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The Alchemist, v.1, issue 3, Summer 1940
Page 10
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Page 10 ----- THE ALCHEMIST ----- this theory alone are colossal. Here we are offered no hog-wash of an omnipotent god ruling a universe as set and immovable and as dull as a stone block. In concluding the narrative, the author has the very last of the Last Men, born before diaster struck and sterilized the entire race, comment on what is happening and on all that has gone before. It is impossible to realize the magnificent beauty of this concluding soliliquoy unless one has read the book and digested its meaning thoroughly. It is enough to quote an opening paragraph:- "Great are the stars and man is of no account to them. But man is a fair spirit whom a star conceived and a star kills. He is greater than those bright, blind companies. For though in them is incalculable potentiality, in him there is achievement, small but actual. Too soon, seemingly, he comes to his end. But when he is done he will not be nothing, not as though he had never been, for he is eternally a beauty in the eternal form of things." The civilization of the Last Men was developed beyond our wildest dreams, beyond our understanding. They had learned to explore the past and derived from this activity great mental enrichment, solace and refreshment. From uniting their personalities with the personalities of past ages, with men, women and even beasts of the land, the sea, and the air they came a bit closer to the core of all things. The second book, "The Last Men in London" deals with the story of what happened when a male of that final and glorious species went back through time to join his experiences and personality with the infant mind of an earth link of the First Men in the period of the Second World War. Stapledon uses this method to enlarge and complete one of the themes of the preceding work. He thoroughly analyzes us and show us exactly what and
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Page 10 ----- THE ALCHEMIST ----- this theory alone are colossal. Here we are offered no hog-wash of an omnipotent god ruling a universe as set and immovable and as dull as a stone block. In concluding the narrative, the author has the very last of the Last Men, born before diaster struck and sterilized the entire race, comment on what is happening and on all that has gone before. It is impossible to realize the magnificent beauty of this concluding soliliquoy unless one has read the book and digested its meaning thoroughly. It is enough to quote an opening paragraph:- "Great are the stars and man is of no account to them. But man is a fair spirit whom a star conceived and a star kills. He is greater than those bright, blind companies. For though in them is incalculable potentiality, in him there is achievement, small but actual. Too soon, seemingly, he comes to his end. But when he is done he will not be nothing, not as though he had never been, for he is eternally a beauty in the eternal form of things." The civilization of the Last Men was developed beyond our wildest dreams, beyond our understanding. They had learned to explore the past and derived from this activity great mental enrichment, solace and refreshment. From uniting their personalities with the personalities of past ages, with men, women and even beasts of the land, the sea, and the air they came a bit closer to the core of all things. The second book, "The Last Men in London" deals with the story of what happened when a male of that final and glorious species went back through time to join his experiences and personality with the infant mind of an earth link of the First Men in the period of the Second World War. Stapledon uses this method to enlarge and complete one of the themes of the preceding work. He thoroughly analyzes us and show us exactly what and
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