Have those Webb Telescope images whetted your appetite? If so, Olaf Stapledon's 1939 novel 'Star Maker' is the forgotten sci-fi classic for you
, such as it is, involves an Englishman walking up a hill in the evening, sitting in the heather, and staring up at the stars.We learn that he has a wife, with whom he is moderately happy, and children, who also exist. While he is contemplating the cosmos, he experiences something he describes as either a dream or a psychic journey to the stars. Some 200 pages later, he wakes up, and, presumably, walks home.
While a few secondary characters do appear in the book, they are, very clearly, beside the point. Stapledon is here to tell the story of the cosmos, not individuals, and a recurring theme is the moral triumph of collectivism over selfishness. In Stapledon’s telling, advancement and enlightenment come through the joining of many diverse individuals into harmonious community.