Gay spirual wrer Toby Johnson ments on Arthur C Clarke and science fictn as morn myth
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- HOW SCI-FI GIANT ARTHUR C. CLARKE PREDICTED AN LGBT-FRIENDLY WORLDSEXUAL SEERTHE THOR OF '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' WAS A SAVVY FUTURIST WHO PREDICTED EVERYTHG OM ONLE SHOPPG TO CELLPHONE ADDICTN, BUT HE WAS AT HIS MOST PRCIENT ABOUT SEXUALY.ANDREW BELONSKYUPDATED JAN. 03, 2018 1:38PM EST / PUBLISHED DEC. 09, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY SARAH ROGERS/THE DAILY BEASTSIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE IS REMEMBERED FOR HIS REMARKABLE FORIGHT: THE SCI-FI THOR’S WORKS ACCURATELY PREDICTED ONLE SHOPPG, BMETRIC TECHNOLOGY, SMART PHONE ADDICTN, AND EVEN TARGETED ADVERTISG. A 1945 WIRELS WORLD ARTICLE BY CLARKE, WHO TRAED RADAR TECHNOLOGY DURG WORLD WAR II, HELPED MAKE MUNITNS SATELL A REALY. AND PERHAPS MOST FAMOLY, CLARKE, WHOSE CENTENARY OCCURS THIS MONTH, CREATED A WHOLE NEW FEARSOME TROPE WH HAL, THE MURRO ARTIFICIAL TELLIGENCE AT THE HEART OF THE LATE THOR’S MOST FAMO WORK, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.THE ACPLISHMENTS ARE ALL WELL-KNOWN AND WELL-CELEBRATED AMONG CLARKE AFICNADOS AND CRICS. LS DISCSED ARE THE WAYS CLARKE’S WORKS CHALLENGED HETERONORMATIVE SEXUAL MOR, PARTICULARLY THOSE SURROUNDG MEN WHO WENT FOR MEN. BUT REVIEWG SOME OF CLARKE’S MOST NOTABLE WORKS, ONE SE THE THOR SURVEYG THE CHANGG SEXUAL LANDSPE OF A POST-STONEWALL SOCIETY. TAKEN TOGETHER, THEY PROVI A PANORAMIC VIEW OF A GAY MAN QUTNG THE WORLD WHICH HE LIVED.AND, Y, CLARKE WAS A GAY MAN, OR, AT THE VERY LEAST, QUEER. THOUGH HE MARRIED A WOMAN 1953, THEY SEPARATED SIX MONTHS LATER, AND ’S WELL TABLISHED THAT CLARKE’S ROMANTIC EXISTENCE WAS SPENT MOSTLY WH OTHER MEN. OBSSED WH THE KSEY SLE WHEN FIRST ME OUT, CLARKE NEVER BELIEVED PEOPLE HAD STRICT STRAIGHT OR GAY TENNCI, A BELIEF MA CLEAR A NUMBER OF HIS BOOKS. AUTHOR MICHAEL MOORCK WROTE A 2008 GUARDIAN SAY THAT “EVERYONE KNEW [CLARKE] WAS GAY,” EVEN THE ’50S, WELL AFTER CLARKE MOVED TO SRI LANKA, WHERE HE FOUND THE LACK OF SEXUAL POLICG REHG AFTER LIVG UPTIGHT ENGLAND. CLARKE ALSO SPENT 1964-1965 AT NEW YORK’S FAMOLY LIBERTE CHELSEA HOTEL, ROMPG AROUND TOWN WH ALLEN GSBERG AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, TWO OF THE MOST MALE-LOVG MEN OF THE ERA. AND SIRS ALSO KNOW THAT CLARKE AND A MAN NAMED LLIE EKANAYAKE WERE LOVE; CLARKE SCRIBED LLIE AS “THE ONLY PERFECT IEND OF A LIFETIME,” AND THE THOR WAS BURIED ALONGSI HIM WHEN HE DIED 2008.BUT CLARKE WOULD NEVER ADM HIS LOVE OF MEN. NOT ON THE RERD, AT LEAST. ASKED BY A REPORTER ABOUT HIS BEDROOM ACTIVI, CLARKE MPILY LGHED, “WHY, WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?” HE ONLY ADMTED HIS YEN FOR MEN A FEW TIM: SHEEPISHLY HIS SEMI-TOBGRAPHIL 1963 NOVEL GLI PATH, WHICH THE SEXUALLY EXPERIENCED PROTAGONIST MAK A PASSG REFERENCE TO “A HIGHLY REFED ENUNTER WH THE CLERGYMAN WHO HAD (VERY BRIEFLY) N THE LOL SUT TROOP;” AND OFF-HANDLY 1986, WHEN PLAYBOY JOURNALIST KEN KELLEY ASKED CLARKE WHETHER HE’D HAD BISEXUAL EXPERIENC. CLARKE REPLIED WH A ROUNDG Y: “OF URSE. WHO HASN’T? GOOD GOD! IF ANYONE HAD EVER TOLD ME THAT HE HADN’T, I’D HAVE TOLD HIM HE WAS LYG. BUT THEN, OF URSE, PEOPLE TEND TO ‘FET’ THEIR ENUNTERS.” HE WENT ON, “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO TAIL ABOUT MY OWN LIFE, BUT I JT WANT TO BE NOTED THAT I HAVE A RATHER RELAXED, SYMPATHETIC ATTU ABOUT .” SUCH RETICENCE IS ONLY NATURAL FOR A MAN BORN 1917 AND WHO ME OF AGE DURG THE HEIGHT OF THE PK SRE, WHEN WTERN ERNMENTS BRAND GAY PEOPLE AS CRIMAL SURG, AS SEXUAL CRIMALS. AND ’S EQUALLY LOGIL THAT CLARKE WOULD E FICTN TO EXPLORE SOCIETI THAT HAD EVOLVED PAST SUCH SEXUAL JUDGMENT. “CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG” THAT’S THE PREDOMANT THEME CLARKE’S WORKS: MAN’S POTENTIAL FOR POSIVE PROGRS, OUR ABILY TO TRANSCEND LIMATNS SELF-IMPOSED AND SCIENTIFIC. CLARKE REFERS TO THIS AS MAN’S PLASTICY: “ONE OF THE TERTG THGS ABOUT THE HUMAN RACE IS S CREDIBLE PLASTICY. THE HUMAN RACE N ADAPT TO ALMOST ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.” A WRER OF “HARD SCIENCE FICTN,” CLARKE DON’T CREATE NEW WORLDS. HE BELIEVED TE SCIENCE FICTN WAS “SOMETHG WHICH WE WOULD LIKE TO HAPPEN AND PROBABLY WILL.” CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG, AND HE THEREFORE ED HIS WORKS TO PREDICT HOW HUMANKD ULD EVOLVE. YET WHILE CLARKE VIVIDLY SE MANKD MOVG PAST S PENNCE ON OIL, OVERG RELIG STRIFE, AND EVEN TACKLG TERPLAARY SPACE TRAVEL, HE’S LS CERTA ABOUT HOW WE’LL NQUER OUR SEXUAL HANG-UPS.THIS TERT PROGRSIVE SEXUAL MOR IS CLEAR HIS FIRST MERCIAL SUCCS, 1954’S CHILDHOOD’S END. MOST OF THE PLOT IS PROPELLED BY AN ALIEN RACE’S ARRIVAL ON EARTH, BUT CLARKE GO OUT OF HIS WAY TO MENTN THAT SEXUAL ETIQUETTE HAD BEEN “ALTERED RADILLY” BY THE VENTN OF FAST AND CHEAP DNA PATERNY TTS AND BY THE ARRIVAL OF A “PLETELY RELIABLE ORAL NTRACEPTIVE.” COMBED, THE VENTNS “SWEPT AWAY THE LAST REMNANTS OF THE PURAN ABERRATN.” AGA, THIS WAS 1954: JT AS THE PILL WAS FIRST BEG EXPLORED AND YEARS AHEAD OF ACTUAL DNA TTG. PREMONORY AS ALWAYS, CLARKE SAW THE FIRST HTS OF SEXUAL REVOLUTN G TO FOC. AND HE LIKED WHAT HE SAW. AND THOUGH CHILDHOOD’S END MAK NO REFERENCE TO SAME-SEX SEX, THE SUBJECT FELY ARIS APLENTY CLARKE’S FUTURE NOVELS, CLUDG 1972’S RENZVO WH RAMA.CLARKE’S FIRST NOVEL AFTER 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY AND S FILM ADAPTATN LNCHED HIS REER, RAMA WAS ALSO HIS FIRST POST-STONEWALL NOVEL, AND THE CHANGG CLIMATE IS EVINT: IN RAMA’S FUTURE, 2130, POLYAMORY AND SAME-SEX LOVE ARE STANDARD, TOTALLY ACCEPTED FARE: TWO ASTRONTS, KARL MERCER AND HIS “SEPARABLE PANN” JOE CALVERT, NOT ONLY SHARE A WIFE, BUT THEIR OWN SEXUAL RELATNSHIP, AS WELL: “NO ONE N PREDICT WHERE LIGHTNG WILL STRIKE, AND YEARS AGO MERCER AND CALVERT HAD TABLISHED AN APPARENTLY STABLE LIAISON. THAT WAS MON ENOUGH.” CLARKE SEEMS MORE SANGUE ABOUT SOCIAL CHANGE AFOOT, MORE NFINT PREDICTG A JUDGMENT EE FUTURE. THAT