Into the Great Beyond with Three Greats

Welcome Cat Stars!

This is our class blog for the "Grade 9 Literature" class, which is really made up of grade 10 students too or anyone the school puts into this time slot - and we do more than literature. We have lots of speaking and writing in our class - but quite a bit of good ol' reading. Our first story was by Arthur C. Clarke - called Dog Star - a classic science fiction story by one of the best sci-fi writers out there.

This past summer I started getting into reading more science fiction and about it - since last year I taught science at our school and this year I knew I would be teaching some English classes again - so it was a natural fit. I found out the "Big Three" science fiction writers were Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke. I'd heard lots about Asimov, who was actually a science professor in both Boston and New York. He had written the famous Foundation series, and the I, Robot series, with its famous laws of robotics - there is a 2004 movie with Will Smith on that rated at IMDb as a 7.0 now (highly rated) - you can borrow this movie from me if you like. In case you forgot, here are those laws, from Wikipedia:

 The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they had been foreshadowed in a few earlier stories. The Three Laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Robert Heinlein was a good sci-fi writer, too, and I had previously read and mostly enjoyed "Stranger in a Strange Land." When I say enjoyed - as is often the case with science fiction, I enjoy the idea of it a lot...but some of what is being said is not to my liking - I remember I did not enjoy the ending of Stranger in a Strange Land.

For example, I read one of Isaac Asimov's short stories - the one that he said was his favorite of the many that he wrote himself - called "The Last Question." Here is another example of science fiction that may be offensive to some, but is an interesting idea. The universe and infinity, meaning time - is a kind of infinite loop of creation and destruction...the story actually made me giggle a bit at the end. For this, you got to read it from the beginning and go to the end for the desired effect - it is intellectually entertaining and not that long. You will see why he likes it - so there is enough science, culture, and other details to make it believable and interesting but just enough iconoclasm to either excite you or make you angry if you are in the wrong frame of mind.

So then - Arthur C. Clarke, I was so sad, I said to myself, that I had not read his books. They sound so cool - "Childhood's End," "The Songs of Distant Earth," and "Rendezvous with Rama." I have ordered them and am awaiting them eagerly, especially Songs of Distant Earth. But...then I get to our textbook, with which I think myself familiar, and I come to "Dog Star" a story I know and love - but - who is the author? YES, Arthur C. Clarke! I had read and known this author for years and did not know he was famous. Well, yes, he should be - this is a great short story - even memorable. If you like dogs - if you ever had to leave home and someone - or a dog - you love behind, then yes, you must read this. The main character is bonded forever to this German Shepherd Laika not when he saves the puppy from the side of the road as expected, but when the dog saves HIS life in an imaginary future Californian earthquake. The story implies the dog would have died but the astronomer would not leave the dog after that, and he lived...and they lived so closely that they would not be separated more than an hour or two. However, in the future they had great telescopes on the "Far side of the Moon" so he had to either give up his career in astronomy or leave the dog behind on Earth. He scolded himself for even thinking about it...who could feed a dog 3 pounds of meat a day on the moon, anyway? So when his beloved dog wakes him barking again from a dream on the moon and saves his life again in the moon-quake that cracks a hole in the side of their living quarters, letting the oxygen out, but only after he has his protective mask on and has hit the alarm button....it is a masterful work of writing, and all done as a flashback. Now I really want to read his longer stories!

Personally, I still like cats - maybe you can guess why, maybe you can't. But for now, our "cats" will be enjoying lots of the best stories we can find - I hope it will lead you to more and more awesome reading and the love of reading. When that happens, maybe writing about it will also be a part of your thing - but for now, let's practice a bit more by sharing opinions here on these blogs. Enjoy your school year and it is my pleasure to teach you guys in this course!