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Indeholder "Rumvagt", "På vej ind", "Rama og Sita", "Rendezvous", "Første rumvandring", "Udvalget", "To koner", "Igennem", "Rekognoscering", "Ned i mørket", "Mænd, kvinder og aber", "Gudernes trappe", "Ramas slette", "Stormvarsel", "Ved havets bred", "Kealakekua",
11. september 2077 bliver Venezia ramt af en meteor og udslettet. Menneskeheden bliver opsat på at forhindre en gentagelse og sætter et rumforsvar op til at holde nøje udkig efter asteroider, der kunne tænkes at ramme Jorden. En dag i 2131 får man øje på noget, der viser sig at være en næsten perfekt cylinder, ca 50 km lang og ca 20 km i diameter og roterende om længdeaksen en gang hvert fjerde minut. Egentlig havde man kaldt den 31/439, men nu får den navnet Rama. Lidt held gør at man kan få et rumskib Endeavour til at lave rendezvous med den, selv om det er med en vis risiko. Kaptajn Norton er øverstkommanderende på Endeavour og uden problemer får de landet på Rama, finder en luftsluse og går indenfor. Efter et kig ind i det indre (væggene er ca 500 meter tykke) overlader han ekspeditionsrollen til den næstkommanderende Karl Mercer, dennes højrehånd navigatøren Joe Calvert og teknikeren Williard Myron. Calvert er 10 år yngre end Mercer, men på Jorden deler de to den samme hustru, der har skænket hver af dem et barn. De tre går gennem luftslusen, gennem ydervæggen og ind i det indre, hvor tre kilometerlange trapper går ned til ydervæggen. De går en tredjedel ned og vender så tilbage. Karl har taget et snif af luften i Rama og der er ilt nok i den til at man kan leve med det, når man er nede ved indervæggen. Der er bælgmørkt og noget under frysepunktet.
Næste ekspedition når frem til havet, som er isbelagt. Men solvarmen er ved at nå gennem væggene og havet smelter. Det sker nedefra og er lidt voldsomt. Faktisk udløser det en orkan og menneskene trækker sig tilbage for et par dage. Nogle strukturer i det ellers livløse Rama viser sig at være lysgivere og pludseligt er der både lys og varme inde i Rama. En af menneskene, Jimmy Pak, har taget et ultralet pedaldrevet fly med og begiver sig på ekspedition til den anden side af havet, men han fanges i en elektrisk storm og styrter ned, dog uden at komme noget særligt til. Han bemærker nogle robotter eller dyr, der fjerner affald, fx hans havarerede rumcykel, og tager billeder og film af dem, som sendes tilbage til kaptajn Norton og Jorden. Jorden har også en ide til at redde Jimmy der ellers er fanget bag et 500 højt dige, der rejser sig mod havet i den ende af Rama, hvor han er styrtet ned. Redningen lykkes i første omgang, men redningsbåden møder tidevandsbølger på vej tilbage og det ser ud til at Rama har fyret op for en motor, der ikke er en raket. Merkurkolonien føler sig truet og sender en raket op med en stor brintbombe, men den bliver demonteret og uskadeliggjort. Endeavour trækker sig tilbage i god ro og orden, hvilket er meget passende timing, for Rama sætter kurs meget tættere på solen end man ville have troet. Den tanker tilsyneladende op undervejs i solpassagen og styrer så ellers ud af ekliptikaplanet og sætter kurs ud af galaksen. Endeavour har været tæt på Rama, da dens motor blev tændt, så måske har man observeret nok mærkelige fænomener til at lure ramanerne kunsten efter?
Historien er fint fortalt, men selv om Clarke putter ting ind i historien som at Norton har en kone på Mars og en på Jorden og at Mercer og Calvert deler en kone, så er det meste af de sociale rammer som hentet fra 1970'ernes middelstandsengland. Oversættelsen er lidt haltende.
