Ce qu’en dit l’éditeur
Un soir, au cœur de la paisible campagne anglaise, un homme prend l’air sur une colline baignée par la lumière des étoiles. Il l’ignore encore, mais il s’apprête à faire le plus extraordinaire voyage jamais entrepris par un être humain. Entre planètes et galaxies, de civilisations extraterrestres en astres éveillés, au sein d’une gestalt vertigineuse, il se retrouve bientôt partie prenante d’une quête des plus fabuleuses, celle du Créateur d’étoiles.
Que sommes-nous face à l’immensité ?
Quelle est notre place au sein de l’horlogerie cosmique ? Voilà ce qu’il pourrait dès lors découvrir…
Biographie
Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and writer whose life and imagination were shaped by the upheavals of the early twentieth century. Born in 1886 and educated at Oxford, he worked in education, served as an ambulance driver during the First World War, and later devoted himself to writing that ranged far beyond the conventions of his time. He became one of the most ambitious and original voices in speculative literature, creating vast, idea-driven narratives that traced the fate of humanity across immense stretches of time and space. His work is marked by sweeping vision, philosophical depth, and a willingness to ask what it means for a species to evolve, fail, and endure. Across his major writings, he explored themes of collective destiny, moral responsibility, cosmic perspective, and the fragile place of human civilization in a universe far larger than ourselves. These concerns feel especially urgent today, when readers continue to wrestle with technological change, environmental uncertainty, and the future of humanity itself. Stapledon’s legacy lies in the way he expanded the possibilities of fiction, showing that imaginative literature could be both intellectually daring and profoundly humane. He remains a vital figure for readers who enjoy big ideas, philosophical speculation, and stories that challenge them to think about humanity’s place in the cosmos.
