Darkness and the Light

1942 novel by Olaf Stapledon

Darkness and the Light
First edition
AuthorOlaf Stapledon
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherMethuen
Publication date
1942
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages181

Darkness and the Light (1942) is a science fiction novel by British writer Olaf Stapledon.

In this work written in 1941, during World War II, Stapledon projects two separate futures for humanity, depending not on the outcome of that particular conflict but on the failure or success of a future "Tibetan Renaissance" to influence the temper and ideology of the militaristic Russian and Chinese empires that threaten it. One of the futures involves worldwide Chinese imperialism and the subsequent degeneration and extinction of the human race, unable to defend itself against speedily evolving rats. The other ends in overthrowing the empires and creation of a worldwide socialist utopia.

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Works by Olaf Stapledon
Novels
Short stories
Story collections
  • Worlds of Wonder: Three Tales of Fantasy (1949)
  • To the End of Time: the Best of Olaf Stapledon (1953)
  • Far Future Calling: Uncollected Science Fiction and Fantasies of Olaf Stapledon (1979)
  • An Olaf Stapledon Reader (1997)
Poetry
  • Latter-Day Psalms (1914)
Non-fiction
  • A Modern Theory of Ethics (1929)
  • Waking World (1934)
  • Saints and Revolutionaries (1939)
  • New Hope for Britain (1939)
  • Philosophy and Living (1939)
  • Beyond the "Isms" (1942)
  • Seven Pillars of Peace (1944)
  • Youth and Tomorrow (1946)
  • The Opening of the Eyes (1954)


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