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In the Rebuild of Evangelion saga, Asuka appears first in the second film, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009). Changes have been made to her character, such as her family name being changed from to , continuing the Japanese maritime vessel naming convention. The name change resulted from a precise choice by Hideaki Anno, who said he had somehow changed the background of the character. Asuka Shikinami Langley, compared to her original counterpart, seems even more open and vulnerable: in one of the final scenes of the film, for example, she confides in someone for the first time talking genuinely about her feelings with Misato. She does not feel infatuated with Ryōji Kaji and maintains a more affectionate and peaceful relationship with Shinji. Although she publicly rejects others, she becomes possessive of Shinji, feeling jealous for him and taking an interest in his feelings. During the production phase, screenwriter Yōji Enokido has added a night scene in which Asuka,
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feeling alone, enters her colleague's room without permission, sleeping with him. In the course of events, she also plays video games and tries to cook something for Shinji. She is a captain of the European Air Force, faces the seventh Angel with her Eva-02, and is designated pilot of the Eva-03, whereas in the original series this Eva was piloted by Tōji Suzuhara. Unit 03 is later contaminated by a parasitic-type Angel, Bardiel, and collides with Eva-01; Asuka survives, but is last seen in urgent care.
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In Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012), the saga's third instalment, Asuka is initially part of the rescue operation for Eva-01, which is stranded in space and is now working together with Mari, supporting her piloting Eva-08 for an organization named Wille, which is dedicated to destroying Nerv, aboard a ship named AAA Wunder. Convinced by Mari, she dons her old plugsuit in an attempt to get Shinji to recognize them.{{efn|As depicted in the Evangelion: 3.0 (-120min.) prequel manga.}} After fighting off an initial attack by Nerv, Asuka confronts Shinji in his holding cell and tells him fourteen years have passed. Asuka is biologically twenty-eight years old, but has not physically aged thanks to what she calls the "curse of Eva"; she is also wearing an eyepatch that glows blue. Asuka, again supported by Mari, confronts Shinji and his co-pilot Kaworu Nagisa and eventually self-destructs her Eva during the fight. After the fight, she grabs Shinji's wrist, and they move along the
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ruins of Tokyo-3, followed by Rei Ayanami.
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Evangelion: 3.0+1.0
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In the final film, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, Asuka guides them along before they're picked up by Kensuke Aida. She lives in a place named Village-3 in Kensuke's house. She feels she is no longer human as a result of the changes to her body and lack of aging, growing indifferent to her well-being. In the course of the feature film she goes to check on Shinji's distraught and almost catatonic state in silence; Miyamura described hers as the attitude of a mother "who quietly leaves food in front of her son's room to see how he is doing when he is locked up in his room". Shikinami eventually forces Shinji, completely helpless and no longer wanting to continue living, to eat by forcibly stuffing food into his mouth, and for the voice actress, her role would be to be both kind and stern towards the boy. When Wunder arrives to pick-up Asuka, Shinji insists on going with her. During the final battle in Antarctica Asuka is forced to take off her eyepatch, releasing the Ninth
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Angel contained within. She converts Eva-02 to a new form, but is absorbed by Eva-13. Inside, Asuka meets the original member of the Shikinami clone series she's a part of. Asuka is shown to have fought the other clones as a child before being selected as a pilot. Lamenting not having anyone to take care of her, Kensuke appears, dressed as her stuffed doll, and reassures her. Asuka is then present in an adult body, and Shinji thanks her for saying she liked him, and tells her he liked her as well, before him and Mari bid her farewell. In the final scene of the film, she is last seen on a train platform in a rebuilt world.
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During 3.0+1.0, Asuka confesses her feelings to Shinji by saying that she liked him; for Miyamura, the sentence would not imply that her love is over or that she now loves someone else, "but that she genuinely wanted to tell him that". The actress also emphasized during the interviews that she did not interpret Kensuke and Asuka's relationship as romantic, as Shikinami is still physically fourteen years old; according to her, Kensuke would only be a sort of parental reference figure, and even Anno said that the character's last scene in Thrice Upon A Time is related to the image of Kensuke as a father figure for Shikinami. According to her, "Kensuke is a warmth for those who are lonely or want to feel safe". During production, a scene in which Kensuke shoots Asuka with a camera was thought to be a love scene; however, the voice actress also interpreted this love as paternal. Tetsuya Iwanaga, Japanese interpreter of Kensuke, described his character as "a friend she's never quite been
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able to get rid of ever since middle school". In an interview, Iwanaga stated that he interpreted the scene in which Kensuke is seen disguised as Asuka's rag doll as a representation of him becoming "the prop that rescued Asuka". Miyamura also voiced a scene in which Asuka says "baka Shiniji" as a "love letter" to everyone who supported the couple.
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In other media
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In the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, illustrated and written by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Asuka has a more immature character than her animated counterpart and her story is different; despite having a similar, familiar past, in the manga she was conceived through artificial fertilization, as the result of an experiment in eugenics. In her first actual battle against Gaghiel, whom she confronts alongside Shinji in the same Evangelion unit in the classic series, she fights alone, while Shinji later watches the recorded fight on a projector. In the next battle, Asuka and Shinji fight, as in the classic series, against Angel Israfel together; Sadamoto conceived their dance training as akin to a "kiss", underlining their psychological connection. Kotaku also noticed how much of their relationship is "absent", while she remains fixated on Kaji. In the comic her fellow pilot Kaworu Nagisa is also introduced before and interacts with her, immediately arousing her antipathy. Further differences are
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presented in the last chapters of the manga, corresponding to the events of the movie The End of Evangelion. In the feature film, the Eva-02 is dismembered by the Eva Series before Shinji's arrival, while in the comic the Third Child intervenes in battle in her defense. In the final chapter of the comic, following the failure of Instrumentality, Shinji lives in a world where it snows again in Japan and where people do not seem to have any memory of recent events. The Third Child, traveling on a train to his new school, meets a girl similar to Asuka. According to Sadamoto, the Asuka-like girl is not concretely Asuka, but the symbol "of an attractive woman that Shinji can meet in the new world".
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In a scene from the last episode of the animated series, an alternate reality is presented with a completely different story than in the previous installments, where Asuka is a normal middle school student and a childhood friend of Shinji Ikari, the Evangelion units never existed, and Asuka did not experience any childhood trauma regarding her mother Kyōko. A similar version of events can be found in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days, and the parody series Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, where she behaves like a sister towards Shinji. In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse, Asuka is a foreign exchange student, and uses a whip in battle. She is also present in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students. The simulation game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ayanami Raising Project, includes an expansion in its PlayStation 2 version that allows the player to take on the role of Asuka's guardian instead of Rei's. She is also available as a romantic option in
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Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel 2nd, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project and its manga adaptation. In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, Asuka is older, more stable and mature, having developed a strong friendship with Shinji and even Rei. Asuka also merges with her Eva unit turning into a hybrid named Crimson A1.