OPTIMISM, HOWEVER, MT HAVE BEEN SHORT-LIVED, BEE THERE’S FAR LS NONCHALANCE ABOUT SAME-SEX LOVE CLARKE’S NEXT NOVEL, IMPERIAL EARTH.PUBLISHED 1976, JT AFTER MARGARET THATCHER TOOK THE HELM OF BRA’S CONSERVATIVE PARTY, THIS NOVEL POSS A FUTURE THAT IS ED MORE PROGRSIVE THAN OUR PRENT—20TH-CENTURY MONOGAMY IS LIKENED TO “SEXUAL POSSSIVENS”—BUT OLD-SCHOOL SHAMG OVER SAME-SEX LOVE REMAS FULL EFFECT, AS SEEN THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALLY-CLED PROTAGONIST DUNN MACKENZIE AND HIS MORE QUTNG BUT FLEXIBLE ENEMY, KARL HELMERS. SCNS OF TWO PROMENT FAI, THE MEN FOOLED AROUND THEIR TEENS AND TO THEIR TWENTI. DUNN SCRIB THEIR ENUNTERS: “[KARL’S] LOVEMAKG OFTEN LACKED TENRNS AND NSIRATN;” AND THE SEXUAL TENSN FOLLOWED THEM TO ADULTHOOD, AS WHEN KARL MA DUNN STAY BED WH HIM WHILE HE HAD SEX WH A WOMAN (“THEY ENJOYED HAVG ME THERE, JT TO TEASE ME. OR AT LEAST KARL DID.”)ALTHOUGH DUNN IS ALL- ON THIS LTY AFFAIR, KARL IS LS NFINT: HE HAS A BREAKDOWN SOON AFTER THAT “THREOME” AND RETURNS OM AN ASYLUM A BROKEN MAN. (“HE WAS AS BETIFUL AS EVER—PERHAPS EVEN MORE SO … AND HE ULD STILL BE IENDLY … BUT REAL MUNITN WAS MISSG.”). THE MEN KEEP STRAIGHT AND NARROW OM THEN ON, DUNN LARGE PART BEE OF HIS OVERBEARG GRANDFATHER’S MORALISTIC PEP TALK: IF DUNN SUCCEEDS BS, “NO ONE WILL CRICIZE ANY OF YOUR OTHER ACTIVI, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE.” DUNN DON’T BELIEVE “POLARIZED” SEXUALY, HE’S FORCED TO THE CLOSET JT THE SAME. CLARKE WAS OBVLY STILL UNSURE WHETHER SOCIETY WOULD EVER EVOLVE TO THE FUTURE FOR WHICH HE LONGED, AND KARL’S BREAKDOWN IS THE THOR’S WAY OF ILLTRATG HOW TOP-DOWN SEXUAL LIMATNS TAKE THEIR TOLL.CLARKE’S VIEW OF SEXUAL ACCEPTANCE WAS SOMEWHAT ROSIER E 1982, THE YEAR HE PUBLISHED 2010, THE SEQUEL TO 2001 THAT FEATUR SOVIET LOVERS WALTER CURNOW, A BISEXUAL BEAR, AND A YOUNG, VOTED TWK, MAXIM BRAJLOVSKY. INIALLY THIS RELATNSHIP IS ONLY ALLUD TO, BUT ’S MA PERFECTLY CLEAR WHEN AMERIN ASTRONT HEYWOOD FLOYD RAIS HIS BY-BODY NCERNS: “THERE’S A PERSONAL MATTER I’D LIKE TO RAISE,” FLOYD SAYS. “TO BE BLUNT, YOUR BEHAVR WH MAX.” UNPERTURBED, CURNOW REPLI, “ A SOFT YET IMPLABLE VOICE: ‘I WAS UNR THE DISTCT IMPRSN THAT HE WAS MORE THAN EIGHTEEN.’” THERE’S NO ROOM FOR BATE HERE. THE AMERIN SHOULD TAKE HIS MORALISM AND SHOVE . AND HE DO—AND DO HIM SOME GOOD: LATER, HEYWOOD WONRS WHY HE QUTNED WALTER THE FIRST PLACE: “FLOYD SOMETIM EFULLY SPECTED [THAT] WAS NO MORE THAN THE SECRET ENVY THAT NORMAL HOMO OR HETEROSEXUALS FEEL, IF PLETELY HONT WH THEMSELV, TOWARD CHEERFULLY WELL-ADJTED POLYMORPHS.” BUT FLOYD EVENTUALLY EVOLV PAST HIS OWN ISSU: IN 2061, THE 1987 THREEQUEL WHICH HE LIV NEXT TO GEE AND JERRY, THE TWO OLD QUEENS ARE SCRIBED AS THE ASTRONT’S “OLST AND CLOST IENDS.” AND, AS 2010, FLOYD ADMIR THIS UNPLITED MALE-ON-MALE LOVE: “[FLOYD] OFTEN ENVIED THE LONG-TERM STABILY OF THEIR RELATNSHIP, APPARENTLY QUE UNAFFECTED BY THE ‘NEPHEWS’ OM EARTH OR MOON WHO VISED THEM OM TIME TO TIME.”CLARKE IS CLEARLY MENTG ON MANY GAY UPL’ LACK OF SEXUAL POSSSIVENS. (SOME REARS EVEN BELIEVE 2001 SUPER-PUTER HAL WENT PSYCHO BEE WAS JEALO OF SPACEMAN-TURNED-STARMAN DAVE BOWMAN AND FELLOW ASTRONT FRANK POOLE’S BURGEONG LOVE, A THEORY SOMEWHAT BOLSTERED BY THE FACT THAT HAL AND BOWMAN LATER FE TO ONE BEG, AS WELL AS BY POOLE’S MEMORY OF HIMSELF AND BOWMAN TALKG ABOUT THEIR LACK OF SEX DRIVE SPACE, A SOMEWHAT ODD THG FOR TWO “STRAIGHT” MEN TO BE MISSG WHILE SPACE TOGETHER, JT THE TWO OF THEM.)ELSEWHERE, GEE LATER SAYS THAT A FEMALE WRER’S WORK IS “TOO FEMIST.” IT’S UNCLEAR IF CLARKE IS PERPETUATG THE MYTH THAT GAY MEN ARE ANTI-FEMIST, OR POKG FUN AT . BUT HE IS FELY CHALLENGG SOCIAL NORMS ABOUT GAY MEN WHEN GEE OFFERS A LANY OF GAY WARRRS HISTORY: “WE DID KNOW ABOUT HADRIAN AND ALEXANR … RICHARD THE LN HEART AND SALAD … JULI CAAR—THOUGH HE WAS EVERYTHG … AND FRERICK THE GREAT.” CLARKE REVISED THIS TOPIC AGA A SATIRIL LATE ’90S SAY, “THE GAY WARLORDS,” WHICH HE SCRIB CAAR’S “AMBISEXTERONS.”THE THOR’S PERSONAL FEELGS ON—OR HOP FOR—HUMAN SEXUALY ARE PERHAPS MOST CLEAR HIS 1986 NOVEL THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH. HIS SEXIT WORK—ALMOST EVERY CHARACTER IS BED-HOPPG WH ANOTHER, OR HOPG TO—SONGS LAYS THIS SOCIETY’S FEELG OUT THE OPEN WH THIS EXCHANGE BETWEEN TWO MEN AT A HOSPAL: LITENANT HORTON EXPLAS TO HIS ROOMMATE, LOREN LORENSON, THAT HE WAS JURED DURG A SURFG EXPEDN WH A GROUP OF “HAIRY HUNKS” KNOWN FOR THEIR HOMO-SOCIAL WAYS. LOREN IS SURPRISED BY THE REVELATN: “I’D HAVE SWORN YOU WERE NETY PERCENT HETERO.” HORTON REPLI, “NETY-TWO, ACRDG TO MY PROFILE, BUT I LIKE TO CHECK MY LIBRATN OM TIME TO TIME.” THIS PROMPTS LOREN TO RELL THAT “HE HAD HEARD THAT HUNDRED PERCENTERS WERE SO RARE THAT THEY WERE CLASSED AS PATHOLOGIL.” CLARKE’S OLD TERT KSEY’S WORK REMAED UNABATED. HIS ONLY HOPE WAS THE RT OF HUMANY WOULD SEE THGS AS HE DID.CLARKE DIED 2008, THE SAME YEAR NSERVATIV ED PROPOSN 8 TO BEAT BACK MARRIAGE EQUALY CALIFORNIA. HE NEVER LIVED TO SEE THE SUPREME COURT LE FAVOR OF LOVE. NOR DID HE SEE THE SAME WAVE OF PROGRS SWEEP ENGLAND, ATRALIA, BRAZIL, FRANCE, AND SO MANY OTHER LANDS. TODAY, ALMOST A AFTER CLARKE’S ATH, LNS OF PEOPLE LIVE A WORLD WHICH MARRIAGE EQUALY IS A REALY, WHICH TRANSGENR PEOPLE ARE CREASGLY ACCEPTED AND WHICH HETERONORMATIVE NOTNS OF LOVE AND SEXUALY ARE STEADILY ERODG, EVEN THOUGH THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD OF ACCEPTANCE REMAS TENUO, AT BT.THE WORLD OF TODAY IS STILL A FAR CRY OM THE MULTIPLE FUTUR CLARKE IMAGED. BUT IF HE WERE HERE TODAY, HE WOULD NO DOUBT TELL TO KEEP UP THE FIGHT, BEE, A FEW UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS ASI, LIKE FANTASTIL SPACE ELEVATORS, CLARKE BELIEVED THE FUTUR HIS WORKS SCRIBED WERE ATTAABLE. HE WAS, HE SAID 1970, A FUNDAMENTAL OPTIMIST: “I BELIEVE THAT THE FUTURE IS NOT PRETERMED, THAT TO SOME EXTENT WE N TERME OUR OWN STY. BY THKG ABOUT THE FUTURE AND S POSSIBILY, WE DO HAVE A CHANCE OF AVERTG THE MORE DISASTRO ONE.” ANDREW BELONSKY
- DID ARTHUR C CLARKE PORTRAY ANY GAY CHARACTERS HIS FICTN?
