 Video script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSsNkC28R1CYIptDVVuP1pKFiQHx-W3K-pasdPkjZa2ZugjvEM715HtIvnmNcC8pA/pub Art used in the slide show: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1navlp2QrEfmyesAaB9VzK7MN0uP47_rH/view?usp=sharing In addition to the above, most of images used for each race of men were modified from illustrations by Charles Le Brun: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:A_series_of_lithographic_drawings_illustrative_of_the_relation_between_the_human_physiognomy_and_that_of_the_brute_creation_-_From_designs_by_Charles_Le_Brun And a special credit for the painting Reach by Les Edwards, used as cover art for Star Maker: https://lesedwards.com/products/reach Timecodes: 00:00:00 - Creation of the Cosmos 00:00:55 - Age of Living Nebulae 00:03:05 - Age of Living Stars 00:04:12 - Age of Isolated Worlds 00:18:30 - Philosophical Lemurs 00:20:18 - First Men 00:33:46 - Second Men 00:41:30 - Third Men 00:44:48 - Fourth Men 00:47:58 - Fifth Men 00:54:12 - Sixth Men 00:55:12 - Seventh Men 00:58:23 - Eighth Men 01:00:17 - Ninth Men 01:00:58 - Tenth Men 01:01:15 - Eleventh Men 01:01:26 - Twelfth Men 01:01:41 - Thirteenth Men 01:01:56 - Fourteenth Men 01:02:41 - Fifteenth Men 01:03:21 - Sixteenth Men 01:04:13 - Seventeenth Men 01:04:37 - Eighteenth Men 01:11:48 - Tragedy of the Perverts 01:20:08 - Stars and Vermin 01:25:08 - Supreme Moment of the Cosmos 01:29:16 - Cosmical Decline 01:31:19 - Coda