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She also appears in the crossover Transformers x Evangelion, in the video games based on the original animated series and media not related to the Evangelion franchise, including Monster Strike, Super Robot Wars, Tales of Zestiria, Puzzle & Dragons, Keri hime sweets, Summons Board, Puyopuyo!! Quest and in an official Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion cross-over episode. In the Super Robot Wars franchise, she butts heads with Kouji Kabuto, the pilot of Mazinger Z and Mazinkaiser. It is also implied that she developed crushes on famous heroes such as Char Aznable (in the guise of Quattro Bageena) and Amuro Ray, but proves jealous of Shinji, who crushes for Lynn Minmay of the Macross franchise.
Characterization and themes
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Asuka is an energetic, proud and enterprising girl with a brave and resolute character. She tends to look down on other people and wants to be constantly at the center of attention. Although she normally shows a stubborn and exuberant attitude, in some moments she exhibits a kinder, more sensitive and caring side. Her abrupt and impulsive ways often arouse other people's antipathy, since they do not fully understand her real intentions. Unlike fellow pilots Shinji and Rei, she is extremely proud to be a pilot and engages in missions with great enthusiasm, but despite her apparently strong, aggressive and competitive character, Asuka suffers from the same sense of alienation as her companions. She suffers from a masculine protest, a psychological expression that indicates exaggeratedly masculine tendencies in tired and rebellious women who protest against traditional female gender roles. She sees her male peers merely as rivals and spectators of her abilities, and suffers from a marked
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emotional complex for the male sex, merging a so-called "radical rivalry" and a latent inferiority complex. Her masculine protest is reflected in her strong misandric tendencies, since she is dominated by the need to beat male peers with an obsessive self-affirmation desire. Despite this, she also has a sense of admiration for her guardian and senpai, Ryōji Kaji. Asuka is emotionally dependent on him, since she has a strong subconscious desire to find a reference figure to rely on. Asuka's infatuation also leads her to feel great jealousy for him and she eventually tries to seduce him. Newtype magazine noted how she sometimes beats boys while being kind to Kaji.
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Asuka's excessive pride prevents her from admitting—even to herself—that she feels something for Shinji, and as events and battles unfold, her feelings of love and hate intensify and dominate her. She kisses Shinji in the fifteenth episode, but when he beats her in pilot tests, she develops an inferiority complex towards him. This leads her to attack Shinji's virility continuously, directing both interest and open hostility towards him. Because of their intimate fragility and insecurities, Shinji and Asuka are unable to communicate effectively with one another on an emotional level, despite their mutual latent interest. According to Newtype magazine, Shinji has feelings for her, while Asuka openly states her feeling of being frustrated with wanting him as her partner, so "her feelings for him as a man are less than they appear to be". According to critic Susan J. Napier, they might be expected to develop a romantic attraction for each other, but their sexual tension is subsumed under
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Asuka's intense competitiveness; Napier also noted that Shinji feels fear and attraction towards the maternal figures of the women around him, such as Rei or Misato, but only Asuka "is allowed to seem explicitly sexual". In one scene from The End of Evangelion movie Asuka is seen on a bed while she speaks with an angry expression, interpreted by writers Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster as a representation of Shinji's libido. Asuka is framed while she has sexual intercourse with her partner, in a position described by an official artbook as "of the cowgirl". According to an official card game, moreover, neither Yui, nor Rei and nor Misato could be a woman for Shinji, while Asuka, the only girl equal to him, becomes the center of his desire, using her as an object to console himself and ending up hurting her. Despite this, in the last scene Shinji meets Asuka in the new world after the failure of Instrumentality, just as he had wished. Asuka's relationship with Rei Ayanami is also
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conflictual. She despises Rei, calling her and "mechanical puppet girl". In a scene from the 22nd episode, Rei and Asuka are left alone in an elevator; Rei states she is ready to die for Commander Gendō Ikari, provoking Asuka's anger, who slaps her and says she has hated her from the moment they met. Shortly thereafter, Rei helps her during the fight against Arael, an act that destroys her already wounded pride.
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Her ostentatious competitiveness originates from her childhood experiences, marked by the mental illness and the suicide of her mother Kyōko. Asuka faced her loss by immersing herself in pride, becoming indisposed to any kind of help or advice and adopting strength and self-affirmation as her only raison d'être. Tormented "by the fear of not being necessary", she pilots Unit-02 only to satisfy her intimate desire for acceptance, longing to be considered "an elite pilot who will protect humanity". She also wants to be recognized by others through her role as a pilot and has been described as a perfectionist. Her excessive self-confidence leads her to clash with Shinji, gradually losing self-confidence and becoming psychologically and physically compromised. The Fourth Child's selection, Tōji Suzuhara, also contributes to the destruction of her pride. After she learns of Kaji's death, she questions the meaning of her life and her identity, avoiding any kind of human contact and never
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meeting the gaze of other people. Overwhelmed by the fear of being alone, the young woman shows that she has a great and morbid need for the Eva, even more than her colleague Shinji has. In a scene from the twenty-fifth episode, she excoriates the Evangelion unit as a "worthless piece of junk", but immediately admits "I'm the junk". In the director's cut version of the twenty-second episode, two scenes set in the ninth and fifteenth episodes were added, in which Asuka appears frustrated in front of the sliding door of her room and after the kiss with Shinji; from Asuka's dialogue that overlaps these scenes, it becomes clear that she has been looking for help and love from Shinji. Her self-love represents an act of psychological compensation to be recognized in the eyes of other people. After her mother's mental illness, she represses her sadness and eventually decides to not cry anymore and to behave like an adult with a reaction formation. Her memories related to her past and her
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mother are repressed and removed from her consciousness during this phase. In the last episodes, Asuka completely loses her self-confidence. She develops a deep disgust with herself and suffers from separation anxiety. The caption also appears in the same episodes. The word attachment in psychology can also refer to the emotional bond that is established between the mother and her child; while Asuka's behavior is that of "attachment", Rei's is made up of "bonds".
