Joined: 21 Apr 2006 Posts: 649 Location: NSW, Australia
SF&F Classics: Rendezvous with Rama
Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:06 pm
I've been meaning to post this sort of thing for a little while now. I've wanted to have a look at what makes a book a classic. A classic is defined as a consensus from reviewers and fans alike that a work is somehow elevated above the rest. You may not agree that it's a classic - that's part of why I'm posting this, to stimulate discussion.
Anyhow, the first book I want to pick on that's been declared a classic is Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.
Why is this work a cut above the rest in the eyes of many?
Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 64 Location: Probably asleep
Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:49 pm
Well....
To start with, I would agree that it is considered a classic.
I consider it, in my personal opinion, to be woefully underwritten, baldly narrated to the point of comparison with a juvenile, and concluded with a haste that seems positively indecent. Added to that is the fact that as the chapters average out at five pages long, ( about 250 words each page) , the total length of the book cannot be more than 60,000 words, which seems a little short for describing and elaborating on Man's first contact with extraterrestrial life, not to mention exploring a 50 kilometre long spaceship. Don't get me wrong; the ideas are there all right, but the fleshing out of them seems perfunctory - it reads to me more like a submission for a film outline than a finished novel.Star Trek could deal with it in one episode.
Personally I've always been disappointed in Clarke's books, and for similar reasons. One suggestion I once read, was to get Clarke to edit Asimov, and Asimov to flesh out Clarke, to the improvement of both.
Sorry to sound so negative - but you did ask for opinions! _________________ Absenen mistatengwar!
Joined: 21 Apr 2006 Posts: 649 Location: NSW, Australia
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:57 am
The things that stand out about Rendezvous with Rama for me are its clean and simple prose style (a Clarke trait), a very clear and concise plot, the sense of wonder one feels when Rama is encountered and what happens as the explorers try to learn more about it.
But mainly that sense of wonder. I haven't touched any of the sequels he did with Gentry Lee, so I can't comment on the law of diminishing sequels or not.
But to me, Rendezvous with Rama was short, sweet and a landmark book.
Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 418 Location: Minnesota
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 1:13 pm
Do we have to dredge up the "classic" debate again? I haven't read this book either, so how can it be a classic? Yes, I'm in the anti-classic camp. If it hasn't been around for a 100 years, it can't be a classic. We'll have to up that since media lasts longer than it did once. _________________ Douglas E. Gogerty
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Around the Campfire
"No, I'm from Iowa. I just work in outer space."
-James T. Kirk
i think a lot of "classic" science fiction is similar to "classic" literature: might not be written that well, might be boring to read, you know, like "War & Peace"?
there is a big different between "classic" and "contemporary classic". yes, yes, i know contemporary classic is the biggest oxymoron ever, but people use it these days, to mean something they feel will stand the test of time, and will be a "classic" in the true sense, one day.
my 2 cents.
back to the Clarke book. . . seems like everything written by Clarke is considered "classic". much of it broke the rules of the time, pushed the envelope, was easy enough to read that no one was intimidated. . . although except for the 3rd item, i can't say Rendevous with Rama meets all of those.
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