(Som jag utlovat på Twitter och till eventuell båtnad för nytillkomna tänkte
jag här posta mina noteringar till föredraget på Fantastika. Det blev på
engelska, för kommittén ville det. Man hade gärna engelska programpunkter, till
nytta för utländska deltagare. Den som önskar kan - separat - få min PDF med de
bildfiler som hör till. Var de skall in markeras i texten. Jag höll mig kanske
inte tll 100% till den förberedda texten, utan ad-libbade en del också. Men i
alla fall. --AE)
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Space-Harry and Atomic Noah
Right after the Hiroshima bomb in 1945 a group of Swedish engineers founded
Atomic Noah, a group dedicated to save humanity from an atomic war by
constructing a spaceship to take us to a new planet. Soon future Nobel laureate
Harry Martinson joined the club, which also inspired his space epic Aniara.
***PIC1 PDF OF ARTICLE IN SWEDISH***
Swedish fandom, it may be argued, began September 15th 1945 in a summer cottage
in Ludvika with the founding of the club Föreningen Atom-Noak upa - shortened
F.A.N. - "The Association Atomic Noah Ltd", by a group of engineers from the
electricity company ASEA. Just after Hiroshima, they planned for constructing
giant spaceships to let humanity emigrate to another planet in fear of a WWIII.
Science interested Harry Martinson soon became engaged in and by the group.
The founders:
***PIC2 LAMM, AHLBERG, ISBERG***
- Gösta Rydbeck (1906-1979), chairman of Atomic Noah, member of the Royal
Academy of Engineering Sciences; it was in his summer cottage the club was
founded
- Gunnar Dahlby (1906-1995), secretary of Atomic Noah, member of the
Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, wrote frequently in Vestmanlands Läns
Tidning (Vestmanland Region Paper)
- Uno Lamm (1904-1989), member of both the Royal Academy of
Engineering Sciences and the Royal Academy of Science; claimed to be inventor
of the word "transistor" during a visit to Bell Labs in the US
- Bertil Stålhane (1902-1992), chemist, frequent writer during WWII
in newspapers, in pamphlets and five books, anti-Nazi who build radio sets for
the Norwegian resistance and member of the famous anti-Nazi Tuesday Club,
recipient of the Danish Freedom Medal from king Christian X, after the war
- Sven Pyk (1901-1955), worked with oil refineries and power
transmission, died rather early
Later members included Harry Martinson, Alf Ahlberg and an odd jinx in the form
of the nuclear power engineer Pelle Isberg, who joined as late as 1975
Harry Martinson (1904-1978) background:
***PIC3 YOUNG HARRY MARTINSON***
- lost both his parents as very young whereafter he was placed as a foster
child
- at age 16 Martinson ran away and signed onto a ship to spend the next years
sailing around the world, forced ashore due to lung problems (TB)
- debut as poet in 1929 in the famous anthology Fem unga (“Five Young Ones”)
- 1929 -1940, married to Moa Martinson, married Ingrid Lindcrantz (1916–1994)
in 1942
- He travelled to the Soviet Union in 1934, with a group of Swedish writers,
a study trip to writers conference; he became very disappointed with the
communist "utopia"
- Despite bad health (lungs) volunteer in the Finnish Winter War, spent two
weeks at the front in northern Finland as an ordely man (bringing reports back
and forth) He described his experiences from the Soviet Union and the Finnish
Vinter War in his book verklighet till döds (“Reaility to Death”)
- Elected to the Swedish Academy in 1949; won the Nobel prize in literature
(shared with Eyvind Johnson) in 1974, to a great degree for his space poetry in
the Aniara epic cycle
- Committed suicide in 1978, depressed by the post Nobel prize criticism
HM was very interested in science. As young he read Camille Flammarion, Edgar
Allan Poe etc and science articles in the illustrated weeklies. Visited
Copenhagen in 1941 with a group of Swedish writers (among them Karin Boye,
author of the dystopian novel Kallocain), meeting Niels Bohr and seeing how
atoms were split. He personally knew astronomers and other scientists and owned
a telescope. Friend Ivar Lo-Johansson noted: "His knowledge often seemed
fantastic. Anytime, he could stand up and hold an hour long lecture about negro
culture, English literature, about hydro-carbons, a philosophical system... /He
appeared/ often as a science quack."
From interview in the magazine Spektrum in 1932: "Machines will be totally
different in the future, the whole machine culture will be synthesized, in
itself become a new sort of culture. Machines will surely be simple and quiet,
silent servants that don't draw much attention but make life simpler for
everyone."
