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A carregar... Death and the Senator (1961)por Arthur C. Clarke
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Drama.
Fiction.
Science Fiction & Fantasy.
Martin Steelman, a senior United States Senator, has always trodden the path toward power and the Presidency, with which he was obsessed. Towards that end he has sacrificed friendship, his marriage, daughter and grandchildren, from whom he is estranged. But now he has been given a terminal medical diagnosis: his cardiac condition is incurable and irreversible and soon he will die. Resigned to this, faced with the end of ambition and the hollowness of the life that his ambition has left him, Steelman moves to reconcile with his divorced wife, his estranged daughter and through them establishes with his grandchildren the first real family relationship he has ever had. Then, Steelman finds that an experimental medical treatment, one which can be administered only in the weightless environment provided by the Russian space station, may save his life. He is approached by the State Department and the Russians and offered the treatment and therefore the very possible extension of his life. Decades earlier, in his capacity as a powerful Senate committee chairman, Steelman had been instrumental in killing a similar orbital station for the USA, calling it an egregious waste of public funds. Now Steelman comes to understand that if he accepts the treatment he will be known as a hypocrite; furthermore, he learns in a graphic way that he will displace others who may be equally or more worthy from this expensive and exclusive treatment. Steelman realizes that the dilemma he faces has placed him in the crucible of his life. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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Mostly it's commentary on the NASA / US Gov budget approvals process (and hence somewhat dated as a story), and how if we stifle developments by pinching pennies now, we'll regret it later. At the same time it contrasts this with the Senator finally managing to enjoy family life and contemplating that not all joys come from accruing power and political favours.
This contrast and recognition of the complexities of the real world elevates it to one of the better of Clark's short stories, which can sometimes tend to be more polemical in nature. He has managed to work in a few nice technological prognostications we're not yet sure that living in space will be a cure for heart related conditions, as it seems to introduce as many problems as it solves, but he's done quite well with video calls even if it took us another twenty years to get there. ( )