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Miyamura noted that Asuka wasn't called tsundere at the time, but agreed to the definition of her having to hide her feelings in 2007. For Japanese philosopher and cultural critic Hiroki Azuma, she was the "symbol of the outside" in the world of Evangelion, taking Shinji away from his comfort zone in the "Nerv family"; in contrast to Rei, who'd play an "imaginary healing" role, Asuka would be an independent person in reality. Critics noted that Asuka is iconographically and psychologically opposed to Rei. Rei has blue hair and red eyes and is often associated with the Moon, while Asuka has red hair and blue eyes and is presented in the eighth episode ("Asuka Strikes!") silhouetted by the Sun. Rei is also related to white; the writer Claudio Cordella noted how white is associated in Japanese culture with sanctity, light, eternity, while red is the color of sterile sexuality, traditionally chosen by unmarried girls or geishas for their kimonos. Japanese psychiatrist Kōji Mizobe linked
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Asuka's red to menstruation, Rei's white to altruism, attributing Asuka's unstable behavior to a narcissistic or histrionic personality disorder. Writer Dennis Redmond instead noted that Shinji's Eva-01 is purple, halfway between Rei's blue Eva-00 and Asuka's 02, describing Rei as a symbol of an empty and "lyric neonational interiority", while Asuka as a mirror of a pragmatic and "outrageous multinational exteriority". According to the Polygon the two girls would be two shades of the same spectrum of the feminine, neither of which good or bad in themselves, which Shinji must recognize as autonomous individuals by overcoming the Madonna-whore complex, the inability of some men to see women in their individual nuances, perceiving them dichotomously either as angelic beings or maleficent entities. Rei has been compared to the Superego, Shinji to the Ego and Asuka to the Id, the three intrapsychic instances proposed by Sigmund Freud's second topic, since the Id is the instinctual part of
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human being. The three Children have also been compared to the three stages of the human soul postulated by the Jewish Kabbalah: Asuka to Nephesh, source of animal vitality, Shinji to Ru'ah, the soul, fruit of the raising of man from his purely biological aspect, and Rei to Neshamah, the spirit, fruit of the connection between man and God. Others critics have linked Asuka to Ama-no-Uzume, a Shinto female deity associated with dance and sensuality. Hiroki Azuma described Asuka and the other characters in the series as "stereotypical characters", with no particular individual or aesthetic characteristics; Asuka, in particular, has been described as a "typical sci-fi anime character". According to Azuma, however, thanks to these stereotypical characters, Anno would have been able to describe the 1990s. Mizobe described her and Shinji as "communicationally disabled", allowing contemporary Japanese youth to identify with them even twenty-six years after the original series's airing. Also,
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for the critic Manabu Tsuribe in The End of Evangelion she would represent for Shinji the Other, another person separated from himself with whom he can never become one. For Tsuribe, the film concludes when Shinji recognizes Asuka as a separate entity. Japanese critic Akio Nagatomi (The Animé Café), noting how other characters in Evangelion bear similarities with others in a previous work by Gainax and Anno, Gunbuster, described Asuka as a counterpart to Jung Freud. Engineer Yumiko Yano also compared Asuka's dull gaze in the final episodes, locked up in a hospital room after a psychic and emotional breakdown, to the dolls of artist Katan Amano.
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Cultural impact
Popularity
Website Otaku Kart described Asuka as "one of the most popular female characters in anime history". She appeared in polls on best anime pilots and female anime characters, proving popular among both female and male audiences. In 1996 she ranked third among the "most popular female characters of the moment" in the Anime Grand Prix survey by Animage magazine, behind Rei Ayanami and Hikaru Shido from Magic Knight Rayearth. In 1997 and 1998 Anime Grand Prixes, she remained among the top 10 female characters; in 1997 she ranked in fourth place, while in 1998 she ranked sixth. Asuka also appeared in the magazine's monthly surveys, remaining in the top 20 in 1996, 1997 and 1998 polls. In 1999, Animage ranked her 40th among the 100 most popular anime characters.
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Her popularity increased after the release of the second Rebuild of Evangelion movie; in August and September 2009 she emerged in the first place and remained the most popular female Neon Genesis Evangelion character in Newtype magazine popularity charts, while in October she ranked tenth. In a Newtype poll in March 2010, she was voted the third most popular female anime character from the 1990s, immediately after Rei Ayanami and Usagi Tsukino from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. In February 2015, almost twenty years after the show first aired, she emerged again on the magazine's charts in sixth place. In 2017, she also ranked 16th among the characters Anime! Anime! site readers would "rather die than marry". Her line "Are you stupid?" (あんたバカ?, Anta baka?) also became widely used among hardcore fans after her first appearance in the eighth-episode. In 2021, after release of the final Rebuild film, Asuka ranked most popular female character in another Newtype poll.
Critical reception
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Asuka divided anime critics, receiving an ambivalent response. Negative reviews criticized her arrogant, surly and authoritarian character. While appreciating her for providing "a good dose of comic relief" to Evangelion, Anime Critic Pete Harcoff described her as "an annoying snot". Raphael See from T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews, who found Neon Genesis Evangelions characterization "a little cliché, or just plain irritating at times", despised Asuka for her arrogant attitude. Matthew Perez (Anime Reign) described her as initially "overly stuck up", but he also appreciated her evolution. By contrast, IGN critic Ramsey Isler ranked her as the 13th greatest anime character of all time for the realism of her characterization, saying: "She's a tragic character, and a complete train wreck, but that is what makes her so compelling because we just can't help but watch this beautiful disaster unfold." Comic Book Resources included her among the best anime female pilots, describing her as "the best
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classic tsundere in shounen anime" and "one of the most fascinating characters in anime".
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Screen Rant ranked her among the best Neon Genesis Evangelion characters, praising her development. WatchMojo described her as an "iconic female character"; it also listed her among the best mecha anime pilots and best tsundere anime girls. According to critic Jay Telotte, Asuka is "the first credible multinational character" in the history of Japanese science fiction television. Crunchyroll and Charapedia also praised her realism and personality. Asuka's fight sequence against the Mass-Production Evangelions in The End of Evangelion was particularly well received by critics, while Tiffany Grant was praised for her role as Asuka's English voice actress by Mike Crandol of Anime News Network.
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Eric Surrell (Animation Insider) commented on Asuka's role in Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009), the second installment of the Rebuild saga, stating that "the arrival and sudden dismissal of Asuka was shocking and depressing, especially considering how integral she was to the original Evangelion". Slant Magazines Simon Abrams, reviewing Evangelion: 2.0, responded negatively to Shinji and Asuka's new relationship, "which is unfortunate because that bond should have the opportunity to grow in its own time". WatchMojo praised her debut, since it features "a lot less fanservice and a lot more badass". LA Weekly's Brian Miller also appreciated this aspect, praising Shinji's "downright charming" courtship. The Fandom Post found the character neglected by Anno's script, given the lesser space devoted to her and Mari's introduction, while Renan Fontes (Comic Book Resources) judged Asuka Shikinami significantly less interesting than Langley. UK Anime Network on the other hand found
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Rebuild's Asuka a more human and easier to empathize with character than the one of the classic series. Website Otaku Revolution enjoyed the development and revelations about Asuka in Evangelion: 3.0+1.0, finding them "very fitting". Geek Ireland praised the fact that the movie gives a sense of conclusion to Asuka, Shinji, and the other characters, while Otaku Voice's A. Dean Kelly wrote that: "Everything about Asuka from 3.33 finally begins to make sense in this moment".
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Legacy
Asuka's character has been used for merchandising items such as life-size figures, action figures, guitars, clothes, and underwear, some of which sold out immediately. Her action figures proved successful. According to Japanese writer Kazuhisa Fujie, Evangelion-related household items with the image of Asuka or other female characters of the series have become so popular that they have been put back on the market with a second edition. Movic has also released a cassette drama featuring her and Shinji as part of its Animate series featuring other popular works. On February 27, 1997, Kadokawa Shoten published a book dedicated to her entitled . In 2008, Broccoli released a video game entitled Shin Seiki Evangelion: Ayanami Ikusei Keikaku with Asuka Hokan Keikaku, in which the player takes on the task of looking after Asuka or Rei Ayanami.
