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PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Aghayeva Nigar Agha PhD Student of Azerbaijan University of Languages,
Baku, Azerbaijan DOI: 10.24412/2520-6990-2023-12171-41-44
UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA IN ARTHUR CLARKE'S NOVEL "THE CITY AND THE STARS"
Abstract.
In his novel "The City and the Stars", the American fantasy writer Arthur Clarke talks about the sad fate of the earth in the future, the disasters caused by wars, the tragedy of people forgetting moral values and always wanting to live well. Describing the negative consequences of science and technical progress as well as the positive aspects, the writer shows the transparent boundaries of the transition from utopia to dystopia and warns humanity.
Key words: Arthur Clarke, "The City and the Stars", utopia, dystopia
Introduction. Thoughts about a better world and a better future are one of the eternal topics that always concern mankind. Plato's concept of dialogue has traveled from the time when it found its artistic form in Thomas More's utopia to the present day, and it has been confused with the problems of the modern world. The characteristic feature of the utopia reflected in the literature is its connection with the traditional idea and its selection with its positive features. The two world wars that took place in the 20th century, the economic and political crisis that engulfed the world, the direction of technical achievements against man, the absurd and senseless threat of death that engulfed humanity, the physical and mental exhaustion of the personality transferred the tradition of utopia to a negative utopia. In this regard, the 20th century is sometimes called the age of dystopia [7].
When the exhaustion of the idea of utopia appeared, society had the opportunity to rely on science and sought to respond to its new situation from a scientific standpoint, taking advantage of futurological experiments. The introduction of science fiction as a literary genre brought it closer to other similar forms -utopia, dystopia. Utopia describes the future and aims at emerging ideals, but it is known that it is difficult to rationally measure the distant future and study it with precise methods. When we think about the future, we indulge in assumptions, metaphorical thoughts and utopian dreams. Fantasy writers were able to solve this problem easily.
The works of Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (19172008), whose creativity coincided with the beginning of the 20th and 21st centuries and are called the engineer of utopian dreams, are among the most beautiful samples written in the genre of science fiction in American literature, as well as in Western literature. A.C. Clark, who was declared the "Prophet of the Space Age" [8].
with his ingenious foresights, along with his exceptional services in science fiction literature, it should also be noted that many of his utopian visions have been realized, and he has possessed his position in the new achievements of scientific and technical progress.
A.C. Clarke participated in research on the development of space flight and planetary systems created
by the US government, and at the same time, as a fantasy writer, he transferred his mystical thoughts about the distant future and his views on the higher development of humanity into fiction. The "Prophet of the Space Age" hoped and believed that the modern man, who mastered all the secrets of knowledge and technical progress, would create a new world and present man as the highest race to future generations. A person who can see the next era of humanity will travel to alien planets with the power of his mind, lay the foundations of new civilizations, and achieve post-biological development of the brain.
From this point of view, the works written by A.C. Clarke in the genre of science fiction are not only addressed to his contemporaries, but also to humanity, so they are relevant in all eras. The relevance of science fiction is not only related to its appeal to people, but also to the message that warns of the disasters that await humanity. That is why A.C. Clarke's works written in the genre of science fiction call the human race to overcome the dangers and harmful habits of historical development, give up the habit of thinking only about oneself, make judgments on a broader level, accept eternity, and embody the divine beginning in oneself.
A.C. Clarke's science fiction works "Childhood's End" and "The City and the Stars" are a sign of the existence of transparent boundaries of what utopia is capable of and the transition from utopia to dystopia, they are also a warning of future tragedies. The writer talks about the sad fate of the earth in the future, the disasters caused by wars, the tragedy of people forgetting spiritual values and always wanting to live better and live more. The negative consequences of technical progress, as well as the positive aspects, are followed as a main line in the writer's works in the form of human warnings.
The development of technical capabilities and people's constant desire for comfort has caused them to move away from each other, become alienated. The human race, inseparable from computers, televisions, tablets and mobile devices, as well as social networks, has entered its most terrifying age - the soulless human-robot age, just as it has benefited from scientific achievements. If a comfortable life separates us from our loved ones, if it alienates people from each other, do we need technical progress? A.C. Clarke's works seek answers
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to these questions and convey messages as much as possible. From this point of view, the writer's creativity maintains its relevance and does not lose its importance.