He also wrote (published in 1980, written much earlier): "scientific fantasy
and literary fantasy are related, often at a big distance, but sometimes
closely ... The inner core of the difference between science and fiction is
that fiction works with a huge amount of prepositions of more or less possible
kinds"
***PIC4 JULES VERNE MAGASINET***
He read books by eg Olaf Stapleton and the Swedish sf pulp Jules Verne
Magasinet/Veckans Äventyr (1940 -47), the latter had eg stories of
multi-generation spaceships on long trips - a possible inspiration for Aniara.
Eg JVM/VÄ No 23/1942, "The Trip that Lasted 600 years" by Don Wilcox or "The
End of the Journey" by Walter Kubilius, JVM/VÄ No 31, 1945), about a space
journey lasting 5000 years.
In 1943 he wrote: "In ten years almost all youth will be hypnotised by
television and the glider plane silliness, stereoscopic movies and transparent
refrigerators ... Technology will make it possible for man to, without any
spiritual content, fly high above eagles and albatrosses."
In 1943 he wrote about solar and nuclear power: "we must promote a sun machine
association so that atomic piles becomes redundant ... atomic energy seems like
murder of materia, though it's just minuscule amounts ... I think that this
rush into the distinct world of the constitution of matter and energy seems
eerie"
***PIC5 GYRO***
In the later 1940's he wrote down his philosophical and/or pseudo-scientific
thoughts in the manuscript Gyro, which wasn't published until long after his
death (in 1986). It is a work which is very difficult to understand. HM eg
talks about "gyroality" as being a fundamental force of nature, but what he
means with this is hard to understand. An equation claimed central to his
"gyroality" theory is pq-qp=ih/2pi (do you understand it? I don't...).
Atomic Noah was as said founded 15 September 1945, just after Hiroshima. The
club had meetings and internal correspondence as main activity - periodically
weekly info letters to each other, possibly as a sort of round-robin letter.
An important "project" was to, at least in theory, design their giant
spaceship to save humanity. Their idea was atomic power and photon rocket
propulsion, and they corresponded with the Swedish patent office about it after
entering a patent application 1946, until 1954 - when they were denied a patent
after (probably deliberately) missing a meeting with the patent office.
Originally the founders considered to register Atomic Noah as a limited stock
company ("aktiebolag") but they settled on to register it as an "economic
association" ("ekonomisk förening"), which was done in 1946, the year after
founding. (There are two kinds of associations in Sweden, "idealistic
association" - bad translation... - and "economic association", the difference
being that the latter may make a profit that can be shared by members.)
Ståhlhane met HM first around 1939. HM wrote a piece in Dagens Nyheter December
1947 and Stålhane came to think of his old friend and invited him to come to a
meeting and hold a lecture.
***PIC6 TEKNOLOGFÖRENINGEN'S HOUSE***
It took place March 12th in Svenska Teknologföreningen's (Swedish Technologists
Association) house, also known as the Folckerska House (torn down in 1969), 20
Brunkeberg's Square in Stockholm, in the dining room 4 stairs up. It began with
a dinner. The five founders took part, HM, and Fingal Fallgren, magazine editor
with the publisher Bonniers, Holger Carlsson, editorial secretary for the
magazine Teknik för Alla (Technology for All) and Åke Vrethem, then assistant
director for ASEA. Nine in total. Svante Lindqvist (former chief of the Nobel
Museum in Stockholm) described the meeing in a speech for Royal Swedish Academy
of Letters, History and Antiquities (Vitterhetsakademien):
*** PIC7 FALLGREN,CARLSSON, VRETHEM***
"Bertil Stålhane began with introducing the people present for Martinson 'and
thereby took the trouble to downplay the fact that all the board members were
technicians, in other words representatives for the 'tyrannical exactness' ...
Martinson held his introductory speech after the dinner and Gunnar Dahlby
writes in the protocol that:
Martinson showed to be in possession of great knowledge even in the area of
atomic physics, although his conclusions that the atomic structure of matter
was a secondary phenomenon that would dissolve when travelling to space
couldn't be shared by the board. What did Martinson mean with this? To the
members of Atomic Noah and all scientists it is self-evident that the laws of
nature are the same all over the universe. But Martinson didn't believe that.
