The full name of British writer Arthur Clarke is Sir Arthur Charles Clarke. He is also a futurist, scientist and inventor. Arthur Clarke is best known for working with director Stanley Kubrick on the cult 1968 sci-fi movie A Space Odyssey 2001.
Biography
Arthur Clarke was born on December 16, 1917 in Minehead, Somerset, UK. He died on March 18, 2008 at the age of 90, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As a child, Clark became interested in science fiction. Amazing Stories magazine contributed to this in no small measure. In his youth, Arthur lost his father, who was a World War I veteran. This tragedy had a strong impact on the scientific work and creativity of Arthur.
After leaving school, Clark left for London. This happened in 1936. The future writer went to work as an auditor at the London Treasury. In parallel, Clarke became a member of the British Interplanetary Society. Despite the rather realistic plans for his work, Arthur did not abandon the idea of space travel. By the way, in his hobby, Clarke has achieved success: he was twice elected chairman of the British Interplanetary Society during the 1940s and 1950s. Arthur Clarke also founded and actively promoted British fandom. It is a fan subculture where space fans share common interests.
When World War II broke out, Clarke was drafted into the RAF. Arthur served in the rank of lieutenant. He was involved in the development of radar systems that made it easier for pilots to navigate in adverse weather conditions. Clarke later wrote the novel The Rolled Path about this activity. The book turned out to be semi-documentary, has the original title Glide Path and was published in 1963. The war ended, Lieutenant Clark was demobilized, and he took up an education. Arthur graduated from King's College London. Of course, he chose physics and mathematics as his specialty.
Personal life
Arthur was married to actress Marilyn Mayfield. Their marriage lasted from 1953 to 1964. Clark's wife starred in the 1992 video "The Pamela Principle". With an attractive girl, who later became his wife, he met in the United States, where he traveled in 1953. The couple very soon formalized their relationship in New York. During his honeymoon, Arthur was working on the novel The End of Childhood.
The couple did not find happiness together. They were different and soon parted. Divorce was filed much later. There were no children in their family. Clark craved fatherhood, but his wife was physically unable to give birth to a child. By the way, Marilyn already had a son from her first marriage. After the divorce, Arthur no longer married and did not have the children that Mayfield so wanted from.
Creation
In 1956, Arthur moved to the Dominion of Ceylon. He lived in villages and on the coast, and then completely received local citizenship. His island activities included underwater exploration, photography and book writing.
For his work, Clarke received the Kalinga Prize. He himself became the founder of a writing grant. The award can be received for achievements in literature in the science fiction genre. In 1980, Arthur gained national fame after several television appearances. He has created his own shows: "The Mysterious World of Arthur Clarke", "The World of Arthur Clarke's Unusual Abilities" and "The Mysterious Universe of Arthur Clarke". In 1985, the American Science Association awarded Clark the title of Grand Master of Nebula.
The writer's health was much worse than in his professional activity. He lived with post-polio syndrome, which developed after illness in 1962. Arthur Clarke spent many years in a wheelchair. Clark was named vice-chief of the British Polio Association.
In 1989, the Order of the British Empire was added to the list of Arthur's awards. He received a fighter of merit in Sri Lanka. In 2000, he received the title of knight for services to literature. Arthur could have received this honor already in 1998 if he had not been accused of pedophilia. A popular British newspaper told its multimillion readers about this, and the dedication had to be postponed due to the scandal. The Sri Lankan police defended Clark, and the tabloid had to print a rebuttal.
By the end of his life, Clark suffered from multiple sclerosis. He could no longer write independently and worked in co-authorship. His last work is the novel The Last Theorem by Clark and Frederick Paul. The writer died of post-polio syndrome.
Bibliography
Arthur Clarke became the author of many novels and stories. Some of them were included in the cycles. "A Space Odyssey" consists of 4 fantastic books: "2001: A Space Odyssey", "2010: Odyssey Two", "2061: Odyssey Three" and "3001: The Last Odyssey". The novels were written between 1968 and 1997. The next cycle of the writer is "Rama", on which Clark worked from 1973 to 1993. It includes such novels as "Appointment with Rama", "Rama 2", "Rama's Garden", "Rama Revealed". Arthur worked with Gentry Lee on these books. Critics point out that most of these novels were written by Clark's co-author.
The Odyssey of Time cycle was written by Arthur with Stephen Baxter from 2003 to 2007. It includes 3 novels: The Eye of Time, Solar Storm, The Firstborn. Clark's bibliography contains separate books: Prelude to Space 1951, Sands of Mars 1951, Islands in the Sky 1952, End of Childhood 1953, Earth Light 1955, City and Stars 1956 of the year, "Great Depth" 1957, "Moon Dust" 1961, "Dolphin Island" 1963, "Earth Empire" 1975, "Fountains of Paradise" 1979, "Songs of a Distant Earth" 1986, "Ghost of the Giant" 1990 year, "Hammer of the Lord" 1993, "Taprobany Reefs" 2002.
