Few writers fit so oddly into their chosen fields as Olaf Stapledon, a science-fiction writer whose knowledge of the genre was so limited that he appears to have written his early "philosophical romances" without any clear idea of the widespread interest in this particular branch of fantasy. A serious writer, whose novels criticize received political, social, and philosophical views, Stapledon regarded his stories primarily as vehicles for the propagation of his ideas and chose science fiction as his medium largely because it provided him with a convenient means of dealing with the cosmic themes that he found most important. For many readers, however, Stapledon's works are equally interesting for their bold experimentation with narrative form and for their introduction of themes that have now become commonplace in science fiction: galactic empires, sentient stars, genetic engineering, and symbiotic relationships between beings of different species are among the many science-fiction...