A rediscovery of Arthur Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise

by Ahmad Azrai

Arthur C Clarke - What is it about? It begins with the story of a legendary King in the land of Taprobane (the ancient name for Sri Lanka). Kalidasa, who was born to his father's favourite concubine, has managed to wrest control of the kingdom from his brother, the legitimate Crown Prince.

He builds a magnificent palace atop a mountain in an attempt to create a name for himself. He succeeds, and creates a palace that is replete with a garden that contains fountains worthy of Paradise in Yakkagala.

That said, the price that has to be paid is ultimately a bloody one - and he falls in battle to his brother. Even then, his name still lives on in legend not only as a mighty monarch, but, unexpectedly, as an engineer far ahead of his time.

Cut to a time not too far off into the future, and we meet Vannevar Morgan, one of the leading engineers in the world. He had built the greatest bridge in the world - which spans from Spain to Morocco, but he is fast becoming disenchanted with his organisation, which trivialises his achievements.

Morgan's newest plan is far more ambitious, to build a space elevator as an alternative to using rocket propulsion to leave the Earth.

The construction of the elevator is facilitated by the creation of a microscopically thin but strong hyperfilament a specially-constructed carbon thread that has the properties of diamond crystals.

He explains this to a retired diplomat in Sri Lanka in the hopes of getting support, as the most ideal spot to test the theory and build the elevator is on top of the mountain of Sri Kanda, near Yakkagala.

Unfortunately, Sri Kanda is also the site of an ancient temple, and the monks have no intention of budging. Morgan visits them to plead his case, but is shocked to discover that Choam Goldberg, a former brilliant scientist, has become one of the monks (now known as Parakarma), so his arguments are all in vain.

Nonetheless, he gets the World Court's permission to test it out but Parakarma has other plans, as he hijacks weather control satellites to destroy the experiment ...

Why you should read this book

Alongside his late contemporaries Isaac Asimov and Robert A Heinlein, Clarke is acknowledged as one of the Big Three Sci-Fi visionaries.

The recent development of carbon nanotube technology has meant that his ideas may become a reality in the very near future. Written in 1979, The Fountains of Paradise won the 1979 Nebula Award as well as the 1980 Hugo Award for Best Novel and it certainly deserves its reputation as one of the most important sci-fi works of all time.

Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, Clarke also hypothesises that religion in humans is a consequence of sexual reproduction, although the idea does not play a central role in the novel.

It's very subtle quite unlike Heinlein's in-your-face theories but it's there.

Clarke has lived in Sri Lanka since 1956. His new homeland is obviously the inspiration for his novel, and the space elevator could well be his ultimate legacy. Other books by this author that you must read are 2001 A Space Odyssey, Rendezvous With Rama, The City And The Stars and Imperial Earth.