Analyses. Utopia, a perfect society, is a concept associated with a perfect person. These concepts are the focus of Arthur C. Clarke's novel "The City and the Stars", and in this chapter we will clarify how the ideas of humanity and utopia are challenged. In the utopia presented in the novel "The City and the Stars", genetically engineered humans have a role on earth, but they differ in their approach to problems. While examining the text of the work, we will use literary and philosophical concepts related to this problem along with the Utopia problem. The mentioned work reveals to us how dangerous utopia is for humanity, despite how desirable it is. This is due to the fact that in utopian works, the development potential of humanity disappears; it lives mostly with the same principle and management mechanism. A. Clarke describes the frozen and unchanging society with irony: "The men who built this city, and designed the society that went with it, were lords of mind as well as matter. They put everything the human race would ever need inside these walls - and they made sure that we would never leave them" [3, p.30].
In the novel "The City and the Stars", the health, financial condition and life of citizens begin with the description of a perfect society in harmony. The existence of societies described as a desire to be a perfect utopia in the world has led to the formation of the idea of utopia. Although all literary utopias in literature are different, there are some similarities between them. In such works, utopias are stable and perfect societies that suffer for their inhabitants. Fredric Jameson noted that in order to create such perfection, it is necessary to eradicate all evils [5, p.12].
Arthur C. Clarke described the root of all disasters in two utopian societies in the novel "The City and the Stars" that are alienated from humanity. A billion years in the future, long after a galactic empire has also fallen, only two societies remain on Earth. These two societies are separate from each other. The writer first introduces us to the city of Diaspar. The inhabitants of Diaspar have become immortal through genetic engineering and technology. This is an extremely stable society that has not changed since its birth a billion years ago. Residents of Diaspar "just don't believe only in stability", in fact they "can't imagine anything else" [3, p.30]. Diaspar is a technological wonderland where citizens can do anything they want thanks to technology. In this work, the writer describes the impact of advanced technology on human consciousness. One of the most obvious consequences of technological development is its impact on work. Considering the real world, there are occupations that have undergone relatively little change. Although there have been no revolutionary changes in the field of law or education to date, only the science fiction genre is an exception [2, p. 246]. In dystopias, as a rule, there is no teaching profession. Because they are not needed. Their work is done by robot-humans.
That's why the world of industry has completely changed. The workers who could see the entire work
from start to finish have disappeared. By dividing occupations into partial operations and assigning each person one limited task, a wave of semi-skilled workers appeared. Each of them can only see a part of the work and does not even know what its purpose is. Those fractional positions have caused a decrease in the level of professionalism of employees. If a hundred years ago, one skilled worker was required to do all the work, now a group of several semi-skilled workers is needed [2, p. 246]. This concept, of course, helps totalitarian regimes control their workers in dystopian literature, generally speaking, in "The City and the Stars" and many other futuristic books, humans do not need to work because everything is controlled by robots or cyborgs. It is clear that the worker functions more as a requisitioned and mechanized unit. Any emotional connection to work is lost because of the repetitive task, and if a problem arises, such workers are usually unable to solve the problem.
For the inhabitants, "Diaspar was everything that existed, everything that they needed, everything that they could dream of' [3, p.9], and they were happy to live in the perfect city. The development of leisure time is an important feature of modern civilizations. Mass production and consumption contribute to the need for instant gratification. It's a better means of managing the population that dystopias emphasize, because immediate emotions are always in focus, especially good ones. Thus, the obsession with instant gratification is also a common feature of science fiction and dystopian books. It acts as a way to overcome and forget negative experiences. Relationships between people are taken for granted and ignored. Sigmund Bawman writes in his famous work "Liquid Modernity" that there is no difference between human relations and consumer goods. The role of a relationship is to be satisfied with the person one chooses. The product must be ready for use. In case of dissatisfaction or the appearance of a newer and better model, the product can be easily replaced with a better one [1, p.186].
According to American fiction writer Neil Postman, Western cultures are obsessed with scientific facts. The writer warns that if development does not change its course, many societies will become what he calls a "technological" society. This is a society where everything is measured by the benefits of technology, how efficient or logical everything is; everything is adjusted according to its values. Neil Postman then adds that when we deify technological progress, all human values are lost. Culture seeks its control in technology, finds its satisfaction in technology, and receives its orders from technology [6, p. 71].