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Japanese celebrities cosplayed her during concerts or tours, such as Haruka Shimazaki, singer Hirona Murata and Saki Inagaki. Lai Pin-yu, a Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party and Legislative Yuan member, held election rallies cosplaying Asuka, gaining popularity. Asuka's character was parodied by Excel from Excel Saga and some of her aesthetic and character traits inspired other female characters. Richard Eisenbeins (Kotaku) lists her as an example of the tsundere stereotype, a term used to indicate grumpy, assertive and authoritarian characters that nonetheless possess a more gentle, empathetic and insecure side, hidden due to a stormy past or traumatic experiences. Anthony Gramuglia (Comic Book Resources) identified her as one of the most popular and influential tsundere characters, comparing Asuna Yūki (Sword Art Online), Rin Tōsaka (Fate/stay night), Kyō Sōma (Fruits Basket) and Taiga Aisaka (Toradora!) to her. Critics also compared Mai Shibamura from Gunparade March, Michiru
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Kinushima from Plastic Memories and D.Va from Overwatch game series to Asuka. Japanese band L'Arc-en-Ciel took inspiration from the character for their song "Anata". Further references have been identified in other Japanese animated series, including Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Gurren Lagann, and Sword Art Online'', in which a scene of her and Rei in an elevator from the twenty-second episode is parodied.
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See also
List of Neon Genesis Evangelion characters
Notes
References
Female characters in anime and manga
Fictional Japanese people in anime and manga
Fictional Japanese people
Fictional German people
Fictional Eurasian people
Animated television characters introduced in 1995
Child characters in animated series
Fictional child soldiers
Fictional military captains
Fictional private military members
Female soldier and warrior characters in anime and manga
Fictional characters with post-traumatic stress disorder
Neon Genesis Evangelion characters
Science fiction film characters
Female characters in film
Teenage characters in television
Teenage characters in anime and manga
Fictional child prodigies
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The iron pillar of Delhi is a structure high with a diameter that was constructed by Chandragupta II (reigned c. 375–415 CE), and now stands in the Qutb complex at Mehrauli in Delhi, India. It is famous for the rust-resistant composition of the metals used in its construction. The pillar weighs over three tonnes (6,614 lb) and is thought to have been erected elsewhere, perhaps outside the Udayagiri Caves, and moved to its present location by Anangpal Tomar in 11th century.
Physical description
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The height of the pillar, from the top to the bottom of its base, is , of which is below ground. Its bell pattern capital is . It is estimated to weigh more than .
The pillar has attracted the attention of archaeologists and materials scientists because of its high resistance to corrosion and has been called a "testimony to the high level of skill achieved by the ancient Indian iron smiths in the extraction and processing of iron". The corrosion resistance results from an even layer of crystalline iron(III) hydrogen phosphate hydrate forming on the high-phosphorus-content iron, which serves to protect it from the effects of the Delhi climate.
Inscriptions
The pillar carries a number of inscriptions of different dates, some of which have not been studied systematically despite the pillar's prominent location and easy access.
Inscription of King Chandra or Chandragupta II
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The oldest inscription on the pillar is that of a king named Chandra (IAST: ), generally identified as the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II.
Orthography
The inscription covers an area of 2′9.5″ × 10.5″. The ancient writing is preserved well because of the corrosion-resistant iron on which it is engraved. However, during the engraving process, iron appears to have closed up over some of the strokes, making some of the letters imperfect.
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It contains verses composed in Sanskrit language, in shardulvikridita metre. It is written in the eastern variety of the Gupta script. The letters vary from 0.3125″ to 0.5″ in size, and resemble closely to the letters on the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta. However, it had distinctive s (diacritics), similar to the ones in the Bilsad inscription of Kumaragupta I. While the edges of the characters on the Allahabad inscription are more curved, the ones on the Delhi inscription have more straight edges. This can be attributed to the fact that the Allahabad inscription was inscribed on softer sandstone, while the Delhi inscription is engraved on the harder material (iron).
The text has some unusual deviations from the standard Sanskrit spelling, such as:
instead of : the use of dental nasal instead of anusvāra
instead of : omission of the second t
instead of : omission of the second t
instead of śatru (enemy): an extra t
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Studies
In 1831, the East India Company officer William Elliott made a facsimile of the inscription. Based on this facsimile, in 1834, James Prinsep published a lithograph in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. However, this lithograph did not represent every single word of the inscription correctly. Some years later, British engineer T. S. Burt made an ink impression of the inscription. Based on this, in 1838, Prinsep published an improved lithograph in the same journal, with his reading of the script and translation of the text.
Decades later, Bhagwan Lal Indraji made another copy of the inscription on a cloth. Based on this copy, Bhau Daji Lad published a revised text and translation in 1875, in Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. This reading was the first one to correctly mention the king's name as Chandra. In 1888, John Faithfull Fleet published a critical edition of the text in Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum.
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In 1945, Govardhan Rai Sharma dated the inscription to the first half of the 5th century CE, on paleographic grounds. He observed that its script was similar to the writing on other Gupta-Era inscriptions, including the ones discovered at Bilsad (415 CE), Baigram (449 CE), and Kahanum (449 CE). R. Balasubramaniam (2005) noted that the characters of the Delhi inscription closely resembled the dated inscriptions of Chandragupta II, found at Udayagiri in Madhya Pradesh.
Issuance
The inscription is undated, and contains a eulogy of a king named Candra, whose dynasty it does not mention. The identity of this king, and thus the date of the pillar, has been the subject of much debate. The various viewpoints about the identity of the issuer were assembled and analyzed in a volume edited by M. C. Joshi and published in 1989.
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The king is now generally identified with the Gupta King Chandragupta II. This identification is based on several points:
The script and the poetic style of the inscription, which point to a date in the late fourth or early fifth century CE: the Gupta period.
The inscription describes the king as a devotee of the God Vishnu, and records the erection of a dhvaja ("standard", or pillar) of Vishnu, on a hill called Viṣṇupada ("hill of the footprint of Viṣṇu"). Other Gupta inscriptions also describe Chandragupta II as a Bhagavata (devotee of Vishnu). The names of the places mentioned in the inscription are also characteristic of the Gupta Era. For example, (the Indian Ocean) and (the Bengal region).
The short name ‘Candra’ is inscribed on the archer-type gold coins of Chandragupta II, while his full name and titles appear in a separate, circular legend on the coin.
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A royal seal of Chandragupta's wife Dhruvadevi contains the phrase (“Nārāyaṇa, the lord of the illustrious Viṣṇupada”).
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As the inscription is a eulogy and states that the king has abandoned the earth, there has been some discussion as to whether it is posthumous, i.e. whether King Chandra was dead when the record was created. Dasharatha Sharma (1938) argued that it was non-posthumous. According to B. Chhabra and G. S. Gai, the inscription states that the king's mind is “fixed upon Vishnu with devotion”, and therefore, indicates that the king was alive at the time. They theorize that it may have been recorded when Chandragupta II abdicated his throne, and settled down as a vanaprastha (retiree) in Viṣṇupada.
