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The Alchemist, v.1, issue 3, Summer 1940
Page 13
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----THE ALCHEMIST----- Page 13 down with a terrific bump. Futility after all, maybe a little aimless scurrying now and then and contemplation, but in the end, the final dark. Although Stapledon has set the stage for a great symphony of rising triumph and the annihilation of pessimism, there exists, throughout his works, a note of sadness and distrust and bewildered frustration. The secret of his greatness lies not in his conclusions but in the indescribable fields of thought and meditation he has opened for the human mind. Although he found at the end shallowness and futility, he tried to justify our effort. Though not a part of the trilogy, a thread of scope and purpose connects another of Stapledon's books, "Odd John", to them. Herein, the author's basic mistrust of humanity emerges clear and defined. Pessimistic about the possibilities of our race finding a way out of the muddle it is now in, he creates a superman, a mutation from the ordinary genus, intended to replace man on this earth. Odd John, his character, is a thoroughly human individual, and quite likeable. However, he is spiritually alien from the regular run of people. His powers and capacities for thought are tremendous, even far and away beyond those of the famous Victor Scott. John looks at us in much the same way as the Last Man, although with more compassion and love and desire to slur over our stupidities, as he is fundamentally of our flesh and bone. With godlike calm he reviews our human experience and pontificates on the why, the how, and the whence of life. Much of this is beyond the mental scope of the character narrator of the story. When John tries to explain the nature of the spiritual life to him, it proves impossible to do so. At this point, the author indulges in more wish-fulfillment
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----THE ALCHEMIST----- Page 13 down with a terrific bump. Futility after all, maybe a little aimless scurrying now and then and contemplation, but in the end, the final dark. Although Stapledon has set the stage for a great symphony of rising triumph and the annihilation of pessimism, there exists, throughout his works, a note of sadness and distrust and bewildered frustration. The secret of his greatness lies not in his conclusions but in the indescribable fields of thought and meditation he has opened for the human mind. Although he found at the end shallowness and futility, he tried to justify our effort. Though not a part of the trilogy, a thread of scope and purpose connects another of Stapledon's books, "Odd John", to them. Herein, the author's basic mistrust of humanity emerges clear and defined. Pessimistic about the possibilities of our race finding a way out of the muddle it is now in, he creates a superman, a mutation from the ordinary genus, intended to replace man on this earth. Odd John, his character, is a thoroughly human individual, and quite likeable. However, he is spiritually alien from the regular run of people. His powers and capacities for thought are tremendous, even far and away beyond those of the famous Victor Scott. John looks at us in much the same way as the Last Man, although with more compassion and love and desire to slur over our stupidities, as he is fundamentally of our flesh and bone. With godlike calm he reviews our human experience and pontificates on the why, the how, and the whence of life. Much of this is beyond the mental scope of the character narrator of the story. When John tries to explain the nature of the spiritual life to him, it proves impossible to do so. At this point, the author indulges in more wish-fulfillment
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