- INSI ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S MYSTER WORLDMASTERFULAT THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTN WRER’S SRI LANKAN RINCE, OUR RRPONNT TALKS TO IENDS AND ASSOCIAT WHO REMEMBER A WTY, ENIGMATIC—AND MUCH-MISSED—IEND.TOM SYKROYALIST CORRPONNTUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 3:16PM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 14, 2015 6:55AM EDT ARTHUR C CLARKE LLED THIS PLACE HIS “EGO CHAMBER.”AND NOW, A STATE OF DISBELIEF, HERE I AM, COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, THE OFFICE OF A MAN WHO WAS ARGUABLY THE GREATT BRISH SCIENCE FICTN WRER OF ALL TIME.I S DOWN AT HIS SK. AT ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S SK. AN OLD MAC SKTOP STANDS SENTEL. THE WHEELCHAIR THAT THE THOR OF 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ED TO GET AROUND OM ABOUT 1984 ONWARDS—AFTER HE WAS STCK WH MCLE-WASTG POST-POL SYNDROME—IS PARKED TO MY SI. I ALLOW MY GAZE TO RAKE ACROSS THE EXTRAORDARY LLECTN OF ARTIFACTS—CLUDG UNDOUBTED EGO-BUILRS LIKE AN OSR NOMATN, UNTLS LERARY AWARDS, AND A KNIGHTHOOD OM THE QUEEN—WH WHICH THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTN WRER SURROUND HIMSELF DAY , DAY OUT, FOR THE ALMOST 50 YEARS HE LIVED AND WORKED SRI LANKA. HE DIED ALMOST EXACTLY SEVEN YEARS AGO, ON MARCH 19, 2008, AGED 90, BUT HERE, HIS OLD OFFICE, EVERYTHG HAS BEEN PRERVED JT THE WAY WAS WHEN HE STILL LIVED.THIS IS NO ARTHUR C CLARKE MM, HOWEVER, AND ’S NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. IT’S JT THAT THE EKANAYAK, THE SRI LANKAN FAY WH WHOM HE LIVED FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS, SIMPLY N’T BEAR TO CLEAR THE LAST BS OF CLARKE AWAY.AND WHO N BLAME THEM?THE AMED PICTUR AND KNICK-KNACKS WHICH VER EVERY CH OF WALL AND SHELF SPACE ARE AN EXTRAORDARY TTAMENT TO AN EXTRAORDARILY FULL LIFE; CLARKE MEETG THE POPE, CLARKE ENJOYG A OK-OUT WH BUZZ ALDR AND HIS FAY, CLARKE TALKG WH WEHRNER VON BRN, THE GENI VENTOR OF THE V2 ‘DOODLEBUG’ GUID BOMB—A FIENDISHLY CLEVER VICE THAT WREAKED UNTOLD VASTATN ON CLARKE’S HOMELAND, GREAT BRA, WORLD WAR 2.THE THOR LOVED BRA, BUT CLEARLY THAT WAS NO REASON NOT TO RPECT THE ENEMY’S SCIENTIFIC GENI.SER ASTROLOGIL MAPS JOSTLE FOR PLACE WH CHILDISH PICTNS OF THE HEAVENS, AND A AMED ONT PAGE OF THE NEW YORK TIM OM 1969 ANNOUNC, “MEN WALK ON MOON.”THE BOOKSHELV ARE STUFFED WH A VAST AND OTERIC LLECTN OF BOOKS, CLUDG A HOLY BIBLE AND A PY OF THE HOLY QUR’AN STG SI BY SI.ONE WHOLE BOOKSHELF IS GIVEN OVER TO TRANSLATNS AND VAR EDNS OF CLARKE’S MOST FAMO WORK, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. ON OTHER SHELV STAND AN ARRAY OF TOYS, KNICK-KNACKS AND MEMENTO CLUDG A WDOW CLIMBG TOY ROBOT, TOY TS, AND SMALL STS OF LORD BUDDHA AND VAR HDU GODS.A LARGE BLACK AND WHE PHOTOGRAPH OF A HANDSOME YOUNG MAN TCH MY EYE. THIS, I GUS RRECTLY, IS LLIE EKANAYAKE, WHO DIED A MOTORBIKE CRASH 1977 AGED 29—AND WHOM ARTHUR LOGIZED THE DITN TO HIS 1979 BOOK THE FOUNTAS OF PARADISE, WRG, “TO THE STILL UNFADG MEMORY OF LESLIE EKANAYAKE (13 JUIY 1947—4 JULY 1977) ONLY PERFECT IEND OF A LIFETIME, WHOM WERE UNIQUELY BED LOYALTY, INTELLIGENCE AND COMPASSN. WHEN YOUR RADIANT AND LOVG SPIR VANISHED OM THIS WORLD, THE LIGHT WENT OUT OF MANY LIV.” ON ANOTHER WALL IS AN EXTRACT OM HIS 1945 PAPER, “EXTRATERRTRIAL RELAYS,” WHICH FAMOLY PROPOSED AND SCRIBED HOW A GEOSTATNARY SATELLE ULD BE ED FOR MUNITN TECHNOLOGY. IT’S AN IA THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, PAVG THE WAY FOR MOBILE MUNITN WE ALL TAKE FOR GRANTED TODAY.LLIE’S BROTHER HEKTOR EKANAYAKE, NOW 75, AND THE OWNER OF THIS HOE, TUCKED AWAY BEHD A HIGH WALL AND PROTECTED BY A SECURY GUARD AN UPSLE COLOMBO STREET, IS SHOWG ME AROUND, HIS VOICE OFTEN BREAKG, AND TEARS PG DOWN HIS CHEEKS AS HE RELLS HIS AR IEND. HEKTOR STILL LIV HERE, THE MA HOE ON THE OTHER SI OF THE URTYARD TO ARTHUR’S DIGS, WH HIS WIFE VALERIE.HEKTOR MET ARTHUR WHEN THE WRER FIRST MOVED TO SRI LANKA FULL TIME 1956. CLARKE, A KEEN AMATR DIVER, WAS DRAWN TO THE UNTRY BY A BATN OF THE WARM SEAS AND THE TOLERANT ATTU TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALY THE MAJORY BUDDHIST NATN. HOMOSEXUALY WAS (AND REMAS) TECHNILLY ILLEGAL SRI LANKA, BUT NO-ONE HAS EVER BEEN PROSECUTED FOR THE ‘CRIME.’CLARKE WAS GAY, BUT HE WAS ALSO EXTREMELY DISCRETE, UNLIKE MANY OF THE OTHER GAY EX-PATS WHO LATER FLOCKED TO SRI LANKA. HE WOULD CERTALY NEVER HAVE PICKED UP A MAN ON THE BEACH OR A PUBLIC BAR AS OTHERS DID, ONE ACQUATANCE, VASANTHA DE SILVA (WHO HAPPENS TO BE SRI LANKA’S MOST FAMO HAIRDRSER) TOLD ME.CHARLIE HULSE, AN AMERIN WHO HAS LIVED NEAR AND LATER GALLE FORT THE SOUTH OF THE UNTRY SCE 1974, AND WAS THE PARTNER OF THE GAY AMERIN WRER GORDON MERRICK, KNEW CLARKE WELL.HULSE, NOW 86, TOLD ME THAT HIS CLOSETED BEHAVR WAS AT LEAST PARTLY BEE CLARKE HAD A HORROR OF EMBARRASSG HIS FARMG FAY BACK HOME RAL SOMERSET, ENGLAND, IF HIS HOMOSEXUALY WAS WILY REPORTED.HULSE SCRIB CLARKE (WHO SPOKE A BROAD SOMERSET ACCENT UNTIL THE END OF HIS LIFE) AS “BUTTONED UP” AND “PUNCTIL,” BUT SAYS THAT A MAJOR PART OF THE ATTRACTN FOR HIS RELOTN OM ENGLAND TO SRI LANKA WAS TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS HIS SEXUALY.“NOBODY RED WHAT YOU DID,” HULSE TOLD ME. “YOU WERE JT ANOTHER CRAZY WHE GUY.” CLARKE FACT HAD A LIVED A LIFE OF EP RPECTABILY THE UK. HE MOVED TO LONDON BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II, WORKG AS AN OFFICE CLERK A ERNMENT PARTMENT. BUT WAS DURG THE WAR THAT HIS TERT SCIENCE BEME A VOTN. FROM 1941 ONWARDS HE HELPED VELOP RADAR TECHNOLOGY, AND, AFTER THE WAR, HE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL, GETTG A UNIVERSY GREE MATHS AND PHYSICS.IN 1952, HE MET AND MARRIED MARILYN MAYFIELD, A 22-YEAR-OLD AMERIN DIVORCEE WH A YOUNG SON. THEY SEPARATED AFTER JT SIX MONTHS, ALTHOUGH THE DIVORCE WAS NOT FALIZED UNTIL 1964. CLARKE TOLD HIS OFFICIAL BGRAPHER THAT, “THE MARRIAGE WAS PATIBLE OM THE BEGNG.”HIS MARRIAGE WAS KNOWN ABOUT SRI LANKA BUT “NEVER MENTNED,” HULSE RELLS. CLARKE WAS MA THE EDOR OF A SCIENCE MAGAZE AFTER FISHG HIS GREE, BUT TURNED TO FULL TIME WRG 1951, PUBLISHG HIS BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL CHILDHOOD’S END 1953. ALONG WH ISAAC ASIMOV AND ROBERT A. HELE, HE BEME CELEBRATED AS ONE OF THE “BIG THREE” OF SCI-FI WRG.IT WAS THEREFORE ALL THE MORE EXTRAORDARY THAT HE MPED TO THE REMOTE FORMER BRISH LONY OF SRI LANKA JT AS HE WAS STARTG TO BEE TLY SUCCSFUL HIS FIELD. HIS CIRCLE OF IENDS CLUD THE MOST FAMO SRI LANKAN ARCHECT OF THE AGE, GEOFEY BAWA AND HIS BROTHER BEVIS (BOTH OF WHOM WERE GAY) AND ALSO THE SIGNER BARBARA SANSONI.CLARKE WOULD EQUENTLY MAKE THE FIVE-HOUR TRIP TO SEE HULSE DOWN GALLE, AND WOULD STAY SEVERAL DAYS, SOMETIM LLG AT THE DIVG RORT OF HIKKADUWA EN ROUTE, WHICH HE AND HEKTOR HAD HELPED POPULARIZE.MIM SLA, THE THOR OF THE LONDON MEMOIR, DIARY OF A TEDDY BOY, LIVED ON HIKKADUWA BEACH FOR A YEAR 1972.