Chapter 518 517 [Our Journey Is the Sea of ​​Stars]

A small town in western England, Minehead.

Fifteen-year-old Arthur Clark ran all the way out of school, and came to the town post office familiarly.

"Charlie, are you reading the newspaper again?" A post office employee laughed.

Arthur Clarke greeted obediently: "Hello, Uncle Joseph!"

The employee smiled and said, "Come in, your mother is sorting the newspapers and will be off work soon."

Clark's mother was a post office operator. His childhood hobby was reading the old newspapers and magazines of the post office, especially those whimsical science fiction stories. Clark is a fan of science fiction. At the age of 12, he used a self-made telescope to observe the moon and draw a map of the lunar surface. Although he is only 15 years old now, he has taught himself to master radio technology.

Like Wells, this man's family is also in a bad situation. His father has died of illness, and he relies entirely on his mother to support the family. After Clark graduated from high school, he could only go to work, and he did not have the opportunity to enter university until the age of 29. Before that, he had already participated in the development of the early warning radar defense system of the British Royal Air Force.

Without Zhou Hexuan, the traveler, then Clark would be the first person to predict the "artificial earth satellite". In his 1945 work "Broadcasting Outside the Earth", he concluded that radio and television signals could be transmitted to China through geosynchronous satellites. worldwide.

At this time, Clark was still a boy who liked to fantasize. He ran into the post office to say hello to his mother, and then went to a corner where countless expired newspapers and magazines were piled up.

Clark's reading speed was very fast. He picked up a newspaper and scanned the content quickly, only stopping when he found articles related to science. Sitting in the pile of waste newspapers and periodicals like a mountain of garbage, Clark was extremely excited. He was like a scavenger, happily looking for his own treasures.

"Hey, this is actually an American science fiction magazine, so rare!" Clark quickly put it in his schoolbag as if he had found a treasure.

At this moment, the mother who had already left work came over and shouted, "Charlie, come home soon!"

"Here it is, Mom!" Clark replied, his hands still rummaging through the pile of waste paper.

After two minutes, my mother urged anxiously again: "Charlie, hurry up, the post office will be locked."

"Come, come!" Clark stood up reluctantly, and suddenly caught a glimpse of a brand new magazine buried under the discarded newspapers. He quickly pulled it out, but it turned out to be a "Scientology" stained by coffee, most of the cover was stained brown.

The mother and son walked back to the farmhouse on the outskirts of the town together. The house had been in disrepair for a long time, and the doors and windows were damaged everywhere, and they were fixed with rough wooden nails.

When my mother got home, she immediately went into the kitchen to make dinner, and turned on the ore radio to listen to the broadcast.

It's just that there seems to be a problem with the radio, and the mother can't make a sound even after taking a few shots. She immediately shouted: "Charlie, come and fix the machine!"

"coming!"

Clark ran over with a tool, quickly disassembled the radio, and smiled after trying a few times: "Last time, my wiring was not secure, it was just a small problem."

The children of the poor have long been in charge of the house, and all the electrical appliances in Clark's house are discarded products that he picked up from the town. For example, this radio was made by dismantling three broken radios and assembling the usable parts inside.

After fixing the radio in twos and twos, Clark couldn't wait to go back to the bedroom, took out the "Scientology" magazine and flipped through it.

This thing is a rare commodity, because few people in remote towns order it. In addition to science fiction, the content also includes the latest scientific developments, as well as explanations of various scientific theories, shallow or deep.

Clark first turned to the page of science fiction, because novels can be read immediately, while other popular science content he has to read and understand, and even do experiments by himself according to the explanations in it.

"Legend of the Galactic Heroes?"

The magazine was filthy, and the coffee had stained not only the cover, but most of the text, so that some handwriting was already blurred. Clarke was not affected by this, he read science fiction stories with guesswork, completely immersed in the fantasy world.

"Charlie, it's dinner!" my mother called.

"Here we come, Mom!"

Clark put down the magazine without further ado. He had read the prologue three times, and the huge cosmic world frame shocked him beyond measure.

Oh, God!

More than 1,000 years later, human beings have actually completed the pioneering of the Milky Way and established a powerful interstellar empire. Clark, who is only 15 years old, doesn't quite understand the expressions about dictatorship and democracy in it. He just likes that magical world.

It's a pity that this issue of the magazine only has a prologue, and Clark dreamed of reading the story behind it.

In the next few weeks, Clark would run to the post office every time after school, just to watch the story behind the prologue of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes".

It's a pity that few people in this remote town order "Scientology", let alone "Scientology" stained by coffee. It wasn't until two years later that Clark graduated from high school and became an auditor for the school's pension department that he discovered the magazine set at the home of a retired school manager.

In 1956, when the 39-year-old Clark won the Hugo Award for the first time, he said in his acceptance speech: "One of my dreams when I was a teenager was to be able to read "Scientology" without falling. When I got When I got my first salary in my life, I subscribed to this magazine without hesitation. Reinhardt and Yang Weili accompanied me through my teenage years. Thanks to Mr. Zhou Hexuan, it was a wonderful time. The vast and boundless universe can make People forget their troubles. Now I have also become a science fiction writer. I hope that my works can also accompany countless teenagers and young people and become their best partners in their growth..."

The entire 1920s and 1930s, whether in Europe or the United States, were the golden age of science fiction literature.

This is due to the fact that many scientists represented by Einstein, along with the progress of cutting-edge science such as relativity and quantum theory, quickly set off a wave of science fiction in Europe and the United States.

However, there are still some differences between Europe and the United States. European science fiction writers like to carry private goods, and various realistic topics are discussed in science fiction. Generally speaking, the artistic value is higher. The United States, on the other hand, takes a purely commercial route, adding elements such as bloody adventures, suspenseful reasoning, etc., which is more similar to the Internet articles of later generations of China.

There is no doubt that if "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" is serialized in the United States, it will definitely be more popular than in Europe, and it is obviously more in line with the appetite of American readers.

But this does not prevent "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" from being popular in the UK. First of all, this is the golden age of science fiction and has a wide readership base. Secondly, it should be both popular and popular, as well as deep and deep, so that readers of any class can read it with gusto.

Yes, Legend of the Galactic Heroes has a lot of depth, at least in the early 30s.

Yoshiki Tanaka, the author of the original work, borrowed too many things when creating, such as Hitler's dictatorship. The confrontation between the two protagonists in it can be regarded as a war between democracy and dictatorship, justice and fascism. In addition, there are shadows of Napoleon, militarism, feudal dictatorship, communism, fundamentalism, and racism.

These elements may seem mediocre 50 years later, but they were compelling enough written in the 1930s to be considered a political novel.

Countless British teenagers like Clarke wandered in the cosmic fantasy of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". This sci-fi work accompanied them through a long period of youth and became a common memory of a generation.

There are often British youths who are in the second year of secondary school, quoting the lines in this book and saying: "Our journey is the sea of ​​stars!"

When that generation of readers grew up to be middle-aged, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" was made into a TV series for the first time, and the ratings instantly exploded, easily crushing all TV programs at that time.

Later, Lucas, the creator of "Star Wars", said: "When I was 16 years old, I saw "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes" on TV for the first time. It was a TV series imported from England. You can't imagine that. The vast universe and the bright starry sky are more beautiful than anything else in the world. Since then, I have had a dream about interstellar war, and I want to create my own cosmic story.”

These are all things for the future. At this time, British science fiction readers love and hate Zhou Hexuan-what a beautiful novel, why can't you update it faster?