Title: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Author: Arthur C. Clarke

Date of First Publication: 1968

Place of Publication: New American Library

Type: Novel.

Keywords: ANDROID; FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER; POSTHUMAN

Critical Summary:Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a three-part novel that revolves around mysterious black monoliths left by a great alien civilization. This alien civilization, with the express purpose of encouraging intelligent life around the universe, leaves black monoliths that study the species that evolve around them and encourage, through hypnotic suggestion, their intelligent development. The first section of the novel follows a group of pre-homo-sapiens cavemen, and how, inspired by a monolith, they begin using tools that jumpstart their development into homo sapiens with their new surplus of resources. The second section of the novel, set in Clarke’s vision of a futuristic year 2001, follows the United States’ discovery of a black monolith hidden in the moon. Upon investigation of this monolith, a signal is triggered that reaches a second monolith on one of the moons of Saturn.

The third section covers the trials of the two awake members, Bowman and Poole, of a research team sent to investigate this monolith (the other members are cryogenically frozen, to be woken up upon reaching their destination) and their ship’s artificial intelligence, named HAL. Over the course of the third section, it becomes revealed that HAL’s mission parameters include lying to Bowman and Poole about their mission’s true goal, as only the cryogenically frozen members of the team know about the monolith’s existence. Uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the prospect of dishonesty, HAL begins to behave erratically, which the team and Mission Control respond to with plans of temporarily deactivating HAL for repair. HAL, not understanding the concept of sleep, takes this as a threat on his life, and turns on the team, attempting to murder them all and succeeding with the murders of all but Bowman. Bowman manually deactivates HAL and continues the mission by himself.

Now briefed, by necessity, on the true nature of his mission, Bowman reaches the second monolith on Saturn’s moon. Upon inspecting it closely, he is pulled into it, which apparently functions as a sort of portal or wormhole. Drifting through a fantastical vision of space, he becomes an otherworldly presence, apparently similar to the advanced civilization that created the monoliths initially. Bowman, now unrecognizably human, returns to Earth and, seemingly out of curiosity, detonates a nuclear bomb orbiting outside of Earth. The novel ends with Bowman, unemotional and detached, watching the explosion while drifting in space.

2001: A Space Odyssey and Frankenstein both examine the concept of artificially-created nonhuman intelligences in the characters of HAL and of Frankenstein’s Creature. HAL, just as the Creature did, learns and draws its own behavior from observation of humans. Initially caring and admiring of the human species, they both, due to human misunderstanding of their behavior, draw hostility, and respond to this hostility with violence out of self-defense. Both creations are sympathetic monsters that demonstrate true care of their creators, feel betrayed and confused by how they are treated over the course of their novels, and turn violent as a result.
Furthermore, both works examine the notion of a posthuman civilization. Victor turns back on his promise to create a female mate for the Creature because he is so terrified by the prospect of them breeding and creating a race of superhumans that would surpass humanity and take over the earth. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, an extremely advanced race is responsible for humanity’s intelligent development through the black monoliths, and, by the end of the novel, it is implied that Bowman has apparently been forcefully evolved into another of this advanced race. Bowman, in this state, has surpassed humanity to the point of becoming a near otherworldly presence, one that can easily travel through space and, apparently with only a thought, detonate nuclear bombs out of curiosity. While Frankenstein is satisfied with the mere suggestion of a posthuman species that surpasses homo sapiens, 2001: A Space Odyssey goes as far as to make it apparent and clear that there are forces far more powerful than humanity present in the universe, and, with a touch of the horror present throughout Shelley’s seminal work, that they are already here.

Administrative Notes: Kevin Hoang, CSUF; Adam Shelley (editing)