“ARTHUR WAS VERY MOST,” SLA RELLS. “HE LOOKED LIKE A BANK CLERK OM GUILDFORD, AND DRSED LIKE ONE TOO. I ONCE ASKED HIM IF HAD ANY ROYALTI OM HIS GEOSTATNARY SATELLE AND HE SAID, ‘NO. WHAT WOULD I DO WH A HUNDRED BILLN DOLLARS ANYWAY?’”AS TIME WENT ON AND HIS OLR FAY MEMBERS DIED OFF, CLARKE BEME MORE RELAXED ABOUT HIS SEXUALY (HE ALSO SWCHED OM WEARG A SU TO A SARONG), BUT HE NEVER PUBLICLY ME OUT. WHEN JOURNALISTS ENQUIRED, “ARE YOU GAY?” THEY WERE UALLY TOLD, “NO, MERELY DLY CHEERFUL.”CLARKE MET HEKTOR BEE HEKTOR WORKED THE DIVG BS, AND WAS THE PROCS OF SETTG UP A DIVG SCHOOL THE REMOTE NORTHERN TOWN OF TRALEE, WHICH WOULD BEE ONE OF CLARKE’S FAVORE DIVE LOTNS (HE DISVERED THE UNRWATER S OF THE FAMO TEMPLE OF KONWARAM THERE 1956) UNTIL THE CIVIL WAR MA “TR” TOO DANGERO TO VIS THE 1980S.THE TWO BEME IENDS. CLARKE SOON RENTED LIVG AND OFFICE SPACE OM HEKTOR—THE SAME SPACE THAT WOULD BEE THE ‘EGO CHAMBER’—AND ME TO REGARD THE EKANAYAK AS FAY (CLARKE IS BURIED THE EKANAYAKE FAY PLOT, NEXT TO LLIE).IT WAS HEKTOR WHO TRODUCED HIS BROTHER LLIE TO CLARKE. LLIE—WHO HATED DIVG AND WAS AAID OF WATER, ACRDG TO HEKTOR—WORKED FOR CLARKE, MANAGG HIS HOEHOLD, OKG AND CLEANG, AND THE TWO BEME IENDS. HEKTOR ADAMANTLY REFUT ANY SUGGTN THAT HIS BROTHER AND CLARKE WERE LOVERS, SAYG, “NO, NO. THEY WERE VERY GOOD IENDS,” WHEN I ASK THE QUTN DIRECTLY.CLARKE WAS NOT RICH BY WTERN STANDARDS WHEN HE ARRIVED SRI LANKA (THAT WOULD HAVE TO WA TILL THE MOVIE OF “2001” ME OUT 1968), BUT HE WAS ENORMOLY WEALTHY FOR SRI LANKA. HE HAD A MERCES AND A DRIVER AS WELL AS A POWR BLUE SOTER WHICH HE ED FOR ZIPPG AROUND TOWN. BOTH THE VEHICL ARE PRERVED HEKTOR’S GARAGE.IN 1962, CLARKE HAD SUFFERED A SEVERE ATTACK OF POLMYELIS. HIS APPARENTLY PLETE REVERY (HE EVEN REGAED HIS FORM AT HIS FAVORE SPORT, TABLE TENNIS) WAS CEPTIVE, AND 1984 HE VELOPED POST-POL SYNDROME, A PROGRSIVE NDN CHARACTERIZED BY MCLE WEAKNS AND EXTREME FATIGUE.IT WAS HOWEVER DURG THE YEARS THAT HIS GREATT POPULAR SUCCS HAPPENED. HE BEME A HOEHOLD NAME FOR HIS TELEVISN SERI VTIGATG PARANORMAL PHENOMENA: ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S MYSTER WORLD (1980), ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S WORLD OF STRANGE POWERS (1985) AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S MYSTER UNIVERSE (1994). ALL OF THEM WERE FILMED SRI LANKA.CLARKE SURELY ENJOYED HIS SUCCS, AS HIS “EGO-CHAMBER” ATTTS. BUT HE DID NOT DE OUT ON , AND WAS NOT MUCH SEEN OUT AND ABOUT COLOMBO’S HOT SPOTS.HEKTOR WOULD SOMETIM NOT SEE HIM FOR WEEKS, SPE LIVG ACROSS THE URTYARD. WHEN HE DID SEE HIM, HE WOULD ASK, “WHAT ARE YOU DOG, ARTHUR?” AND CLARKE WOULD VARIABLY REPLY, “WRG A BOOK.”CLARKE SPENT THE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE A WHEELCHAIR AS A RULT OF HIS POST-POL SYNDROME.THE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TRANQUIL YEARS FOR THE GRAND OLD MAN OF SCI-FI, BUT THE PEACE WAS SHATTERED WHEN, 1998, DAYS BEFORE HE WAS DUE TO BE KNIGHTED, THE BRISH SUNDAY MIRROR TABLOID PUBLISHED A STORY CLAIMG CLARKE WAS A PEDOPHILE.IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT EVERYONE I SPOKE TO COLOMBO WHO KNEW CLARKE WAS ADAMANT THAT THE STORI WERE PLETELY UNTE.“HE LIKED YOUNG MEN, SAY 20, 25, BUT THE IA OF HIM WH CHILDREN…NO, NO,” SAID ONE IEND, WHO DID NOT WANT TO BE NAMED. HOWEVER THE CROWD CLARKE HUNG OUT WH WERE SEEN BY SOME AS LECHERO TOWARDS YOUNGER NATIVE MEN. ANOTHER EXPATRIATE GALLE SAID THAT CLARKE AND HIS IENDS—BAWA ET AL—WERE LLECTIVELY KNOWN AS “THE LIZARDS.”“WE JT STAYED AWAY OM THEM,” THE PERSON SAID.CLARKE—WHO WAS 80—NIED THE ALLEGATNS OF PEDOPHILIA AND WAS CLEARED BY A SRI LANKAN POLICE VTIGATN, BUT HE DID NOT PURSUE THE MATTER THROUGH THE BRISH URTS.HEKTOR EKANAYAKE REMEMBERS THOSE GRIM DAYS FOR CLARKE CLEARLY: “HE WAS VERY UPSET. MY WIFE TOLD ME THAT HE CRIED, ALTHOUGH I DIDN’T SEE . ARTHUR IS HOMOSEXUAL … BUT TO PUT A THG LIKE THAT WHEN HE WAS TO BE KNIGHTED.”HECTOR WAS PARTICULARLY DISGTED THAT WAS “ENGLISH PEOPLE” WHO “ME ALL THE WAY” TO SRI LANKA TO BLACKEN HIS NAME.“THAT’S WHY I AM REALLY ANGRY,” HE SAYS.AFTER CLARKE VELOPED POST-POL SYMPTOM, AND WH LLIE AD, HEKTOR BEME HIS MA RER. “I ED TO SLEEP UNR HIS BED. WHEN HE HAD POST-POL SYNDROME. THERE WAS NO ATTENDANT CLOSE TO HIM. I DID. I WASHED HIM AND THGS LIKE THAT.”LIFE WAS DIFFICULT BUT THERE WERE BRIGHT SPOTS, AND ONE OF THE WAS DIVG. “HE WENT FOR A DIVE, A 90FT DIVE AND HE WAS PERFECT,” HEKTOR RELLED. “IN WATER HE N DO EVERYTHG. HE N SWIM VERY WELL, BETTER THAN WALKG. IN 90 FEET OF WATER HE IS VERY LM AND QUIET. VERY HAPPY—MAKG A LOT OF FUN UNRWATER. ONLY PROBLEM THAT WE HAVE IS WHEN WE WANT TO BRG HIM UP TO THE BOAT, HE WAS NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLD THE LADR. SO WE PH HIM TO THE BOAT. BUT GETTG TO THE WATER IS NOTHG.”DID ARTHUR HAVE A LONG-TERM BOYIEND?“HE HAD NO PARTICULAR IEND LIKE THAT,” SAYS HEKTOR.WAS HE LONELY? “I THK HE WAS A LONELY PERSON, BUT HIS BOOKS WERE THE IMPORTANT THG,” SAYS HEKTOR. “ALL THE TIME HE WAS THKG ABOUT VENTN, VENTN, VENTN, WRE A BOOK.”ULTIMATELY, HOWEVER, CLARKE REMAED SOMETHG OF AN ENIGMA EVEN TO THOSE CLOST TO HIM, LIKE THE EKANAYAK.“ACTUALLY, FALLY, I DON’T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HE REALLY WANTED TOO MUCH,” SAYS HEKTOR. “I ASKED HIM ONCE, ‘IF YOU WERE LIVG ON AN ISLAND WH NOBODY THERE WHAT WILL YOU DO?’ HE SAID, ‘IF I HAVE A TYPEWRER, THAT IS QUE ENOUGH.’”A TEAR P HIS EYE.“HE WAS A VERY NICE MAN. WHEN THOSE (JOURNALISTS) ME OM ENGLAND THEY SAID TO ME, ‘WHAT SORT OF MAN IS HE?’“I SAID, ‘I WILL TELL YOU THE TTH. WRE DOWN, GET THE TAPE. THE SRI LANKAN BUDDHISTS WILL NOT LIKE BUT I DON’T RE. I HAVE NEVER SEEN LORD BUDDHA ALIVE,’ I SAID. ‘BUT IF YOU ASK, ‘WHO IS ARTHUR CLARKE?’ THAT IS ARTHUR CLARKE. LORD BUDDHA. THAT MUCH I KNOW HE IS. HE WILL NOT HARM ANYBODY. THAT IS LORD BUDDHA. LORD BUDDHA IS ARTHUR C. CLARKE.’”CLARKE WOULD LIKELY HAVE BEEN ENTERTAED BY HIS IEND’S EPAPH. THE GREAT FUTURIST, WHO CLAIMED THAT RELIGN HAD “HIJACKED” MORALY, LEFT WRTEN STCTNS FOR HIS FUNERAL THAT STATED: “ABSOLUTELY NO RELIG R OF ANY KD, RELATG TO ANY RELIG FAH, SHOULD BE ASSOCIATED WH MY FUNERAL.” TOM SYK