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An enormous cylindrical object appears in Earth's solar system, hurtling toward the sun. A ship is sent to explore the mysterious craft-which the denizens of the solar system name Rama-and what they find is intriguing evidence of a civilization far more advanced than ours. They find an interior stretching over 50 kilometers; a forbidding cylindrical sea; mysterious and inaccessible buildings; and strange machine-animal hybrids, or "biots," that inhabit the ship. But what they don't find is an alien presence. So who-and where-are the Ramans? Often listed as one of Clarke's finest novels, Rendezvous With Rama has won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. A fast-paced and compelling story of an enigmatic encounter with alien technology, Rendezvous With Rama offers both answers and unsolved mysteries that continue to fascinate readers decades after its first publication.… (more)
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The reason I say that is because Clark has this way of making the most mundane feat so fascinating and the most unimaginable event seem downright matter-of-fact. His writing is hypnotic in the sense one is
Rendezvous with Rama just flows so nicely. At the end of each chapter, I could not help but want to read the next – not because each ends as a cliffhanger, but I am ever curious as to what is going to happen next? What detail of physics will be precisely and artfully described? It all makes you want to fall asleep after reading the book and explore the world that is described so acutely within this book.
My only issue might be character development. Each person within the novel is a professional with a professional sense of self-preservation. I experienced this in 2001. There are no main characters who are average Joes; only professional people doing skilled jobs. Of course, this is the audience Clark is writing to – and the audience normally neglected in speculative fiction. Hence, why the genre of Arthur C Clark is called Hard Science Fiction.
But, please, do not let “Hard Science Fiction” throw you off. He is a story teller above all else, he just knows his physics and other disciplines very well.
There were times, while reading, when he would describe something where I ended up pondering to myself, “Oh…yeah, of course! Why didn’t I think of that?”
This book is highly recommended it, and, of course, I can hardly wait to get my hands on the sequels.
Rendezvous with Rama is set in 2130, and opens with the discovery of what appears to be a new asteroid trundling through the outer reaches of the solar system. This is, in itself, of little moment until astronomers notice that it appears to be perfectly symmetrical, and moving abnormally quickly. As every available resource is directed to studying this celestial visitor it becomes apparent that it is not a natural object at all but a huge cylinder, fifty kilometres long and thirty kilometres across. The human race has to come to terms with the fact that it is, at long last, bout to encounter another civilisation.
The manned solar survey vessel Endeavour, under Commander Bill Norton, is sent to study Rama, as it is the only ship close enough to do so during the brief period that Rama will spend in our solar system. Endeavour manages to rendezvous with Rama one month after the space ship first comes to Earth's attention, by which time the alien ship is already inside Venus' orbit. Norton and his crew find it surprisingly easy to gain entry to Rama through one of a series of triple airlocks. They soon come to realise that everything in Rama is done in threes.
Once inside they are faced with a vast internal landscape laid out across the internal surface of the cylinder, including a band around the centre of the craft which they soon recognise as ice. This is dubbed the Cylindrical Sea. One bonus is that the atmosphere within Rama is breathable, which facilitates wider exploration. Their time in Rama is limited as there is no way that the Endeavour could survive going too close to the sun, and will have to depart within about a month of landing there.
The nature and purpose of Rama, and the identity and home of its creators remain enigmatic throughout the book. Inside Rama, the atmosphere is discovered to be breathable. The astronauts discover several features, including "cities" (odd blocky shapes that look like buildings, and streets with shallow trenches in them, looking like trolley car tracks) that actually served as factories and seven massive cones at the southern end of Rama – believed to form part of the propulsion system.
Clarke maintains the reader's sense of awe throughout the book, partially because it is matched by that of the characters themselves as they continually discover new aspects of the wonders of Rama. Clarke also investigates the political and religious impact of this sudden manifestation of other civilised life elsewhere in the universe, with the colonies on Mercury, the Moon and Mars all having different responses to the presence of Rama. He even manages to throw in a fair amount of humour, and captures it all in just two hundred and fifty pages. An excellent novel, that is as compelling now as when I firt read it about thirty-five years ago.
The plot is simple: a mysterious cylindrical object appears in nearby space. Humans go to investigate. They see many mysterious things, but
First, the date. I had thought this was from the 1950s, contemporary with Asimov's Foundation and early robot stories, early 1960's at the latest. But 1973 means it appeared post-New Wave; it was written in a context where other writers were looking to be more literary: experimenting with prose, writing complicated characters, and making social and political commentary. Heck, this book is younger than I am.