Text
Following is the Roman script transliteration of the text:
J. F. Fleet's 1888 translation is as follows:
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Due to the tablets installed on the building in 1903 by Pandit Banke Rai, the reading provided by him enjoys wide currency. However, Bankelal's reading and interpretation have been challenged by more recent scholarship. The inscription has been revisited by Michael Willis in his book Archaeology of Hindu Ritual, his special concern being the nature of the king's spiritual identity after death. His reading and translation of verse 2 is as follows:
The Sanskrit portion given above can be translated as follows:
Willis concludes:
Samvat 1109 inscription
One short inscription on the pillar is associated with the Tomara king Anangpal, although it is hard to decipher.. Alexander Cunningham (1862–63) read the inscription as follows:
Based on this reading, Cunningham theorized that Anangpal had moved the pillar to its current location while establishing the city of Delhi. However, his reading has been contested by the later scholars. Buddha Rashmi Mani (1997) read it as follows:
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Original location
While the pillar was certainly used as a trophy in building the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque and the Qutb complex, its original location, whether on the site itself or from elsewhere, is debated.
According to the inscription of king Chandra, the pillar was erected at Vishnupadagiri (Vishnupada). J. F. Fleet (1898) identified this place with Mathura, because of its proximity to Delhi (the find spot of the inscription) and the city's reputation as a Vaishnavite pilgrimage centre. However, archaeological evidence indicates that during the Gupta period, Mathura was a major centre of Buddhism, although Vaishnavism may have existed there. Moreover, Mathura lies in plains, and only contains some small hillocks and mounds: there is no true giri (hill) in Mathura.
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Based on paleographic similarity to the dated inscriptions from Udayagiri, the Gupta-era iconography, analysis of metallurgy and other evidence, Meera Dass and R. Balasubramaniam (2004) theorized that the iron pillar was originally erected at Udayagiri. According to them, the pillar, with a wheel or discus at the top, was originally located at the Udayagiri Caves. This conclusion was partly based on the fact that the inscription mentions Vishnupada-giri (IAST: Viṣṇupadagiri, meaning "hill with footprint of Viṣṇu"). This conclusion was endorsed and elaborated by Michael Willis in his Archaeology of Hindu Ritual, published in 2009.
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The key point in favour of placing the iron pillar at Udayagiri is that this site was closely associated with Chandragupta and the worship of Vishnu in the Gupta period. In addition, there are well-established traditions of mining and working iron in central India, documented particularly by the iron pillar at Dhar and local place names like Lohapura and Lohangī Pīr (see Vidisha). The king of Delhi, Iltutmish, is known to have attacked and sacked Vidisha in the thirteenth century and this would have given him an opportunity to remove the pillar as a trophy to Delhi, just as the Tughluq rulers brought Asokan pillars to Delhi in the 1300s.
Relocation
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It is not certain when the pillar was moved to Delhi from its original location. Alexander Cunningham attributed the relocation to the Tomara king Anangpal, based on the short pillar inscription ascribed to this king. Pasanaha Chariu, an 1132 CE Jain Apabhramsha text composed by Vibudh Shridhar, states that "the weight of his pillar caused the Lord of the Snakes to tremble". The identification of this pillar with the iron pillar lends support to the theory that the pillar was already in Delhi during Anangpal's reign.
Another theory is that the relocation happened during the Muslim rule in Delhi. Some scholars have assumed that it happened around 1200 CE, when Qutb al-Din Aibak commenced the construction of the Qutb complex as a general of Muhammad of Ghor.
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Finbarr Barry Flood (2009) theorizes that it was Qutb al-Din's successor Iltutmish (r. 1210–1236 CE), who moved the pillar to Delhi. According to this theory, the pillar was originally erected in Vidisha and that the pillar was moved to the Qutb complex, by Iltutmish when he attacked and sacked Vidisha in the thirteenth century.
Scientific analysis
The iron pillar in India was manufactured by the forge welding of pieces of wrought iron. In a report published in the journal Current Science, R. Balasubramaniam of the IIT Kanpur explains how the pillar's resistance to corrosion is due to a passive protective film at the iron-rust interface. The presence of second-phase particles (slag and unreduced iron oxides) in the microstructure of the iron, that of high amounts of phosphorus in the metal, and the alternate wetting and drying existing under atmospheric conditions are the three main factors in the three-stage formation of that protective passive film.
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Lepidocrocite and goethite are the first amorphous iron oxyhydroxides that appear upon oxidation of iron. High corrosion rates are initially observed. Then, an essential chemical reaction intervenes: slag and unreduced iron oxides (second phase particles) in the iron microstructure alter the polarisation characteristics and enrich the metal–scale interface with phosphorus, thus indirectly promoting passivation of the iron (cessation of rusting activity).
The second-phase particles act as a cathode, and the metal itself serves as anode, for a mini-galvanic corrosion reaction during environment exposure. Part of the initial iron oxyhydroxides is also transformed into magnetite, which somewhat slows down the process of corrosion. The ongoing reduction of lepidocrocite and the diffusion of oxygen and complementary corrosion through the cracks and pores in the rust still contribute to the corrosion mechanism from atmospheric conditions.
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The next main agent to intervene in protection from oxidation is phosphorus, enhanced at the metal–scale interface by the same chemical interaction previously described between the slags and the metal. The ancient Indian smiths did not add lime to their furnaces. The use of limestone as in modern blast furnaces yields pig iron that is later converted into steel; in the process, most phosphorus is carried away by the slag.
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The absence of lime in the slag and the use of specific quantities of wood with high phosphorus content (for example, Cassia auriculata) during the smelting induces a higher phosphorus content (> 0.1%, average 0.25%) than in modern iron produced in blast furnaces (usually less than 0.05%).
This high phosphorus content and particular repartition are essential catalysts in the formation of a passive protective film of misawite (d-FeOOH), an amorphous iron oxyhydroxide that forms a barrier by adhering next to the interface between metal and rust. Misawite, the initial corrosion-resistance agent, was thus named because of the pioneering studies of Misawa and co-workers on the effects of phosphorus and copper and those of alternating atmospheric conditions in rust formation.
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The most critical corrosion-resistance agent is iron hydrogen phosphate hydrate (FePO4-H3PO4-4H2O) under its crystalline form and building up as a thin layer next to the interface between metal and rust. Rust initially contains iron oxide/oxyhydroxides in their amorphous forms. Due to the initial corrosion of metal, there is more phosphorus at the metal–scale interface than in the bulk of the metal. Alternate environmental wetting and drying cycles provide the moisture for phosphoric-acid formation. Over time, the amorphous phosphate is precipitated into its crystalline form (the latter being therefore an indicator of old age, as this precipitation is a rather slow happening). The crystalline phosphate eventually forms a continuous layer next to the metal, which results in an excellent corrosion resistance layer. In 1,600 years, the film has grown just one-twentieth of a millimetre thick.