HOW SCI-FI GIANT ARTHUR C. CLARKE PREDICTED AN LGBT-FRIENDLY WORLDSEXUAL SEERTHE THOR OF '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY' WAS A SAVVY FUTURIST WHO PREDICTED EVERYTHG OM ONLE SHOPPG TO CELLPHONE ADDICTN, BUT HE WAS AT HIS MOST PRCIENT ABOUT SEXUALY.ANDREW BELONSKYUPDATED JAN. 03, 2018 1:38PM EST / PUBLISHED DEC. 09, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY SARAH ROGERS/THE DAILY BEASTSIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE IS REMEMBERED FOR HIS REMARKABLE FORIGHT: THE SCI-FI THOR’S WORKS ACCURATELY PREDICTED ONLE SHOPPG, BMETRIC TECHNOLOGY, SMART PHONE ADDICTN, AND EVEN TARGETED ADVERTISG. A 1945 WIRELS WORLD ARTICLE BY CLARKE, WHO TRAED RADAR TECHNOLOGY DURG WORLD WAR II, HELPED MAKE MUNITNS SATELL A REALY. AND PERHAPS MOST FAMOLY, CLARKE, WHOSE CENTENARY OCCURS THIS MONTH, CREATED A WHOLE NEW FEARSOME TROPE WH HAL, THE MURRO ARTIFICIAL TELLIGENCE AT THE HEART OF THE LATE THOR’S MOST FAMO WORK, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.THE ACPLISHMENTS ARE ALL WELL-KNOWN AND WELL-CELEBRATED AMONG CLARKE AFICNADOS AND CRICS. LS DISCSED ARE THE WAYS CLARKE’S WORKS CHALLENGED HETERONORMATIVE SEXUAL MOR, PARTICULARLY THOSE SURROUNDG MEN WHO WENT FOR MEN. BUT REVIEWG SOME OF CLARKE’S MOST NOTABLE WORKS, ONE SE THE THOR SURVEYG THE CHANGG SEXUAL LANDSPE OF A POST-STONEWALL SOCIETY. TAKEN TOGETHER, THEY PROVI A PANORAMIC VIEW OF A GAY MAN QUTNG THE WORLD WHICH HE LIVED.AND, Y, CLARKE WAS A GAY MAN, OR, AT THE VERY LEAST, QUEER. THOUGH HE MARRIED A WOMAN 1953, THEY SEPARATED SIX MONTHS LATER, AND ’S WELL TABLISHED THAT CLARKE’S ROMANTIC EXISTENCE WAS SPENT MOSTLY WH OTHER MEN. OBSSED WH THE KSEY SLE WHEN FIRST ME OUT, CLARKE NEVER BELIEVED PEOPLE HAD STRICT STRAIGHT OR GAY TENNCI, A BELIEF MA CLEAR A NUMBER OF HIS BOOKS. AUTHOR MICHAEL MOORCK WROTE A 2008 GUARDIAN SAY THAT “EVERYONE KNEW [CLARKE] WAS GAY,” EVEN THE ’50S, WELL AFTER CLARKE MOVED TO SRI LANKA, WHERE HE FOUND THE LACK OF SEXUAL POLICG REHG AFTER LIVG UPTIGHT ENGLAND. CLARKE ALSO SPENT 1964-1965 AT NEW YORK’S FAMOLY LIBERTE CHELSEA HOTEL, ROMPG AROUND TOWN WH ALLEN GSBERG AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS, TWO OF THE MOST MALE-LOVG MEN OF THE ERA. AND SIRS ALSO KNOW THAT CLARKE AND A MAN NAMED LLIE EKANAYAKE WERE LOVE; CLARKE SCRIBED LLIE AS “THE ONLY PERFECT IEND OF A LIFETIME,” AND THE THOR WAS BURIED ALONGSI HIM WHEN HE DIED 2008.BUT CLARKE WOULD NEVER ADM HIS LOVE OF MEN. NOT ON THE RERD, AT LEAST. ASKED BY A REPORTER ABOUT HIS BEDROOM ACTIVI, CLARKE MPILY LGHED, “WHY, WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?” HE ONLY ADMTED HIS YEN FOR MEN A FEW TIM: SHEEPISHLY HIS SEMI-TOBGRAPHIL 1963 NOVEL GLI PATH, WHICH THE SEXUALLY EXPERIENCED PROTAGONIST MAK A PASSG REFERENCE TO “A HIGHLY REFED ENUNTER WH THE CLERGYMAN WHO HAD (VERY BRIEFLY) N THE LOL SUT TROOP;” AND OFF-HANDLY 1986, WHEN PLAYBOY JOURNALIST KEN KELLEY ASKED CLARKE WHETHER HE’D HAD BISEXUAL EXPERIENC. CLARKE REPLIED WH A ROUNDG Y: “OF URSE. WHO HASN’T? GOOD GOD! IF ANYONE HAD EVER TOLD ME THAT HE HADN’T, I’D HAVE TOLD HIM HE WAS LYG. BUT THEN, OF URSE, PEOPLE TEND TO ‘FET’ THEIR ENUNTERS.” HE WENT ON, “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO TAIL ABOUT MY OWN LIFE, BUT I JT WANT TO BE NOTED THAT I HAVE A RATHER RELAXED, SYMPATHETIC ATTU ABOUT .” SUCH RETICENCE IS ONLY NATURAL FOR A MAN BORN 1917 AND WHO ME OF AGE DURG THE HEIGHT OF THE PK SRE, WHEN WTERN ERNMENTS BRAND GAY PEOPLE AS CRIMAL SURG, AS SEXUAL CRIMALS. AND ’S EQUALLY LOGIL THAT CLARKE WOULD E FICTN TO EXPLORE SOCIETI THAT HAD EVOLVED PAST SUCH SEXUAL JUDGMENT. “CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG” THAT’S THE PREDOMANT THEME CLARKE’S WORKS: MAN’S POTENTIAL FOR POSIVE PROGRS, OUR ABILY TO TRANSCEND LIMATNS SELF-IMPOSED AND SCIENTIFIC. CLARKE REFERS TO THIS AS MAN’S PLASTICY: “ONE OF THE TERTG THGS ABOUT THE HUMAN RACE IS S CREDIBLE PLASTICY. THE HUMAN RACE N ADAPT TO ALMOST ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.” A WRER OF “HARD SCIENCE FICTN,” CLARKE DON’T CREATE NEW WORLDS. HE BELIEVED TE SCIENCE FICTN WAS “SOMETHG WHICH WE WOULD LIKE TO HAPPEN AND PROBABLY WILL.” CLARKE’S WORLDS ARE BASED ON LOGIL TECHNOLOGIL LEAPS AND REAL SOCLOGIL CHANGE, NOT WARP SPEED AND WISHFUL THKG, AND HE THEREFORE ED HIS WORKS TO PREDICT HOW HUMANKD ULD EVOLVE. YET WHILE CLARKE VIVIDLY SE MANKD MOVG PAST S PENNCE ON OIL, OVERG RELIG STRIFE, AND EVEN TACKLG TERPLAARY SPACE TRAVEL, HE’S LS CERTA ABOUT HOW WE’LL NQUER OUR SEXUAL HANG-UPS.THIS TERT PROGRSIVE SEXUAL MOR IS CLEAR HIS FIRST MERCIAL SUCCS, 1954’S CHILDHOOD’S END. MOST OF THE PLOT IS PROPELLED BY AN ALIEN RACE’S ARRIVAL ON EARTH, BUT CLARKE GO OUT OF HIS WAY TO MENTN THAT SEXUAL ETIQUETTE HAD BEEN “ALTERED RADILLY” BY THE VENTN OF FAST AND CHEAP DNA PATERNY TTS AND BY THE ARRIVAL OF A “PLETELY RELIABLE ORAL NTRACEPTIVE.” COMBED, THE VENTNS “SWEPT AWAY THE LAST REMNANTS OF THE PURAN ABERRATN.” AGA, THIS WAS 1954: JT AS THE PILL WAS FIRST BEG EXPLORED AND YEARS AHEAD OF ACTUAL DNA TTG. PREMONORY AS ALWAYS, CLARKE SAW THE FIRST HTS OF SEXUAL REVOLUTN G TO FOC. AND HE LIKED WHAT HE SAW. AND THOUGH CHILDHOOD’S END MAK NO REFERENCE TO SAME-SEX SEX, THE SUBJECT FELY ARIS APLENTY CLARKE’S FUTURE NOVELS, CLUDG 1972’S RENZVO WH RAMA.CLARKE’S FIRST NOVEL AFTER 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY AND S FILM ADAPTATN LNCHED HIS REER, RAMA WAS ALSO HIS FIRST POST-STONEWALL NOVEL, AND THE CHANGG CLIMATE IS EVINT: IN RAMA’S FUTURE, 2130, POLYAMORY AND SAME-SEX LOVE ARE STANDARD, TOTALLY ACCEPTED FARE: TWO ASTRONTS, KARL MERCER AND HIS “SEPARABLE PANN” JOE CALVERT, NOT ONLY SHARE A WIFE, BUT THEIR OWN SEXUAL RELATNSHIP, AS WELL: “NO ONE N PREDICT WHERE LIGHTNG WILL STRIKE, AND YEARS AGO MERCER AND CALVERT HAD TABLISHED AN APPARENTLY STABLE LIAISON. THAT WAS MON ENOUGH.” CLARKE SEEMS MORE SANGUE ABOUT SOCIAL CHANGE AFOOT, MORE NFINT PREDICTG A JUDGMENT EE FUTURE. THAT OPTIMISM, HOWEVER, MT HAVE BEEN SHORT-LIVED, BEE THERE’S FAR LS NONCHALANCE ABOUT SAME-SEX LOVE CLARKE’S NEXT NOVEL, IMPERIAL EARTH.PUBLISHED 1976, JT AFTER MARGARET THATCHER TOOK THE HELM OF BRA’S CONSERVATIVE PARTY, THIS NOVEL POSS A FUTURE THAT IS ED MORE PROGRSIVE THAN OUR PRENT—20TH-CENTURY MONOGAMY IS LIKENED TO “SEXUAL POSSSIVENS”—BUT OLD-SCHOOL SHAMG OVER SAME-SEX LOVE REMAS FULL EFFECT, AS SEEN THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN HOMOSEXUALLY-CLED PROTAGONIST DUNN MACKENZIE AND HIS MORE QUTNG BUT FLEXIBLE ENEMY, KARL HELMERS. SCNS OF TWO PROMENT FAI, THE MEN FOOLED AROUND THEIR TEENS AND TO THEIR TWENTI. DUNN SCRIB THEIR ENUNTERS: “[KARL’S] LOVEMAKG OFTEN LACKED TENRNS AND NSIRATN;” AND