Which makes the next surprise all the more surprising: how completely unconcerned Clarke is with trickeries of style, character development, or social awareness. Not that his characters are uninteresting. On the contrary, they represent multiple social groups with competing political or religious agendas. But Clarke doesn't seem to be commenting on current events so much as he is creating a world in which events have moved on from current preoccupations. Even forty-four years later it does not feel dated.
Another surprise: I knew that questions would be unanswered. What I didn't know was that *every* question would be unanswered. Things got curiouser and curiouser until it was just over. And yet I never felt that Clarke was being coy. Whatever the mystery, physics still applies, so despite a lack of answers it always *feels* like the answers are there. They taunt like one of those simple-to-state-difficult-to-prove problems in number theory: you always feel the result would be obvious if only you could find the right approach. I can see why this book attracts such strong devotion.
Last surprise: I knew that a sequel (Rama II) came years & years later in response to persistent requests from fans. What I didn't know was how strongly Rendezvous With Rama seems to promise a sequel, or how badly I'd want one too. I hear it's disappointing. I'm reading it anyway.
In any genre of literature, you definitely have some people whose names tower above everyone else, and their influence could not be denied. However, people who like literature don't just read the so-called greats. Clarke certainly wrote some seminal works of SF, but he probably read many obscure works too, some of which may have influenced him. Readers don't just read the big name writers, but have a much bigger interest in the genre. A writer’s work only makes sense within a tradition and how it is situated along other people's work. It is all interlinked and some of the smaller voices may be bigger than critics acknowledge. For instance Clarke's influences aren't as well-known but what he learned from them is part of his work, so the voices remain powerful, and readers equally value preceding works. That doesn't mean that the big name writers don't deserve their place in history, but as fan of literature, I think sometimes, the bigger contributions are made by lesser known writers. I disagree with the assessment that Clarke left questions unanswered; world-building can get boring at the micro, non-plot-related level. This book was "sensawunda" in triplicate -- for the Ramans always did everything in threes. How about those tripodal cleansing things that whirled about? I'm not disappointed that Clarke had no sequel; when you look at 2001 on the screen, then read Clarke's rejected worlds, you realise that Kubrick was right to end with the “Star Child”. There must be mystery and open-endedness along with “sensawunda” to develop and explore. One writer cannot be credited with the continuity of ideas within a literary genre. I also enjoy reading it for the lack of artificial tension - there isn't a saboteur on board, the characters all seem decent and likeable (and sensible - no one behaves like an idiot for the sake of the plot), and only the fiery Martians stir things up a little. All the tension emerges naturally from their being on an alien artefact. It's as enjoyable and fascinating as watching the Edwardian Farm in space... And it's almost impossible to imagine a modern dramatisation without someone ruining it with loads of artificial, clichéd conflict. (Christ, even the remake of Hawaii 5-O has to start off with them all resenting each other and grudgingly gaining each other's respect. Yawn.)
I find Arthur C. Clarke to be a writer whose prose is pretty workmanlike, but where Clarke excels when he's at his best (he often wasn't) is in dramatic structure and for a novel which is all about a good idea it's that knowledge of how to explain an idea which holds it together. Enough is explained for it to make sense, but not enough as to require any utterly pointless sequels. A writer without the knack of explaining a grand idea without deep characterization would have fluffed it.
Not sure which SF I'd recommend to non-SF fans, because as well as the formula issue there's also the fact that the books tend not to take place in the world we see around us which raises a barrier of understanding for the casual reader. Anything by Lem might fit the bill though and of course some Phil Dick. "The Big Sleep” helped created the hardboiled genre. It did not adhere to a formula. When to comes to brass-tacks, I'd recommend it not just to any crime genre fan but to those who aren't fans of the genre as well. And for me “Rendezvous with Rama” is an example of still readable SF, being also an example that remains within the formula and so is one I'd recommend to any genre fan but not to anyone not into the genre.
In the Big Dumb Object competition I'll still take “Ringworld” by Niven, but there was some serious skull sweat involved with “Rendezvous with Rama”. It shows and it deserves respect for it. I also prefer Clarke's “Fountains of Paradise”. The story is a bit better and the engineering involved is somewhat mind blowing. There have been attempts to make it as a film, but they keep running into funding problems. It would be a huge undertaking, and really needs something with a breadth of imagination to create real, or virtual, sets which would need to rival the LOTR films in order to be convincing. Many of the ideas have been used elsewhere, though; for example, in Blake's 7, the concept of Xen insisting that the crew find out things for themselves has some echoes of “Rendezvous with Rama”.