He explains that the development of technology is not only a cultural situation. It is also a state of mind. In other words, technological development often redefines what its inhabitants think about religion, art, family, politics, history, truth, personal life [6, p. 48]. Such a change of meanings occurs because the world is governed only by the logical discourse of science and technology. A person who feels comfortable in the technical field is a person who is convinced that technical progress is the main achievement of mankind and the
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ways to solve problems. We can see such thinking in Diaspar created by A. Clarke.
Citizens of Diaspar also blindly believe only in technology and perception. The difference between the two cultures is that Diaspar is more developed. In fact, Diaspar has reached its final stage of development, there is nothing more to invent. Therefore, the purpose of Diaspar is simply consumption and "existence". But this does not change the way the inhabitants of Diaspar see the world they live in. For example, fine art in Diaspar does not appeal from a creative point of view, but is valued for its complexity and precision. Human aesthetic feelings of admiration have been replaced by objective beauty that follows technical rules. This may be due to the loss of attractiveness of any object, machine or person in Diaspar. In a mind-controlled world, it makes sense that cognition is also used to describe "beauty": "She designed and constructed, with the aid of the matter organizers, three dimensional interlacing patterns of such beautiful complexity that they were really extremely advanced problems in topology. Her work could be seen all over Diaspar" [3, p. 47].
In addition, each work of art is evaluated by the community, and the fate of the work of art depends entirely on how many votes it receives. If the masterpiece gets enough votes, it is stored in the memory banks of the city, otherwise the art is canceled: "It was the custom of the city's artists-and everyone in Diaspar was an artist at some time or another-to display their current productions along the side of the moving ways, ..it was usually only a few days before the entire population had critically examined any noteworthy creation, and also expressed its views upon it" [3, p. 24].
In this book, the fascination with technology, redefining what the word "beauty" means through the use of technology, played a decisive role. This is one of the processes occurring during the transformation of society into a technical field [6, p. 48]. In Diaspar, the urban dwellers were conditioned to believe in technology: "They were perfectly adapted to their environment as well as to their environment - because both were designed together" [3, p.9].
Members of this society were immortal due to the ability to transfer one's mind from one human body to another. To maintain an element of diversity in the city, the human mind is not reborn after leaving the body. Only a fraction of the population lives in the city. The remaining residents are stored as digital data in memory banks. It is the central computer that decides who will be born and when. Thus, the technical field is not controlled by humans, but by machines. The Central Computer represents the last and greatest technological invention and the end of evolution because it is perfect: "The Council ruled Diaspar, but the Council itself could be overridden by a superior power - the infinite intelligence of the Central Computer" [3, p. 66]. Complete trust in technology is also proven in moments of danger.
Another reason why citizens of Diaspar can't make decisions in difficult situations is because they are used to it. From a psychological point of view, the repetition of any action can lead to the formation of a habit. Thus, a habit is a behavior that requires little or
no thought. As the Central Computer is almost always ready for use, people living in those technopolis can easily form such habits and therefore get away with making decisions without thinking or realizing it.
In the novel "The City and the Stars", the consumer is more connected to economic stability and loses the sense of satisfaction because it is no longer a problem. In Diaspar, if a person demands something, it is immediately synthesized and subjected to the laws of society. In such conditions, the material needs of a person are satisfied in both cultures, and the consumer perceives any object as a tool that serves only his purpose [4, p. 17].
No emotional attachment to objects is possible because everything is a product of mass production and therefore any object loses its uniqueness. When the purpose of the object is fulfilled or the object is damaged, it is destroyed or replaced with another one that is exactly the same as the previous one. Thus, technology offers only material, not emotional, satisfaction.
In these technological fields, people are having more fun than being active participants. Such a state of mind does not require any cognitive effort, which is why people are passive in thinking or their cognitive processes are limited in prescribed ways.
The development of Diaspar achieves the disappearance of pain and self-care skills. Moreover, this concept is supported by the chance to replace his body with a new one. Diaspar is more suitable for citizens who can't leave their cities. There is no exit from Diaspar, and even if there is a way to leave the city, they can't do so due to their genetically instilled fear of space. Although Diaspar knows of Earth's existence, she is unaware of Lys's existence. But Lys knows Diaspar is there and works to keep them apart. Alvin, the main character of the novel is from Diaspar. But he is unique, born without fear of emptiness and interested in everything. Alvin is one of the first people in the history of Diaspar to want to leave the city.