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In 1969, in his first book, Chariots of the Gods?, Erich von Däniken cited the absence of corrosion on the Delhi pillar and the unknown nature of its creation as evidence of extraterrestrial visitation. When informed by an interviewer, in 1974, that the column was not in fact rust-free, and that its method of construction was well-understood, von Däniken responded that he no longer considered the pillar or its creation to be a mystery.
Balasubramaniam states that the pillar is "a living testimony to the skill of metallurgists of ancient India". An interview with Balasubramaniam and his work can be seen in the 2005 article by the writer and editor Matthew Veazey. Further research published in 2009 showed that corrosion has developed evenly over the surface of the pillar.
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It was claimed in the 1920s that iron manufactured in Mirjati near Jamshedpur is similar to the iron of the Delhi pillar. Further work on Adivasi (tribal) iron by the National Metallurgical Laboratory in the 1960s did not verify this claim.
Evidence of a cannonball strike
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A significant indentation on the middle section of the pillar, approximately from the current courtyard ground level, has been shown to be the result of a cannonball fired at close range. The impact caused horizontal fissuring of the column in the area diametrically opposite to the indentation site, but the column itself remained intact. While no contemporaneous records, inscriptions, or documents describing the event are known to exist, historians generally agree that Nadir Shah is likely to have ordered the pillar's destruction during his invasion of Delhi in 1739, as he would have considered a Hindu temple monument undesirable within an Islamic mosque complex. Alternatively, he may have sought to dislodge the decorative top portion of the pillar in search of hidden precious stones or other items of value.
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No additional damage attributable to cannon fire has been found on the pillar, suggesting that no further shots were taken. Historians have speculated that ricocheting fragments of the cannonball may have damaged the nearby Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, which suffered damage to its southwestern portion during the same period, and the assault on the pillar might have been abandoned as a result.
See also
Related topics
Ancient iron production
History of metallurgy in South Asia
Parkerizing
Serpent Column
Wootz steel
Other pillars of India
Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts
Dhar iron pillar
List of Edicts of Ashoka
Pillars of Ashoka
Heliodorus pillar
Stambha
Other similar topics
Early Indian epigraphy
Hindu temple architecture
History of India
Indian copper plate inscriptions
Indian rock-cut architecture
List of rock-cut temples in India
Outline of ancient India
South Indian Inscriptions
Tagundaing
References
Bibliography
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King Chandra and the Mehrauli Pillar, M.C. Joshi, S.K. Gupta and Shankar Goyal, Eds., Kusumanjali Publications, Meerut, 1989.
The Rustless Wonder – A Study of the Iron Pillar at Delhi, T.R. Anantharaman, Vigyan Prasar New Delhi, 1996.
Delhi Iron Pillar: New Insights. R. Balasubramaniam, Aryan Books International, Delhi, and Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 2002, Hardbound, .
The Delhi Iron Pillar: Its Art, Metallurgy and Inscriptions, M.C. Joshi, S.K. Gupta and Shankar Goyal, Eds., Kusumanjali Publications, Meerut, 1996.
The World Heritage Complex of the Qutub, R. Balasubramaniam, Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2005, Hardbound, .
"Delhi Iron Pillar" (in two parts), R. Balasubramaniam, IIM Metal News Volume 7, No. 2, April 2004, pp. 11–17 and IIM Metal News Volume 7, No. 3, June 2004, pp. 5–13.
New Insights on the 1600-Year Old Corrosion Resistant Delhi Iron Pillar, R. Balasubramaniam, Indian Journal of History of Science 36 (2001) 1–49.
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The Early use of Iron in India, Dilip K. Chakrabarti, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1992, .
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External links
Detailed list of Publications on Delhi Iron Pillar by Balasubramaniam, IIT Kanpur
IIT team solves the pillar mystery
Corrosion resistance of Delhi iron pillar
Nondestructive evaluation of the Delhi iron pillar Current Science, Indian Academy of Sciences, Vol. 88, No. 12, 25 June 2005 (PDF)
The Delhi Iron Pillar
IIT team solves the pillar mystery, 21 Mar 2005, Times of India (About Nondestructive evaluation of the Delhi iron pillar)
"New Insights on the Corrosion Resistant Delhi Iron Pillar" by R. Balasubramaniam
5th-century inscriptions
Buildings and structures completed in the 5th century
Monumental columns in India
Monuments of National Importance in Delhi
Tourist attractions in Delhi
Mehrauli
Archaeological monuments in Delhi
Gupta and post-Gupta inscriptions
Metallurgical industry in India
History of metallurgy
Lost inventions
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The following is a list of works by Arthur C. Clarke.
Series
A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2010: Odyssey Two (1982) (Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1983)
2061: Odyssey Three (1987)
3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
Rama
Rendezvous with Rama (Hugo and Nebula Award) (1972) (BSFA and Nebula Awards winner, 1973; Hugo, Campbell, and Locus Awards winner, 1974)
Rama II (1989) (with Gentry Lee)
The Garden of Rama (1991) (with Gentry Lee)
Rama Revealed (1993) (with Gentry Lee)
A Time Odyssey
Time's Eye (2003) (with Stephen Baxter)
Sunstorm (2005) (with Stephen Baxter)
Firstborn (2007) (with Stephen Baxter)
Fiction
Novels
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Against the Fall of Night (1948, 1953) original version of The City and the Stars
Prelude to Space (1951) Reprinted in 1961 as Master of Space and as The Space Dreamers in 1969.
