Educated at Abbotsholme School and Balliol College, Oxford, Stapledon received a Masters degree in 1913. Thereafter, he worked briefly as a teacher and as a shipping clerk before the outbreak of the First World War. He served in France from 1915 to 1919 with the Friends' Ambulance Unit. He married in 1919 and returned to his education. In 1925 he received his PhD from the University of Liverpool. His first publication appeared in 1929, Modern Theory of Ethics, but he soon turned to fiction and published Last and First Men in 1930. This was extremely successful and convinced Stapledon to write full-time. He excelled in the science fiction genre and introduced many new and innovative concepts for the time, including genetic engineering and terraforming. His work also greatly influenced future science fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and Brian Aldiss. His works include The Last Men in London (1932), Waking World (1934), Odd John (1935), Star Maker (1937), Philosophy and Living (1938), Saints and Revolutionaries (1939), New Hope for Britain (1939), Darkness and the Light (1942), Death Into Life (1946), The Flames (1947) and A Man Divided (1950). |
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