Alvin eventually finds a way to leave Diaspar and finds his way to Lys in the second part of the novel. Lys is not a large city like Diaspar, but instead is a garden of villages. Their society differs from Diaspar in many ways. They are not as dependent on technology as the people of Diaspar, as they are still engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry.
Man trying to create such creatures based on the experience he gained while changing his nature posed the greatest challenge that reason presented to the universe.
It is not difficult to guess what happened during this short period of time. A pure, clean mind was created, but it also turned out to be crazy. It ravaged the universe for centuries until it was brought under control by forces beyond our control. A madman could not be killed because he would not die. He was thrown to the edge of the galaxy and a strange artificial star known as the Black Sun became his prison. It remains there to this day. When the Black Sun dies, he will be free again. At the end of the novel, Alvin introduced the two societies to each other, and humanity once again mobilized to explore the galaxies.
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The two utopias in the novel are initially depicted as positive achievements of humanity, but as we learn more about them, the dystopian elements of the utopias emerge. Even the more positive utopia, Lys, is abandoned because it lacks the interest of humanity. Diaspar is stagnant and does not change; the inhabitants seem to have lived the same life without changing society for billions of years. Lys is a more vibrant society than Diaspar, but it also reflects a stagnant society without progress. Is this lack of change the result of creating a perfect society that ignores the need for improvement and change? Or the inhabitants agreed with themselves because they thought that humanity would have to be genetically modified to fit the utopia. All utopias raise questions about how the human body and mind can be changed without directly and indirectly changing humanity.
There are some differences between the people in A. Clarke's novel and the people of today. The people in A. Clark's future are more numerous than today, they have overcome many of humanity's weaknesses, diseases, perfected the body and mind, and even genetically engineered the inhabitants of Diaspar to become immortal. The people of Lys gave up the latest modification, immortality, but retained other modifications to their bodies and minds. Perhaps the biggest difference between people today and the people of Diaspar is that the inhabitants of Diaspar have no fear of space and no interest in nature. Alvin attributes his indecisiveness to Khedron the Jester, another member of Diaspar, being afraid of him. "We couldn't do it because we are afraid of heights. It may be irrational, but it's powerful enough to ignore. Fear is instilled in us, we are born with it. In the same way, we have a fear of space" [3, p.59]. Fear of space constrains the people of Diaspar, and they are afraid to leave the city. Their lack of interest prevents them from doing anything different from the norms and templates in the city.
The people in "The City and the Stars" lost their emotions as they were transformed, especially the people in Diaspar who sacrificed their immortality to the loss of their emotions. Residents in A. Clark's novel do not respond to calls, they do not even respond to calls.
Thus, it can be seen that Diaspar is not a real utopia. Its inhabitants have been genetically modified according to the rules of living in the city. And Lys is the real utopia of the novel; it really expresses the content of utopia. But even though it is a real utopia, it is not perfect. A. Clarke puts forward the thesis that answers to the questions that concern mankind should be sought with the image of Elvin. With these questions, he should constantly challenge himself, gain new success, and living in utopia should not be enough for him to reach human values and strength.
Conclusion. The analysis of the search for an ideal society in the novel "The City and the Stars" suggests that it clarifies how the ideas of humanity and utopia are challenged in A. Clarke's works. In the utopia presented in the novel "The City and the Stars", the small number of genetically engineered humans on earth shows that no matter how desirable the utopia is, it remains a constant threat to humanity. A. Clarke satirically describes the stagnant and unchanging society and conveys interesting messages to the reader. The citizens of the utopian Diaspar in the work believe only in technological understanding. The writer shows that Diaspar has reached its final stage of development and there is nothing more to invent. The consumer is dependent on economic stability in such a society, and since he no longer experiences problems, he also loses his sense of satisfaction. In such a society, the consumer perceives any object as a tool that serves only his purpose. On the other hand, if the two different utopian societies in the novel are first described as positive achievements of humanity, then the dystopian elements of utopias emerge. Diaspar is stagnant and unchanging; its inhabitants have lived without changing society for billions of years. Lys, on the other hand, is a more vibrant society than Diaspar, but it also does not progress and thus represents a stagnant society. Unless the people in the work change, they lose their emotions, and their feelings disappear with their immortality. The writer shows that in such utopias, people aim to escape to the future instead of trying to solve the problem.
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