The Sands of Mars (1951)
Islands in the Sky (1952)
Childhood's End (1953)
Earthlight (1955)
The City and the Stars (1956)
The Deep Range (1957)
A Fall of Moondust (1961) (Hugo nominee, 1963)
Dolphin Island (1963)
Glide Path (1963)
Imperial Earth (1975)
The Fountains of Paradise (Hugo and Nebula Award) (1979) (Hugo Award winner, BSFA nominee, 1979; and Nebula Award winner, Locus Award nominee, 1980)
The Songs of Distant Earth (1986)
Cradle (1988) (with Gentry Lee)
Beyond the Fall of Night (1990) First part a reprint of Against the Fall of Night, second part a sequel by Gregory Benford
The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1990)
The Hammer of God (1993)
Richter 10 (1996) (with Mike McQuay)
The Trigger (1999) (with Michael P. Kube-McDowell)
The Light of Other Days (2000) (with Stephen Baxter)
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The Last Theorem (2008) (with Frederik Pohl)
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Short story collections
Expedition to Earth (1953)
Reach for Tomorrow (1956)
Venture to the Moon (1956; six individual connected short stories)
Tales from the White Hart (1957)
The Other Side of the Sky (1957/8)
Tales of Ten Worlds (1962)
The Nine Billion Names of God (1967)
Of Time and Stars (1972)
The Wind from the Sun (1972)
The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937 - 1971 (1973)
The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1937 - 1955 (1976)
The Best of Arthur C. Clarke 1956 - 1972 (1977)
The Sentinel (1983)
Tales From Planet Earth (1990)
More Than One Universe (1991)
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)
Novellas, novelettes and short stories
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"Travel by Wire!" (1937)
"How We Went to Mars" (1938)
"Retreat from Earth" (1938)
"At the Mountains of Murkiness" (1940)
"The Awakening" (1942, revised edition published in 1952)
"Whacky" (1942)
"The Lion of Comarre" (novella; 1945)
"Loophole" (1946)
"Rescue Party" (1946)
"Technical Error" (a.k.a. "The Reversed Man") (1946)
"Castaway" (1947)
"Inheritance" (1947)
"Nightfall" (a.k.a. "The Curse") (1947)
"Breaking Strain" (a.k.a. "Thirty Seconds – Thirty Days") (1949)
"The Fires Within" (1949)
"The Forgotten Enemy" (1949)
"Hide-and-Seek" (1949)
"History Lesson" (a.k.a. "Expedition to Earth") (1949)
"Transience" (1949)
"The Wall of Darkness" (1949)
"Guardian Angel" (1950)
"Nemesis" (a.k.a. "Exile of the Eons") (1950)
"The Road to the Sea" (a.k.a. "Seeker of the Sphinx") (1950)
"Time's Arrow" (1950)
"A Walk in the Dark" (1950)
"All the Time in the World" (1951)
"Earthlight" (1951, extended into the novel Earthlight in 1955)
"Holiday on the Moon" (1951)
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"If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth" (1951)
"Second Dawn" (1951)
"The Sentinel" (1951)
"Superiority" (1951)
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"Trouble with the Natives" (1951)
"Encounter in the Dawn" (a.k.a. "Encounter at Dawn") (1953)
"Jupiter Five" (a.k.a. "Jupiter V") (1953)
"The Nine Billion Names of God" (1953)
"The Other Tiger" (1953)
"The Parasite" (1953)
"The Possessed" (1953)
"Publicity Campaign" (1953)
"Reverie" (1953)
"Armaments Race" (1954)
"The Deep Range" (1954, extended into the novel The Deep Range in 1957)
"The Man Who Ploughed the Sea" (1954)
"No Morning After" (1954)
"Patent Pending" (1954)
"Silence Please" (a.k.a. "Silence Please!") (1950)
"Refugee" (a.k.a. "?", a.k.a. "Royal Prerogative", a.k.a. "This Earth of Majesty") (1954)
"The Star" (1955)
"What Goes Up" (a.k.a. "What Goes Up...") (1955)
"All that Glitters" (1956 under the title "IV: All That Glitters", 1957 as "All That Glitters")
"Big Game Hunt" (a.k.a. "The Reckless Ones") (1956)
"Green Fingers"(1956)
"The Pacifist" (1956)
"A Question of Residence" (1956)
"The Reluctant Orchid" (1956)
"Robin Hood, F.R.S." (1956)
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"The Starting Line" (1956)
Venture to the Moon (1956; six individual connected short stories)
"Watch this Space" (1956 under the titles "V: Watch this Space" and "Who Wrote That Message to the Stars? ...in Letters a Thousand Miles Long?", 1957 as "Watch This Space")
"The Call of the Stars" (1957)
"Cold War (short story)" (1957)
"Critical Mass" (1950)
"The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch" (1957)
"Let There Be Light" (1957)
"Freedom of Space" (1957)
"Moving Spirit" (1957)
"The Next Tenants" (1957)
The Other Side of the Sky (1957; six individual connected stories)
"Passer-by" (1957)
"Security Check" (1957)
"Sleeping Beauty" (1957)
"The Songs of Distant Earth" (short story, 1957)
"Special Delivery" (1957)
"Feathered Friend" (1957)
"Take a Deep Breath" (1957)
"The Ultimate Melody" (1957)
"Cosmic Casanova" (1958)
A Slight Case of Sunstroke" (a.k.a. "The Stroke of the Sun") (1958)
"Out from the Sun" (1958)
"Who's There?" (a.k.a. "The Haunted Spacesuit") (1958)
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"Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Orbiting..." (a.k.a. "Out of the Cradle") (1959)
"Into the Comet" (a.k.a. Inside the Comet) (1960)
"I Remember Babylon" (1960)
"Summertime on Icarus" (a.k.a. "The Hottest Piece of Real Estate in the Solar System") (1960)
"Trouble with Time" (a.k.a. "Crime on Mars") (1960)
"Before Eden" (1961)
"Death and the Senator (1961)
"The Food of the Gods" (1961)
"Hate" (a.k.a. "At the End of the Orbit") (1961)
"Love that Universe" (1961)
"Saturn Rising" (1961)
"An Ape About the House" (1962)
"Dog Star" (a.k.a. "Moon Dog") (1962)
"Maelstrom II" (1962)
"The Shining Ones" (1962)
"The Last Command" (1963)
"Playback" (1963)
"The Secret" (a.k.a. "The Secret of the Men in the Moon") (1963)
"The Light of Darkness" (1964)
"The Wind from the Sun" (a.k.a. "Sunjammer") (1964)
"Dial F for Frankenstein" (1965)
"The Longest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told" (a.k.a. "A Recursion in Metastories") (1966)
"The Cruel Sky" (1966)
"Crusade" (1966)
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"Herbert George Morley Roberts Wells, Esq." (1967)
"Neutron Tide" (1970)
"Transit of Earth" (1971)
"A Meeting with Medusa" (Nebula Award for best novella) (1971)
"Reunion" (1971)
"When the Twerms Came" (1972)
"Quarantine" (1977)
"siseneG" (1984)
"On Golden Seas" (1986)
"The Steam-Powered Word Processor" (1986)
"The Hammer of God" (1992)
"The Wire Continuum" (with Stephen Baxter) (1997)
"Improving the Neighbourhood" (1999)
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Omnibus editions
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Across the Sea of Stars (1959) (including Childhood's End, Earthlight and 18 short stories. Introduction by Clifton Fadiman.)
From the Ocean, From the Stars (1962) (including The City and the Stars, The Deep Range and The Other Side of the Sky)
An Arthur C. Clarke Omnibus (1965) (including Childhood's End, Prelude to Space and Expedition to Earth)
Prelude to Mars (1965) (including Prelude to Space, The Sands of Mars and 16 short stories)
The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night (1968)
An Arthur C. Clarke Second Omnibus (1968) (including A Fall of Moondust, Earthlight and The Sands of Mars)
Four Great SF Novels (1978) (including The City and the Stars, The Deep Range, A Fall of Moondust, Rendezvous with Rama)
2001: A Space Odyssey, The City and the Stars, The Deep Range, A Fall of Moondust, Rendezvous with Rama (1985)
A Meeting with Medusa and Green Mars (the 1985 novella not the 1993 novel) by Kim Stanley Robinson (1988)
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The Space Trilogy (2001) (including Islands In The Sky, The Sands of Mars and Earthlight)
The City and the Stars and The Sands of Mars (2001)
The Ghost from the Grand Banks and The Deep Range (2001)
3001 The Final Odyssey, The Songs of Distant Earth (2004)
Clarke's Universe (2005) (including A Fall of Moondust, The Lion of Comarre and Jupiter V)
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Non-fiction
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Books
Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics. London: Temple Press, 1950
The Exploration of Space. London: Temple Press, 1951. Updated/revised 1959 and 1979 (with a new introduction).
