Stapledon, Olaf (1886-1950), was a major British author of science fiction. He wrote imaginary chronicles of the future that he called essays in myth creation. These ambitious stories extend over vast reaches of time and space and often deal with entire civilizations.
Stapledon is best known for the novels Last and First Men (1930) and Star Maker (1937). Last and First Men traces a 2-billion-year progression of humanity to its extinction on Neptune. Star Maker records the development of the universe and of all intelligent life. The scope and themes of these novels influenced later science-fiction writers, such as Brian Aldiss and Arthur C. Clarke. Other novels by Stapledon focus on particular characters and situations. In Odd John (1935), a man finds himself among the first of a new, superintelligent human species. Sirius (1944) concerns the relationship between a girl and a dog with near-human intelligence.
William Olaf Stapledon was born on May 10, 1886, near Liverpool. He wrote several nonfiction books that discuss the ideas in his fiction, including A Modern Theory of Ethics (1929) and Philosophy and Living (1939). He died on Sept. 6, 1950.
