The Fountains of Paradise
0-575-02520-4
The Fountains of Paradise is a 1979 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Set in the 22nd century, it describes the construction of a space elevator. This "orbital tower" is a giant structure rising from the ground and linking with a satellite in geostationary orbit at the height of approximately 36,000 kilometres (approx. 22,300 miles). Such a structure would be used to raise payloads to orbit without the expense of using rockets. The novel won both the Hugo[1] and Nebula[2] Awards for Best Novel.
Plot
Summary
The novel focuses primarily on a project known as the Orbital Tower proposed by the main character, Vannevar Morgan. The tower is to stretch from the Earth's equator to a satellite that is in geostationary orbit. Such a structure would greatly reduce the cost of sending people and supplies into space.
The main story is framed by two other stories. The first one tells of King Kalidasa, living thousands of years before Morgan is born, who is constructing a 'pleasure garden' complete with functioning fountains, in a significant engineering effort for the time. The other story, taking place long after Morgan has died, deals with aliens making contact with Earth.
Due to many technical issues, there are only two locations on Earth where the Orbital Tower can be built. One is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the other is Sri Kanda (a thinly veiled reference to Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka). However, there is a Buddhist temple on the island, and Mahanayake Thero, the head of the order, refuses to give permission to begin construction.
Hearing of the difficulties, a group of people living on Mars contacts Morgan and suggests that the tower be built there instead. It would be smaller than the one planned for Earth, and would reach from Mars to one of its moons, Deimos.
After a few setbacks, including some fatalities, construction of the tower gets underway. Although the engineer's heart is failing, he rides up the tower to take food and oxygen to a group of stranded students and their professor. After overcoming serious difficulties he succeeds, then dies of a heart attack on the way back down.
Themes
The main theme of the novel is preceded by, and to some extent juxtaposed with, the story of the life and death of King Kashyapa I of Sri Lanka (fictionalized as King Kalidasa). It foreshadows the exploits of Vannevar Morgan in his determination to realize the space elevator.
Other subplots include human colonization of the Solar system and the first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.
Clarke envisions a microscopically thin (in his demonstrator sample) but strong "hyperfilament" that makes the elevator possible. Although the hyperfilament is constructed from "continuous pseudo-one-dimensional diamond crystal", Clarke later expressed his belief that another type of carbon, Buckminsterfullerene, would play the role of hyperfilament in a real space elevator. The latest developments in carbon nanotube technology bring the orbital elevator closer to possible realisation.
Setting
The story is set in the fictional equatorial island country of Taprobane, which Clarke has described as "about ninety percent congruent with the island of Sri Lanka", south of its real-world location. The ruins of the palace at Yakkagala as described in the book very closely match the real-life ruins at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. The mountain on which the space elevator is built is called Sri Kanda in the book, and bears a strong resemblance to the real mountain Sri Pada (Adam's Peak).
Similarities with other works of Clarke
- In the middle of The Fountains of Paradise, an unmanned robotic spaceship of alien origin, called "Starglider" (from an origin world dubbed "Starholme") by Clarke, passes through the Solar system. This situation is similar to Rendezvous with Rama, though the ship and its interactions with humans are very different.
- The first third of 3001: The Final Odyssey describes details of the interior of the ring habitat that encircles Earth, and is connected to Earth's surface with four space elevators. At the end of The Fountains of Paradise, this ring habitat is shown for the first time, though it has six space elevators rather than the four of 3001: Final Odyssey.
- At the end of the novel, Earth turns into an icy wasteland because the Sun has cooled. The same situation also occurs in the story "History Lesson".
- The alien shown near the end of The Fountains of Paradise is a somewhat more physical form of the Swarm, the aliens that land on primeval Earth in "The Possessed".
- A space elevator is also constructed in the course of Clarke's final novel (co-written with Frederik Pohl), The Last Theorem.
Awards and nominations
- Winner, Hugo Award for Best Novel - 1980[1]
- Winner, Nebula Award for Best Novel - 1979[2]
- Nominee, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel - 1980[1]
- Nominee, British Science Fiction Association Award - 1979[2]
See also
- Materials science in science fiction
- The Web Between the Worlds — a science fiction novel on the same subject by Charles Sheffield published almost simultaneously with The Fountains of Paradise
References
- ^ a b c "1980 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
- ^ a b c "1979 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 29 September 2009.
External links
- The Fountains of Paradise title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Fountains of Paradise at Worlds Without End
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- Prelude to Space
- The Sands of Mars
- Islands in the Sky
- Against the Fall of Night
- Childhood's End
- Earthlight
- The City and the Stars
- The Deep Range
- A Fall of Moondust
- Dolphin Island
- Glide Path
- Imperial Earth
- The Fountains of Paradise
- The Songs of Distant Earth
- Cradle (with Gentry Lee)
- The Ghost from the Grand Banks
- The Hammer of God
- Richter 10 (with Mike McQuay)
- The Trigger (with Michael Kube-McDowell)
- The Light of Other Days (with Stephen Baxter)
- The Last Theorem (with Frederik Pohl)
Space Odyssey |
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Rama series |
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A Time Odyssey |
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collections
- Expedition to Earth
- Reach for Tomorrow
- Tales from the White Hart
- The Other Side of the Sky
- Tales of Ten Worlds
- The Nine Billion Names of God
- Of Time and Stars
- The Wind from the Sun
- The Best of Arthur C. Clarke
- The Sentinel
- Tales from Planet Earth
- More Than One Universe
- The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
- Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics
- The Lost Worlds of 2001
- The View from Serendip
- The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010
- How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village
- An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (comics)
- 2010: The Year We Make Contact (film)
- The Nine Billion Names of God (short film)
- Rendezvous with Rama (video game)
- "The Star" (TV episode)
- The Songs of Distant Earth (album)
- Rama (video game)
- Childhood's End (TV miniseries)
- Arthur C. Clarke in media
- Sir Arthur Clarke Award
- Arthur C. Clarke Award
- Geostationary orbit
- Clarke's three laws
- Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World
- Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers
- Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe
- Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies
- God, the Universe and Everything Else
- Great Basses wreck
- 4923 Clarke
- Serendipaceratops
- GRB 080319B