posted
I recently finished reading the Arthur C Clark "Rama" series and was wondering, in the Speaker series, the alien classification 'raman' (or ramen plural). Is there a connection between the two? Because the classification does seem to fit the Ramans in Clark's original book fairly well.
Clark's Ramans are aliens who are peacefully coexistant and have the ability to communicate with humans. Rama was written in '72, Speaker in '86 so was OSC (or if the man himself is reading, perhaps he can enlighten me) making a reference to the bestselling novel or is it coincidence? A definition of the word I don't know?
Oh and if you haven't read the Rama series, I highly recommend it. Some of Clark's best work (only behind the 2001 series for me).
Posts: 24 | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
I'm pretty sure there's meaning behind them. I believe that they describe different types of alien or alienation; or better put, how extremely one differs from humans. I could be totally wrong on this though.
By the way, I loved Rendezvous with Rama. It's one of my favorite sci-fi books. I never read Rama II or the other books though. I was always too scared that they would lower my opinion of the series. But then again, how can my opinion of the series be ruined if I've only read one book in it. OK, I'm thinking out loud now so I'll just shut up.
Posts: 124 | Registered: Apr 2006
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Ah! one more thing while on the subject of Rama...I've always drawn a connection between the spaceship in Lovelock and Rama for some reason. I don't know why, I think I just pictured them as being very similar in my head aside from the fact that the spaceship in Lovelock was much more populated. Anyone else feel this way or am I alone in this?
Posts: 124 | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Are those proper names or is there a meaning behind them. Maybe I should look that up.
I'm not sure how to reply to this. Have you read Speaker for the Dead? I'll just say that "Ramen" is a discrete lexical item taken from an existing Earth language, and not a borrowing of a morphological derivate of a prior science fiction series.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
This thread has made me hungry for reconstituted freeze dried oriental noodles with salty flavorings added.
Posts: 157 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by pooka: I'll just say that "Ramen" is a discrete lexical item taken from an existing Earth language, and not a borrowing of a morphological derivate of a prior science fiction series. [/QB]
Well in that case does anyone know the definition of Ramen or Rama? The similarity is definitly there so what would Ramen transalte to in English?
Oh the food Ramen is spectacular, especially for me, the poor college student. CostCo has the best deal... a 36 pack for $4. Feed me for a whole semester...
Posts: 24 | Registered: Aug 2006
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