During an interview in 1988 Dahlby said:
"He told us what we should bring on the trip, though he didn't think such a
journey was possible. Despite being knowledgable in science he said that ...
the laws for atoms are only valid within the Solar system. Outside they don't
apply so we can't go anywhere. This astounded us, but it seem so emotional for
him that we didn't dare to ask what he meant ... We asked him 'what books, what
philosophies should we bring on the Ark when we eave?' He then mentioned the
philosophies of the East, but he was in doubt regarding Christianity, because
as he said 'Christianity has a God who mostly occupies himself with theology'."
The meeting also discussed how to organise society when arriving to the new
planet: "Martinson already had the city plan: long, narrow, rod-shaped
societies where everyone would live close to nature." After debating for a
while the group moved to nearby Riddargatan where Stålhane in the house of
Elektrovärmeinstitutet (Electric Heat Institute) had "a bomb proof cellar just
in case". they continued to debate subjects like uranium, inflation and weather
Noah had existed. They continued until 3 am after which HM was put in a taxi to
get home. After the meeting Stålhane sent a HM 1000 Swedish crowns (two month's
pay for a worker at the time!) as a scholarship, "intended to support friend
Martinson who has other troubles beside poor health".
HM became a member of the society in connection to that meeting. They continued
to keep in touch. HM would eg guest and speak at ASEA - where the founders
worked - arrangements. When Aniara was published HM sent them a dedicated copy,
writing:
To the Atomic Noah association
whose members and brothers
inspire me in various ways
and where I'm proud
to be co-traveller and member
grateful grant holder and devoted brother
* * *
Let us in time defend
human law and glory
with our will keep
Earth's dream and Life's honour
Atomic Noah cherished this copy and adopted a statement from the board written
into their protocol and also in a copy "on first class paper" sent to HM:
Ӥ 7. A copy of Aniara, with dedication that was read, has arrived to the
secretariat from author Harry Martinson. The chairman stated that this work of
poetry will crown the carefully selected library of the spaceship, and remind
the far travellers about impressions from the first years of the Association
and inspire them to continued research. The meeting decided to make this
statement in the name of the association and let the secretary forward the
thanks of the association to the author Harry Martinson."
***PIC8 OPERA***
Aniara - A Review of Man in time and Space (some "songs" in it came earlier,
the final volume in 1956) became a huge success. It sold 30 000 copies the
first years, fantastic figures for poetry. An "anaira fever" broke out. Hotels,
ships, streets, even porcelain were named after Aniara. Karl-Birger Blomdahl
wrote the opera Aniara, premiere in 1959. There have later been musicals based
on Aniara and a ballet. We have the main Norwegian sf club in Oslo, which is
named Aniara, and the short lived Swedish sf magazine (two issues) from the
early 1990's, also named Aniara. HM's poetry book has also been translated to a
score of languages, including recently to Chinese and twice to English (1956,
translation by Hugh McDiarmid and E Harley Schubert; 1999 translation by Leif
Sjöberg and Stephen Klass).
Theodore Sturgeon reviewed Aniara in Galaxy magazine, 1963: "Martinson's
achievement here is an inexpressible, immeasurable sadness. /It/ transcends
panic and terror and even despair /and/ leaves you in the quiet immensities,
with the feeling that you have spent time, and have been permanently tinted, by
and with an impersonal larger-than-God force." Vernor Vinge refers to it in A
Fire Upon the Deep, Knut Larsson has recently done an Aniara comic book and the
rock group Seventh Wonder has made a 30 minutes long version of Aniara on the
record The Great Escape. Just to name a few Aniara spin-offs.
***PIC9 OSLO, KLEERUP, COMIC***
***PIC10 CHINESE&TRANSLATIONS***
As noted, Atomic Noah had some sort of activities at least up to the 1970's.
But for HM the 1970's was tragic. His episodes of depression became worse after
receiving the Nobel Prize in 1974. HM and Eyvind Johnson were both members of
the prize body, ie the Swedish Academy, and they were verbally "slaughtered" in
the press. The Academy was portrayed as corrupt for giving the prize to their
own members. The fact is that the Academy made a coup and went behind the backs
of Martinson and Johnson and kept their deliberations from them. HM was
ridiculed and it hit him hard. HM spent time on mental institutions and it was
there, in 1978, that he committed harakiri with a pair of scissors.
The life journey of Harry Martinson became just as tragic as the fate of
spaceship Aniara.
***PIC11 END&SONG13***
***PIC12 YOUTUBE FILMS***
(The last is a slide in Swedish, since all the Youtube material is in that
language. I haven't decided if I'll use that slide, but I include it here
anyway.)
--
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