THE SEXUAL TENSN FOLLOWED THEM TO ADULTHOOD, AS WHEN KARL MA DUNN STAY BED WH HIM WHILE HE HAD SEX WH A WOMAN (“THEY ENJOYED HAVG ME THERE, JT TO TEASE ME. OR AT LEAST KARL DID.”)ALTHOUGH DUNN IS ALL- ON THIS LTY AFFAIR, KARL IS LS NFINT: HE HAS A BREAKDOWN SOON AFTER THAT “THREOME” AND RETURNS OM AN ASYLUM A BROKEN MAN. (“HE WAS AS BETIFUL AS EVER—PERHAPS EVEN MORE SO … AND HE ULD STILL BE IENDLY … BUT REAL MUNITN WAS MISSG.”). THE MEN KEEP STRAIGHT AND NARROW OM THEN ON, DUNN LARGE PART BEE OF HIS OVERBEARG GRANDFATHER’S MORALISTIC PEP TALK: IF DUNN SUCCEEDS BS, “NO ONE WILL CRICIZE ANY OF YOUR OTHER ACTIVI, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE.” DUNN DON’T BELIEVE “POLARIZED” SEXUALY, HE’S FORCED TO THE CLOSET JT THE SAME. CLARKE WAS OBVLY STILL UNSURE WHETHER SOCIETY WOULD EVER EVOLVE TO THE FUTURE FOR WHICH HE LONGED, AND KARL’S BREAKDOWN IS THE THOR’S WAY OF ILLTRATG HOW TOP-DOWN SEXUAL LIMATNS TAKE THEIR TOLL.CLARKE’S VIEW OF SEXUAL ACCEPTANCE WAS SOMEWHAT ROSIER E 1982, THE YEAR HE PUBLISHED 2010, THE SEQUEL TO 2001 THAT FEATUR SOVIET LOVERS WALTER CURNOW, A BISEXUAL BEAR, AND A YOUNG, VOTED TWK, MAXIM BRAJLOVSKY. INIALLY THIS RELATNSHIP IS ONLY ALLUD TO, BUT ’S MA PERFECTLY CLEAR WHEN AMERIN ASTRONT HEYWOOD FLOYD RAIS HIS BY-BODY NCERNS: “THERE’S A PERSONAL MATTER I’D LIKE TO RAISE,” FLOYD SAYS. “TO BE BLUNT, YOUR BEHAVR WH MAX.” UNPERTURBED, CURNOW REPLI, “ A SOFT YET IMPLABLE VOICE: ‘I WAS UNR THE DISTCT IMPRSN THAT HE WAS MORE THAN EIGHTEEN.’” THERE’S NO ROOM FOR BATE HERE. THE AMERIN SHOULD TAKE HIS MORALISM AND SHOVE . AND HE DO—AND DO HIM SOME GOOD: LATER, HEYWOOD WONRS WHY HE QUTNED WALTER THE FIRST PLACE: “FLOYD SOMETIM EFULLY SPECTED [THAT] WAS NO MORE THAN THE SECRET ENVY THAT NORMAL HOMO OR HETEROSEXUALS FEEL, IF PLETELY HONT WH THEMSELV, TOWARD CHEERFULLY WELL-ADJTED POLYMORPHS.” BUT FLOYD EVENTUALLY EVOLV PAST HIS OWN ISSU: IN 2061, THE 1987 THREEQUEL WHICH HE LIV NEXT TO GEE AND JERRY, THE TWO OLD QUEENS ARE SCRIBED AS THE ASTRONT’S “OLST AND CLOST IENDS.” AND, AS 2010, FLOYD ADMIR THIS UNPLITED MALE-ON-MALE LOVE: “[FLOYD] OFTEN ENVIED THE LONG-TERM STABILY OF THEIR RELATNSHIP, APPARENTLY QUE UNAFFECTED BY THE ‘NEPHEWS’ OM EARTH OR MOON WHO VISED THEM OM TIME TO TIME.”CLARKE IS CLEARLY MENTG ON MANY GAY UPL’ LACK OF SEXUAL POSSSIVENS. (SOME REARS EVEN BELIEVE 2001 SUPER-PUTER HAL WENT PSYCHO BEE WAS JEALO OF SPACEMAN-TURNED-STARMAN DAVE BOWMAN AND FELLOW ASTRONT FRANK POOLE’S BURGEONG LOVE, A THEORY SOMEWHAT BOLSTERED BY THE FACT THAT HAL AND BOWMAN LATER FE TO ONE BEG, AS WELL AS BY POOLE’S MEMORY OF HIMSELF AND BOWMAN TALKG ABOUT THEIR LACK OF SEX DRIVE SPACE, A SOMEWHAT ODD THG FOR TWO “STRAIGHT” MEN TO BE MISSG WHILE SPACE TOGETHER, JT THE TWO OF THEM.)ELSEWHERE, GEE LATER SAYS THAT A FEMALE WRER’S WORK IS “TOO FEMIST.” IT’S UNCLEAR IF CLARKE IS PERPETUATG THE MYTH THAT GAY MEN ARE ANTI-FEMIST, OR POKG FUN AT . BUT HE IS FELY CHALLENGG SOCIAL NORMS ABOUT GAY MEN WHEN GEE OFFERS A LANY OF GAY WARRRS HISTORY: “WE DID KNOW ABOUT HADRIAN AND ALEXANR … RICHARD THE LN HEART AND SALAD … JULI CAAR—THOUGH HE WAS EVERYTHG … AND FRERICK THE GREAT.” CLARKE REVISED THIS TOPIC AGA A SATIRIL LATE ’90S SAY, “THE GAY WARLORDS,” WHICH HE SCRIB CAAR’S “AMBISEXTERONS.”THE THOR’S PERSONAL FEELGS ON—OR HOP FOR—HUMAN SEXUALY ARE PERHAPS MOST CLEAR HIS 1986 NOVEL THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH. HIS SEXIT WORK—ALMOST EVERY CHARACTER IS BED-HOPPG WH ANOTHER, OR HOPG TO—SONGS LAYS THIS SOCIETY’S FEELG OUT THE OPEN WH THIS EXCHANGE BETWEEN TWO MEN AT A HOSPAL: LITENANT HORTON EXPLAS TO HIS ROOMMATE, LOREN LORENSON, THAT HE WAS JURED DURG A SURFG EXPEDN WH A GROUP OF “HAIRY HUNKS” KNOWN FOR THEIR HOMO-SOCIAL WAYS. LOREN IS SURPRISED BY THE REVELATN: “I’D HAVE SWORN YOU WERE NETY PERCENT HETERO.” HORTON REPLI, “NETY-TWO, ACRDG TO MY PROFILE, BUT I LIKE TO CHECK MY LIBRATN OM TIME TO TIME.” THIS PROMPTS LOREN TO RELL THAT “HE HAD HEARD THAT HUNDRED PERCENTERS WERE SO RARE THAT THEY WERE CLASSED AS PATHOLOGIL.” CLARKE’S OLD TERT KSEY’S WORK REMAED UNABATED. HIS ONLY HOPE WAS THE RT OF HUMANY WOULD SEE THGS AS HE DID.CLARKE DIED 2008, THE SAME YEAR NSERVATIV ED PROPOSN 8 TO BEAT BACK MARRIAGE EQUALY CALIFORNIA. HE NEVER LIVED TO SEE THE SUPREME COURT LE FAVOR OF LOVE. NOR DID HE SEE THE SAME WAVE OF PROGRS SWEEP ENGLAND, ATRALIA, BRAZIL, FRANCE, AND SO MANY OTHER LANDS. TODAY, ALMOST A AFTER CLARKE’S ATH, LNS OF PEOPLE LIVE A WORLD WHICH MARRIAGE EQUALY IS A REALY, WHICH TRANSGENR PEOPLE ARE CREASGLY ACCEPTED AND WHICH HETERONORMATIVE NOTNS OF LOVE AND SEXUALY ARE STEADILY ERODG, EVEN THOUGH THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD OF ACCEPTANCE REMAS TENUO, AT BT.THE WORLD OF TODAY IS STILL A FAR CRY OM THE MULTIPLE FUTUR CLARKE IMAGED. BUT IF HE WERE HERE TODAY, HE WOULD NO DOUBT TELL TO KEEP UP THE FIGHT, BEE, A FEW UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS ASI, LIKE FANTASTIL SPACE ELEVATORS, CLARKE BELIEVED THE FUTUR HIS WORKS SCRIBED WERE ATTAABLE. HE WAS, HE SAID 1970, A FUNDAMENTAL OPTIMIST: “I BELIEVE THAT THE FUTURE IS NOT PRETERMED, THAT TO SOME EXTENT WE N TERME OUR OWN STY. BY THKG ABOUT THE FUTURE AND S POSSIBILY, WE DO HAVE A CHANCE OF AVERTG THE MORE DISASTRO ONE.” ANDREW BELONSKY
He was briefly married, but is thought to have been predomantly gay. In 1956 he moved permanently to Sri Lanka, then lled Ceylon, where the laws on homosexualy were more liberal than the UK.
Taken together, they provi a panoramic view of a gay man qutng the world which he, y, Clarke was a gay man, or, at the very least, queer.
DID ARTHUR C CLARKE PORTRAY ANY GAY CHARACTERS HIS FICTN?
Obssed wh the Ksey Sle when first me out, Clarke never believed people had strict straight or gay tennci, a belief ma clear a number of his books. Author Michael Moorck wrote a 2008 Guardian say that “everyone knew [Clarke] was gay, ” even the ’50s, well after Clarke moved to Sri Lanka, where he found the lack of sexual policg rehg after livg uptight England. ” Such reticence is only natural for a man born 1917 and who me of age durg the height of the Pk Sre, when wtern ernments brand gay people as crimal surg, as sexual crimals.
Published 1976, jt after Margaret Thatcher took the helm of Bra’s Conservative Party, this novel poss a future that is ed more progrsive than our prent—20th-century monogamy is likened to “sexual posssivens”—but old-school shamg over same-sex love remas full effect, as seen the relatnship between homosexually-cled protagonist Dunn Mackenzie and his more qutng but flexible enemy, Karl Helmers.
