Clarke, 2001, a space odyssey (US)
Clarke, 2001, a space odyssey (US)
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Clarke, Arthur C(harles). 2001, a space odyssey. A novel, based on the screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. New York, The New American Library (1968). 8°. 221 p. Publisher’s hardcover with black spine and colour-illustrated dust jacket (designed by Robert McCall). Currey 92. Samuelson A21. – First edition, first printing. Published in June 1968, at the same time as the British edition (London, Hutchinson), just a few weeks after the film’s UK cinema release in May 1968. The world premiere of the film took place in Washington on April 2, 1968. – Arthur C. Clarke himself noted in his memoirs (The Lost Worlds of 2001) that Stanley Kubrick’s final approval of the book manuscript had delayed its publication until the summer of that year. – The cover illustration of the American first edition by Robert McCall depicts a futuristic space scene dominated by a massive, circular space station. An arrow-shaped white spacecraft (the Orion shuttle) is approaching the station- or perhaps departing from it – via the brightly lit docking aperture in the hub. For the book cover, Robert McCall used the same spectacular painting he had created for the film’s most famous theatrical poster. The rear panel features a still from the movie – a portrait of actor Keir Dullea in his role as astronaut David Bowman. – The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, including „The Sentinel“ (written in 1948 for a BBC competition, but first published in 1951 under the title „Sentinel of Eternity“). The first part of the novel, in which aliens influence the primitive ancestors of humans, is similar to the plot of Clarke’s 1953 short story „Encounter in the Dawn“. – „The novel has very little of the poetry of the picture“ and „lacks most of the picture’s strengths“, but that „it has to be read before one can understand the picture“ (James Blish, The Future in Books, 1969, p. 141 f.). – „And, of course, it is a fantasy—you need not believe it—but a fantasy by a master who is as deft at generating accelerating, almost painful suspense as he is knowledgeable and accurate (and fascinating) about the technical and human details of space flight and exploration. But it is finally the stretching of the imagination that is most enthralling as Mr. Clarke entices the reader into strange and magnificent conceptions of other forms of time, dimension and existence“ (Eliot Fremont-Smith, New York Times, July 5, 1968). – Small area of loss at the top edge of the dust jacket’s rear panel (no loss of image or text); otherwise in very good condition.
Unser Preis: EUR 750,-- |