Is it odd that I take time out in order to eulogise a man I never had the privilege of meeting? Not in the case of Sir Arthur C Clarke. The inner workings of his prodigious intellect and his astounding imagination which he shared with the world, made those of us familiar with his work look upon him as a teacher, albeit one who didn’t merely teach but opened minds. And changed lives.
The beauty of his science fiction is that it didn’t rely on science alone. At their core, Sir Arthur’s stories dealt with conundrums that have been posed to mankind for ages. He merely used science to explore the plethora of answers to these questions. To our great fortune, he took us with him as he explored the answers.
I am no scientist, but to be eighteen, out of school, entering the real world, chancing upon his magnum opus and reading it – these will forever be engrained in my mind. For if there ever was a sequence of events that I can point to and say ‘this is when my life changed’, it is reading and coming to terms with his novel. Were it not for him – and Stanley Kubrick, subsequently, who short-circuited my brain with his cinematic adaptation of the novel – I would be an accountant; that I can say with certainty.
Coming to see you on Saturday, Sir Arthur, was not to bid farewell; to my everlasting regret, I never had the chance to say hello. I came on Saturday to say ‘thank you’. You will never know how profoundly and irrevocably you’ve changed my life.
RIP Sir Arthur. Our galaxy is your backyard now.
Tags: 2001:a space odyssey, arthur c clarke, eulogy, stanley kubrick
Categories:
