Sci-Fi Legend Moves On to the Afterlife

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, a world-renowned British science fiction writer who wrote over 100 novels and short stories, including “2001: A Space Odyssey” and its sequels, passed away last month in his adopted home of Sri Lanka. He was 90.

Clarke’s death marks the end of one of the most influential careers in the genre. Clarke began his career in the 1930s penning short stories for magazines. Even after being confined to a wheelchair due to post-polio syndrome, the prolific author continued to write. His final novel, “The Last Theorem,” was completed just days before his death.

Frederik G. Pohl, co-author of “The Last Theorem,” met Clarke in 1950. The two science fiction writers remained friends and collaborators until Clarke’s death. “When we were writing ‘The Last Theorem,’ [Clarke] was ill, and progressively more so,” Pohl says. “But it was a pleasure anyway.”

The imaginative quality of Clarke’s work cemented his place among great science fiction writers. “Clarke was a visionary who shaped our awareness of the future,” says Seo-Young J. Chu, a lecturer in the History and Literature department and follower of Clarke’s work.

Clarke was one of few science fiction writers whose work was widely appreciated in literary circles. “What he wrote was classical science fiction,” Pohl says. “It was just that he did it better than almost anyone else.” Clarke’s work earned him a knighthood and two Nobel Prize nominations, among various other awards and honors.

Clarke’s work consistently pushed the boundaries of science fiction through vivid depictions of imagined worlds. His legacy is perhaps best described in his own words, penned in a 1962 essay: “The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.