NB1: What about the bicycle? The junior crewmember could've said something earlier, but he had smuggled the device on board and wasn't supposed to have it. Yes, even then the explanation is a bit weak, but the human spaceship isn't supposed to have any devices on it that can manoeuvre in an atmosphere because it doesn't have a mission that would require it (the ship is pressed into service when Rama is detected). But yes, I did wonder where their "Scotty" was, the bluff Scotsman who would rig together something--Clarke missed a chance to have a bit of fun with that. One thing that marked both Clarke and Asimov was their earnestness, and that serious tone of Awe at Marvels sometimes took away a bit of the fun. But I suppose they wanted SF taken seriously, after so many years of being relegated to laughable "monsters from outer space" clichés.
NB2: This novel always reminds me of J. G. Ballard's "Report on an Unidentified Space Station." Not sure why. Any ideas?
SF = Speculative Fiction.
It is certainly the best one that I have read, and its impact remains undiminished after several re-readings. Arthur C Clarke's supremacy as a writer of science fiction lies, to my mind, in his ability to describe fantastic
Clarke also had a gift for mingling the magical with the almost mundane, which always lends that extra verisimilitude to his books. Rendezvous with Rama is set in 2130, and opens with the discovery of what appears to be a new asteroid trundling through the outer reaches of the solar system. This is, in itself, of little moment until astronomers notice that it appears to be perfectly symmetrical, and moving abnormally quickly. As every available resource is directed to studying this celestial visitor it becomes apparent that it is not a natural object at all but a huge cylinder, fifty kilometres long and thirty kilometres across. The human race finally has to come to terms with the fact that it is, at long last, about to encounter another civilisation.
The manned solar survey vessel Endeavour, under Commander Bill Norton, is sent to study Rama, as it is the only ship close enough to do so during the brief period that Rama will spend in our solar system. Endeavour manages to rendezvous with Rama one month after the spaceship first comes to Earth's attention, by which time the alien ship is already within the orbit of Venus. Norton and his crew find it surprisingly easy to gain entry to Rama through one of a series of triple airlocks. Indeed, they soon come to realise that everything in Rama is done in threes.
Once inside, they are faced with a vast internal landscape laid out across the internal surface of the cylinder, including a band around the centre of the craft which they soon recognise as ice. This is dubbed the Cylindrical Sea. One bonus is that the atmosphere within Rama is breathable, which facilitates wider exploration. Their time in Rama is limited as there is no way that the Endeavour could survive going too close to the sun, and will have to depart within about a month of landing there.
The nature and purpose of Rama, and the identity and home of its creators remain enigmatic throughout the book. The astronauts discover several features, including "cities" (odd blocky shapes that look like buildings, and streets with shallow trenches in them, looking like trolley car tracks) that actually served as factories and seven massive cones at the southern end of Rama – believed to form part of the propulsion system.
Clarke maintains the reader's sense of awe throughout the book, partially because it is matched by that of the characters themselves as they continually discover new aspects of the wonders of Rama. Clarke also investigates the political and religious impact of this sudden manifestation of other civilised life elsewhere in the universe, with the colonies on Mercury, the Moon and Mars all having different responses to the presence of Rama. He even manages to throw in a fair amount of humour, and captures it all in just two hundred and fifty pages. An excellent novel, that was as compelling now as when I first read it mor than forty years ago.
And how can I fail to love a story that actually takes Coriolis force into account?
The strong grounding in reality makes the whole story feel so much more real. You believe in the characters and in the dangers they encounter, because you know that no 'magic' will be used to rescue them if they get into a tight corner.
Clarke can't write in depth characters, but they work reasonably well in this book, and the setting of Rama itself makes the story live.
Rama is an enormous space ship from a distant world that intrudes into our solar system in the 22nd century. Threatened by its mysterious purpose, the leaders of our system send
Clarke's prose is a masterpiece of hard science fiction, applying science fact to what amounts to a work of observation. Commander Norton's mission to explore the enormous interior of Rama, and learn the secrets of its makers is not unlike Lewis and Clark's journey to the Pacific. No shoot 'em up here, the joy is in the journey of discovery.