INSI ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S MYSTER WORLDMASTERFULAT THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTN WRER’S SRI LANKAN RINCE, OUR RRPONNT TALKS TO IENDS AND ASSOCIAT WHO REMEMBER A WTY, ENIGMATIC—AND MUCH-MISSED—IEND.TOM SYKROYALIST CORRPONNTUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 3:16PM EDT / PUBLISHED MAR. 14, 2015 6:55AM EDT ARTHUR C CLARKE LLED THIS PLACE HIS “EGO CHAMBER.”AND NOW, A STATE OF DISBELIEF, HERE I AM, COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, THE OFFICE OF A MAN WHO WAS ARGUABLY THE GREATT BRISH SCIENCE FICTN WRER OF ALL TIME.I S DOWN AT HIS SK. AT ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S SK. AN OLD MAC SKTOP STANDS SENTEL. THE WHEELCHAIR THAT THE THOR OF 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ED TO GET AROUND OM ABOUT 1984 ONWARDS—AFTER HE WAS STCK WH MCLE-WASTG POST-POL SYNDROME—IS PARKED TO MY SI. I ALLOW MY GAZE TO RAKE ACROSS THE EXTRAORDARY LLECTN OF ARTIFACTS—CLUDG UNDOUBTED EGO-BUILRS LIKE AN OSR NOMATN, UNTLS LERARY AWARDS, AND A KNIGHTHOOD OM THE QUEEN—WH WHICH THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTN WRER SURROUND HIMSELF DAY , DAY OUT, FOR THE ALMOST 50 YEARS HE LIVED AND WORKED SRI LANKA. HE DIED ALMOST EXACTLY SEVEN YEARS AGO, ON MARCH 19, 2008, AGED 90, BUT HERE, HIS OLD OFFICE, EVERYTHG HAS BEEN PRERVED JT THE WAY WAS WHEN HE STILL LIVED.THIS IS NO ARTHUR C CLARKE MM, HOWEVER, AND ’S NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. IT’S JT THAT THE EKANAYAK, THE SRI LANKAN FAY WH WHOM HE LIVED FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS, SIMPLY N’T BEAR TO CLEAR THE LAST BS OF CLARKE AWAY.AND WHO N BLAME THEM?THE AMED PICTUR AND KNICK-KNACKS WHICH VER EVERY CH OF WALL AND SHELF SPACE ARE AN EXTRAORDARY TTAMENT TO AN EXTRAORDARILY FULL LIFE; CLARKE MEETG THE POPE, CLARKE ENJOYG A OK-OUT WH BUZZ ALDR AND HIS FAY, CLARKE TALKG WH WEHRNER VON BRN, THE GENI VENTOR OF THE V2 ‘DOODLEBUG’ GUID BOMB—A FIENDISHLY CLEVER VICE THAT WREAKED UNTOLD VASTATN ON CLARKE’S HOMELAND, GREAT BRA, WORLD WAR 2.THE THOR LOVED BRA, BUT CLEARLY THAT WAS NO REASON NOT TO RPECT THE ENEMY’S SCIENTIFIC GENI.SER ASTROLOGIL MAPS JOSTLE FOR PLACE WH CHILDISH PICTNS OF THE HEAVENS, AND A AMED ONT PAGE OF THE NEW YORK TIM OM 1969 ANNOUNC, “MEN WALK ON MOON.”THE BOOKSHELV ARE STUFFED WH A VAST AND OTERIC LLECTN OF BOOKS, CLUDG A HOLY BIBLE AND A PY OF THE HOLY QUR’AN STG SI BY SI.ONE WHOLE BOOKSHELF IS GIVEN OVER TO TRANSLATNS AND VAR EDNS OF CLARKE’S MOST FAMO WORK, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. ON OTHER SHELV STAND AN ARRAY OF TOYS, KNICK-KNACKS AND MEMENTO CLUDG A WDOW CLIMBG TOY ROBOT, TOY TS, AND SMALL STS OF LORD BUDDHA AND VAR HDU GODS.A LARGE BLACK AND WHE PHOTOGRAPH OF A HANDSOME YOUNG MAN TCH MY EYE. THIS, I GUS RRECTLY, IS LLIE EKANAYAKE, WHO DIED A MOTORBIKE CRASH 1977 AGED 29—AND WHOM ARTHUR LOGIZED THE DITN TO HIS 1979 BOOK THE FOUNTAS OF PARADISE, WRG, “TO THE STILL UNFADG MEMORY OF LESLIE EKANAYAKE (13 JUIY 1947—4 JULY 1977) ONLY PERFECT IEND OF A LIFETIME, WHOM WERE UNIQUELY BED LOYALTY, INTELLIGENCE AND COMPASSN. WHEN YOUR RADIANT AND LOVG SPIR VANISHED OM THIS WORLD, THE LIGHT WENT OUT OF MANY LIV.” ON ANOTHER WALL IS AN EXTRACT OM HIS 1945 PAPER, “EXTRATERRTRIAL RELAYS,” WHICH FAMOLY PROPOSED AND SCRIBED HOW A GEOSTATNARY SATELLE ULD BE ED FOR MUNITN TECHNOLOGY. IT’S AN IA THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, PAVG THE WAY FOR MOBILE MUNITN WE ALL TAKE FOR GRANTED TODAY.LLIE’S BROTHER HEKTOR EKANAYAKE, NOW 75, AND THE OWNER OF THIS HOE, TUCKED AWAY BEHD A HIGH WALL AND PROTECTED BY A SECURY GUARD AN UPSLE COLOMBO STREET, IS SHOWG ME AROUND, HIS VOICE OFTEN BREAKG, AND TEARS PG DOWN HIS CHEEKS AS HE RELLS HIS AR IEND. HEKTOR STILL LIV HERE, THE MA HOE ON THE OTHER SI OF THE URTYARD TO ARTHUR’S DIGS, WH HIS WIFE VALERIE.HEKTOR MET ARTHUR WHEN THE WRER FIRST MOVED TO SRI LANKA FULL TIME 1956. CLARKE, A KEEN AMATR DIVER, WAS DRAWN TO THE UNTRY BY A BATN OF THE WARM SEAS AND THE TOLERANT ATTU TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALY THE MAJORY BUDDHIST NATN. HOMOSEXUALY WAS (AND REMAS) TECHNILLY ILLEGAL SRI LANKA, BUT NO-ONE HAS EVER BEEN PROSECUTED FOR THE ‘CRIME.’CLARKE WAS GAY, BUT HE WAS ALSO EXTREMELY DISCRETE, UNLIKE MANY OF THE OTHER GAY EX-PATS WHO LATER FLOCKED TO SRI LANKA. HE WOULD CERTALY NEVER HAVE PICKED UP A MAN ON THE BEACH OR A PUBLIC BAR AS OTHERS DID, ONE ACQUATANCE, VASANTHA DE SILVA (WHO HAPPENS TO BE SRI LANKA’S MOST FAMO HAIRDRSER) TOLD ME.CHARLIE HULSE, AN AMERIN WHO HAS LIVED NEAR AND LATER GALLE FORT THE SOUTH OF THE UNTRY SCE 1974, AND WAS THE PARTNER OF THE GAY AMERIN WRER GORDON MERRICK, KNEW CLARKE WELL.HULSE, NOW 86, TOLD ME THAT HIS CLOSETED BEHAVR WAS AT LEAST PARTLY BEE CLARKE HAD A HORROR OF EMBARRASSG HIS FARMG FAY BACK HOME RAL SOMERSET, ENGLAND, IF HIS HOMOSEXUALY WAS WILY REPORTED.HULSE SCRIB CLARKE (WHO SPOKE A BROAD SOMERSET ACCENT UNTIL THE END OF HIS LIFE) AS “BUTTONED UP” AND “PUNCTIL,” BUT SAYS THAT A MAJOR PART OF THE ATTRACTN FOR HIS RELOTN OM ENGLAND TO SRI LANKA WAS TO BE ABLE TO EXPRS HIS SEXUALY.“NOBODY RED WHAT YOU DID,” HULSE TOLD ME. “YOU WERE JT ANOTHER CRAZY WHE GUY.” CLARKE FACT HAD A LIVED A LIFE OF EP RPECTABILY THE UK. HE MOVED TO LONDON BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II, WORKG AS AN OFFICE CLERK A ERNMENT PARTMENT. BUT WAS DURG THE WAR THAT HIS TERT SCIENCE BEME A VOTN. FROM 1941 ONWARDS HE HELPED VELOP RADAR TECHNOLOGY, AND, AFTER THE WAR, HE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL, GETTG A UNIVERSY GREE MATHS AND PHYSICS.IN 1952, HE MET AND MARRIED MARILYN MAYFIELD, A 22-YEAR-OLD AMERIN DIVORCEE WH A YOUNG SON. THEY SEPARATED AFTER JT SIX MONTHS, ALTHOUGH THE DIVORCE WAS NOT FALIZED UNTIL 1964. CLARKE TOLD HIS OFFICIAL BGRAPHER THAT, “THE MARRIAGE WAS PATIBLE OM THE BEGNG.”HIS MARRIAGE WAS KNOWN ABOUT SRI LANKA BUT “NEVER MENTNED,” HULSE RELLS. CLARKE WAS MA THE EDOR OF A SCIENCE MAGAZE AFTER FISHG HIS GREE, BUT TURNED TO FULL TIME WRG 1951, PUBLISHG HIS BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL CHILDHOOD’S END 1953. ALONG WH ISAAC ASIMOV AND ROBERT A. HELE, HE BEME CELEBRATED AS ONE OF THE “BIG THREE” OF SCI-FI WRG.IT WAS THEREFORE ALL THE MORE EXTRAORDARY THAT HE MPED TO THE REMOTE FORMER BRISH LONY OF SRI LANKA JT AS HE WAS STARTG TO BEE TLY SUCCSFUL HIS FIELD. HIS CIRCLE OF IENDS CLUD THE MOST FAMO SRI LANKAN ARCHECT OF THE AGE, GEOFEY BAWA AND HIS BROTHER BEVIS (BOTH OF WHOM WERE GAY) AND ALSO THE SIGNER BARBARA SANSONI.CLARKE WOULD EQUENTLY MAKE THE FIVE-HOUR TRIP TO SEE HULSE DOWN GALLE, AND WOULD STAY SEVERAL DAYS, SOMETIM LLG AT THE DIVG RORT OF HIKKADUWA EN ROUTE, WHICH HE AND HEKTOR HAD HELPED POPULARIZE.MIM SLA, THE THOR OF THE LONDON MEMOIR, DIARY OF A TEDDY BOY, LIVED ON HIKKADUWA BEACH FOR A YEAR 1972.“ARTHUR WAS VERY MOST,” SLA RELLS. “HE LOOKED LIKE A BANK CLERK OM GUILDFORD, AND DRSED LIKE ONE TOO. I ONCE ASKED HIM IF HAD ANY ROYALTI OM HIS GEOSTATNARY SATELLE AND HE SAID, ‘NO. WHAT WOULD I DO WH A HUNDRED BILLN DOLLARS ANYWAY?’”AS TIME WENT ON AND HIS OLR FAY MEMBERS DIED OFF, CLARKE BEME MORE RELAXED ABOUT HIS SEXUALY (HE ALSO SWCHED OM WEARG A SU TO A SARONG), BUT HE NEVER PUBLICLY ME OUT. WHEN JOURNALISTS ENQUIRED, “ARE YOU GAY?” THEY WERE UALLY TOLD, “NO, MERELY DLY CHEERFUL.”CLARKE MET HEKTOR BEE HEKTOR WORKED THE DIVG BS, AND WAS THE PROCS OF SETTG UP A DIVG SCHOOL THE REMOTE NORTHERN TOWN OF TRALEE, WHICH WOULD BEE ONE OF CLARKE’S FAVORE DIVE LOTNS (HE DISVERED THE UNRWATER S OF THE FAMO TEMPLE OF KONWARAM THERE 1956) UNTIL THE CIVIL WAR MA “TR” TOO DANGERO TO VIS THE 1980S.THE TWO BEME IENDS. CLARKE SOON RENTED LIVG AND OFFICE SPACE OM HEKTOR—THE SAME SPACE THAT WOULD BEE THE ‘EGO CHAMBER’—AND ME TO REGARD THE EKANAYAK AS FAY (CLARKE IS BURIED THE EKANAYAKE FAY PLOT, NEXT TO LLIE).IT WAS HEKTOR WHO TRODUCED HIS BROTHER LLIE TO CLARKE. LLIE—WHO HATED DIVG AND WAS AAID OF WATER, ACRDG TO HEKTOR—WORKED FOR CLARKE, MANAGG HIS HOEHOLD, OKG AND CLEANG, AND THE TWO BEME IENDS. HEKTOR ADAMANTLY REFUT ANY SUGGTN THAT HIS BROTHER AND CLARKE WERE LOVERS, SAYG, “NO, NO. THEY WERE VERY GOOD IENDS,” WHEN I ASK THE QUTN DIRECTLY.CLARKE WAS NOT RICH BY WTERN STANDARDS WHEN HE ARRIVED SRI LANKA (THAT WOULD HAVE TO WA TILL THE MOVIE OF “2001” ME OUT 1968), BUT HE WAS ENORMOLY WEALTHY FOR SRI LANKA. HE HAD A MERCES AND A DRIVER AS WELL AS A POWR BLUE SOTER WHICH HE ED FOR ZIPPG AROUND TOWN. BOTH THE VEHICL ARE PRERVED HEKTOR’S GARAGE.IN 1962, CLARKE HAD SUFFERED A SEVERE ATTACK OF POLMYELIS. HIS APPARENTLY PLETE REVERY (HE EVEN REGAED HIS FORM AT HIS FAVORE SPORT, TABLE TENNIS) WAS CEPTIVE, AND 1984 HE VELOPED POST-POL SYNDROME, A PROGRSIVE NDN CHARACTERIZED BY MCLE WEAKNS AND EXTREME FATIGUE.IT WAS HOWEVER DURG THE YEARS THAT HIS GREATT POPULAR SUCCS HAPPENED. HE BEME A HOEHOLD NAME FOR HIS TELEVISN SERI VTIGATG PARANORMAL PHENOMENA: ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S MYSTER WORLD (1980), ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S WORLD OF STRANGE POWERS (1985) AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S MYSTER UNIVERSE (1994). ALL OF THEM WERE FILMED SRI LANKA.CLARKE SURELY ENJOYED HIS SUCCS, AS HIS “EGO-CHAMBER” ATTTS. BUT HE DID NOT DE OUT ON , AND WAS NOT MUCH SEEN OUT AND ABOUT COLOMBO’S HOT SPOTS.HEKTOR WOULD SOMETIM NOT SEE HIM FOR WEEKS, SPE LIVG ACROSS THE URTYARD. WHEN HE DID SEE HIM, HE WOULD ASK, “WHAT ARE YOU DOG, ARTHUR?” AND CLARKE WOULD VARIABLY REPLY, “WRG A BOOK.”CLARKE SPENT THE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE A WHEELCHAIR AS A RULT OF HIS POST-POL SYNDROME.THE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TRANQUIL YEARS FOR THE GRAND OLD MAN OF SCI-FI, BUT THE PEACE WAS SHATTERED WHEN, 1998, DAYS BEFORE HE WAS DUE TO BE KNIGHTED, THE BRISH SUNDAY MIRROR TABLOID PUBLISHED A STORY CLAIMG CLARKE WAS A PEDOPHILE.IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT EVERYONE I SPOKE TO COLOMBO WHO KNEW CLARKE WAS ADAMANT THAT THE STORI WERE PLETELY UNTE.“HE LIKED YOUNG MEN, SAY 20, 25, BUT THE IA OF HIM WH CHILDREN…NO, NO,” SAID ONE IEND, WHO DID NOT WANT TO BE NAMED. HOWEVER THE CROWD CLARKE HUNG OUT WH WERE SEEN BY SOME AS LECHERO TOWARDS YOUNGER NATIVE MEN. ANOTHER EXPATRIATE GALLE SAID THAT CLARKE AND HIS IENDS—BAWA ET AL—WERE LLECTIVELY KNOWN AS “THE LIZARDS.”“WE JT STAYED AWAY OM THEM,” THE PERSON SAID.CLARKE—WHO WAS 80—NIED THE ALLEGATNS OF PEDOPHILIA AND WAS CLEARED BY A SRI LANKAN POLICE VTIGATN, BUT HE DID NOT PURSUE THE MATTER THROUGH THE BRISH URTS.HEKTOR EKANAYAKE REMEMBERS THOSE GRIM DAYS FOR CLARKE CLEARLY: “HE WAS VERY UPSET. MY WIFE TOLD ME THAT HE CRIED, ALTHOUGH I DIDN’T SEE . ARTHUR IS HOMOSEXUAL … BUT TO PUT A THG LIKE THAT WHEN HE WAS TO BE KNIGHTED.”HECTOR WAS PARTICULARLY DISGTED THAT WAS “ENGLISH PEOPLE” WHO “ME ALL THE WAY” TO SRI LANKA TO BLACKEN HIS NAME.“THAT’S WHY I AM REALLY ANGRY,” HE SAYS.AFTER CLARKE VELOPED POST-POL SYMPTOM, AND WH LLIE AD, HEKTOR BEME HIS MA RER. “I ED TO SLEEP UNR HIS BED. WHEN HE HAD POST-POL SYNDROME. THERE WAS NO ATTENDANT CLOSE TO HIM. I DID. I WASHED HIM AND THGS LIKE THAT.”LIFE WAS DIFFICULT BUT THERE WERE BRIGHT SPOTS, AND ONE OF THE WAS DIVG. “HE WENT FOR A DIVE, A 90FT DIVE AND HE WAS PERFECT,” HEKTOR RELLED. “IN WATER HE N DO EVERYTHG. HE N SWIM VERY WELL, BETTER THAN WALKG. IN 90 FEET OF WATER HE IS VERY LM AND QUIET. VERY HAPPY—MAKG A LOT OF FUN UNRWATER. ONLY PROBLEM THAT WE HAVE IS WHEN WE WANT TO BRG HIM UP TO THE BOAT, HE WAS NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO HOLD THE LADR. SO WE PH HIM TO THE BOAT. BUT GETTG TO THE WATER IS NOTHG.”DID ARTHUR HAVE A LONG-TERM BOYIEND?“HE HAD NO PARTICULAR IEND LIKE THAT,” SAYS HEKTOR.WAS HE LONELY? “I THK HE WAS A LONELY PERSON, BUT HIS BOOKS WERE THE IMPORTANT THG,” SAYS HEKTOR. “ALL THE TIME HE WAS THKG ABOUT VENTN, VENTN, VENTN, WRE A BOOK.”ULTIMATELY, HOWEVER, CLARKE REMAED SOMETHG OF AN ENIGMA EVEN TO THOSE CLOST TO HIM, LIKE THE EKANAYAK.“ACTUALLY, FALLY, I DON’T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HE REALLY WANTED TOO MUCH,” SAYS HEKTOR. “I ASKED HIM ONCE, ‘IF YOU WERE LIVG ON AN ISLAND WH NOBODY THERE WHAT WILL YOU DO?’ HE SAID, ‘IF I HAVE A TYPEWRER, THAT IS QUE ENOUGH.’”A TEAR P HIS EYE.“HE WAS A VERY NICE MAN. WHEN THOSE (JOURNALISTS) ME OM ENGLAND THEY SAID TO ME, ‘WHAT SORT OF MAN IS HE?’“I SAID, ‘I WILL TELL YOU THE TTH. WRE DOWN, GET THE TAPE. THE SRI LANKAN BUDDHISTS WILL NOT LIKE BUT I DON’T RE. I HAVE NEVER SEEN LORD BUDDHA ALIVE,’ I SAID. ‘BUT IF YOU ASK, ‘WHO IS ARTHUR CLARKE?’ THAT IS ARTHUR CLARKE. LORD BUDDHA. THAT MUCH I KNOW HE IS. HE WILL NOT HARM ANYBODY. THAT IS LORD BUDDHA. LORD BUDDHA IS ARTHUR C. CLARKE.’”CLARKE WOULD LIKELY HAVE BEEN ENTERTAED BY HIS IEND’S EPAPH. THE GREAT FUTURIST, WHO CLAIMED THAT RELIGN HAD “HIJACKED” MORALY, LEFT WRTEN STCTNS FOR HIS FUNERAL THAT STATED: “ABSOLUTELY NO RELIG R OF ANY KD, RELATG TO ANY RELIG FAH, SHOULD BE ASSOCIATED WH MY FUNERAL.” TOM SYK
And he do—and do him some good: Later, Heywood wonrs why he qutned Walter the first place: “Floyd sometim efully spected [that] was no more than the secret envy that normal homo or heterosexuals feel, if pletely hont wh themselv, toward cheerfully well-adjted polymorphs. ”Clarke is clearly mentg on many gay upl’ lack of sexual posssivens.
” It’s unclear if Clarke is perpetuatg the myth that gay men are anti-femist, or pokg fun at .