The first Rama book, and the best.
The premise is that in the future there is a large
Humanity has spread out into the solar system and has a functioning space force. The representatives of humanity decide to send the closest ship to investigate. The cylinder is on track to pass close to the sun, and then pass out of the system. The human space ship has limited time to explore before it gets too close to the sun and too far too get back.
The story focuses on the human ship and the people who go and explore the object they have named Rama. It is interwoven with story of the human council who represent their home plants/habitats and are trying to decide what to do.
The story should have conflict, and tension and mystery - but it is actually pretty boring. Even when the space ship gets there and inside, it is pointless for quite a while. Nothing happens inside the ship. It is cold, dark, empty.
Meanwhile there is conflict on the council and it too is very tame and lacking in any drama or tension. The planet Mercury becomes anxious because the cylinder will pass very close to them, and they feel threatened. They take action that has consequences for the human ship exploring Rama.
Towards the end things do happen in Rama, and there are spills and what looks like a life or death incident. Still it is very low key, and problems are easily overcome. There is only minimal information/activity from Rama itself and really nothing from or about its creators.
The book can't seem to decide where to focus: on the humans in terms of their politics and social structure or on the alien artifact. It tires to do both, and it is superficial. The characterizations are pretty flat and the story is not constructed well enough to carry the book with the right amount of drama, tension, suspense, and mystery.
I have read [Titan] by John Varley and [Ringworld] by Larry Niven. Both are about exploring big alien objects. Frankly neither of the other 2 come close to [Ringworld].
The writing is smooth, and coherent. It was a quick read with little in the way of info-dumps.
If you're terrified of the unknown, this book with give you a serious case of the creeps. If you love grand, operatic sci-fi, it will blow your mind and leave you hungry for answers.
Listening to the description of Rama, I'm thinking of the reports of the long piece of space debris that flowed through the solar system recently. Rama isn't as disfigured as the piece we saw on the
This to me is a very dry read. It's a recitation of actions, with little to no emotion behind it. Yes, you get thoughts, but the characters all seem so ... stiff. RAMA is described, but it feels dead, overall, even as
This felt very meh when it comes to plot. Yes, the world was as much a character as the humans exploring, but the entire thing was a recitation of what happened. Plodding along, lacking depth. No real climax to speak of, and it just kinda ended. For such a big name book... I'm disappointed.
As the huge spaceship nears the sun the temperature rises and this sets in motion a whole eco system.
A fantastic tour de force of Clarke's imagination.
RWR is just as enjoyable as I remember it being when I first read it in my teens. A giant hollow cylinder appears in the solar system, and just one
The genius of RWR is the sense of alienness, of oddness, the humans encounter as they explore the world inside Rama. It's not malevolent, but it's often just wrong, and its deeper meanings remain unresolved. That's a legitimate take on encountering the truly other.
Fun stuff!
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Omslaget viser en planet med ringe, et stort rumskib med synlig udstødning og et par astronauter på rumvandring
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Oversat fra amerikansk "Rendezvous With Rama" af Arne Herløv Petersen
Side 16: Det var muligt, at Ramas lille tyngdefelt - der var omkring en tusindedel af Jordens - ville forhindre dette i at ske.
Side 26: Efterhånden var der ikke mange englændere, der kunne udgå at blive adlet. (typo for undgå).
Side 29: Ikke siden Howard Carter som den første så ind i Tut Ankh Amons grav kunne noget menneske have været ude for et øjeblik som dette - men samtidig var det en næsten helt latterlig sammenligning.
Side 30: Selv lysbombens millioner af lys ... (dårlig oversættelse af Even the millons of candle power of the flare ...)
Side 38: han havde personligt efterset utallige former for udstyr (dårlig oversættelse af He had personally checked out innumerable types of equipment)
Side 39: det ideelle kompromis mellem magt og ansvar.
Side 132: Han havde sjældent følt sig så ydmyget i sit liv. Men så kom hans sans for humor ham til undsætning. Det var jo i virkeligheden ikke nogen stor sag at blive ignoreret af en mekanisk skraldevogn. Det ville have været værre, hvis den havde hilst ham som en længe savnet bror ...
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