The Exploration of the Moon, Illustrated by R.A. Smith. 1954
The Young Traveller in Space. London: Phoenix House, 1954. Variously titled Going Into Space. New York: Harper and Row, 1954, The Scottie Book of Space Travel. London: Transworld Publishers, 1957
The Coast of Coral. Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. Frederick Muller, 1956 — Volume 1 of the Blue Planet Trilogy
The Reefs of Taprobane; Underwater Adventures around Ceylon, Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. New York: Harper, 1957 — Volume 2 of the Blue Planet Trilogy
The Making of a Moon: The Story of the Earth Satellite Program. New York: Harper, 1957
Boy Beneath the Sea, Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. New York: Harper, 1958
Voice Across the Sea. HarperCollins, 1958
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The Challenge of the Space Ship: Previews of Tomorrow’s World. New York: Harper, 1959
The Challenge of the Sea. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960
The First Five Fathoms, Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. New York: Harper, 1960
Indian Ocean Adventure, Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. New York: Harper, 1961
Profiles of the Future; an Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible. London: Gollancz, 1962. Updated editions of this book were printed in 1973, 1984 and in 1999 as the "Millennium Edition".
Man and Space. 1964. Created with the editors of Life.
Indian Ocean Treasure, Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. New York: Harper, 1964
The Treasure of the Great Reef, Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. New York: Harper & Row, 1964 — Volume 3 of the Blue Planet Trilogy
Voices from the Sky: Previews of the Coming Space Age. New York: Harper & Row, 1965
The Promise of Space. New York: Harper, 1968
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Into Space: a Young Person’s Guide to Space, by Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Silverberg. New York: Harper & Row, 1971
Beyond Jupiter: The Worlds of Tomorrow, by Arthur C. Clarke (text) and Chesley Bonestell (paintings). Little & Brown, 1972
Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations. New York: Harper & Row, 1972
The Lost Worlds of 2001. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1972
The View from Serendip. Random House, 1977
The Odyssey File. Email correspondence with Peter Hyams. London: Panther Books, 1984
1984, Spring: a Choice of Futures. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984
Ascent to Orbit, a Scientific Autobiography: The Technical Writings of Arthur C. Clarke. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1984
20 July 2019: Life in the 21st Century. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986
Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography. London: Gollancz, 1989
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How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village (a.k.a. How the World Was One: Towards the Tele-Family of Man). London : Gollanncz, 1992 — A history and survey of the communications revolution
By Space Possessed. London: Gollancz, 1993
The Snows of Olympus - A Garden on Mars London: Gollancz 1994, picture album with comments
Childhood Ends: The Earliest Writings of Arthur C. Clarke. Rochester: Portentous Press, 1996
Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! : Collected Works 1934–1988. London: Harper Collins, 1999
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Magazine Articles
Extra-Terrestrial Relays in Wireless World, October 1945.
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Contributions, Introductions, Forewords, Prefaces & Misc.
From the Earth to the Moon; Jules Verne, 1962. Wrote Introduction to the 1962 edition of this 1865 novel.
Time Probe: The Sciences in Science Fiction; 1966. Wrote Introduction and one story, collected the other ten stories.
The Coming of the Space Age; Famous Accounts of Man's Probing of the Universe; 1967. Selected and edited by Arthur C. Clarke.
The Beginnings of Satellite Communication; J.R. Pierce, 1968. Wrote Preface.
Three for Tomorrow; Robert Silverberg, Roger Zelazny and James Blish, 1969. Wrote Foreword.
First on the Moon; Neil Armstrong with Gene Farmer and Dora Jane Hamblin, 1970. Wrote Epilogue.
The Panic Broadcast; Howard Koch, 1970. Introductory interview with Arthur C. Clarke.
The Challenge of the Stars (a.k.a. The New Challenge of the Stars); 1972. Wrote Foreword.
The World in Focus; William MacQuitty, 1974. Wrote Foreword.
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The Complete Venus Equilateral; George O. Smith, 1976. Wrote Introduction.
The Telephone's First Century—and Beyond: Essays on the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of Telephone Communication; 1974. Wrote Essay.
The World in Color Photography; 1979. Wrote Foreword.
Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World; Simon Welfare and John Fairly, 1980. Wrote chapter introductions.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology; 1981. Wrote Foreword.
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume Three: The Nebula Winners 1965–1969; 1982. Editor along with George Proctor.
Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers; Simon Welfare and John Fairly, 1984. Wrote chapter introductions.
Sightseeing: A Space Panorama; Barbara Hitchcock, 1985. Wrote Foreword.
Arthur C. Clarke's Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious; Simon Welfare and John Fairly, 1987. Wrote chapter introductions.
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Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime Vol. 1: Breaking Strain; Paul Preuss, 1987. Wrote Afterword; novel is based on Clarke's short story Breaking Strain.
Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime Vol. 2: Maelstrom;Paul Preuss, 1988. Wrote Afterword; novel is based on Clarke's short story Maelstrom II.
Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime Vol. 3: Hide and Seek; Paul Preuss, 1989. Wrote Afterword; novel is based on Clarke's short story Hide-and-Seek.
Visions of Space; 1989. Wrote Foreword.
Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime Vol. 4: The Medusa Encounter; Paul Preuss, 1990. Wrote Afterword; novel is based on Clarke's short story A Meeting with Medusa.
Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime Vol. 5: The Diamond Moon; Paul Preuss, 1990. Wrote Afterword; novel is based on Clarke's short story Jupiter Five.
Project Solar Sail; 1990. Editor.
Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime Vol. 6: The Shining Ones; Paul Preuss, 1991. Wrote Afterword; novel is based on Clarke's short story The Shining Ones.
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Blueprint for Space: Science Fiction to Science Fact; Frederick I. Ordway III (editor), 1991. Wrote Epilogue.
Sri Lanka; Tom Tidball, 1991. Wrote Foreword.
Space Commerce; John L. McLucas, 1991. Wrote Foreword.
The Profession of Science Fiction: SF Writers on Their Craft and Ideas; Maxim Jakubowski (editor), 1992. Wrote Foreword.
Technology 2001: The Future of Computing and Communications; Derek Leebaert (editor), 1992. Wrote Foreword.
Arthur C. Clarke's A – Z of Mysteries; Simon Welfare and John Fairly, 1993. Wrote foreword.
The Anti-Gravity Handbook (New and Expanded Edition); D. Hatcher Childress (compiler), 1993. Wrote Chapter 1, titled "Arthur C. Clarke on Anti-Gravity".
The Dream Machines: An Illustrated History of the Spaceship in Art, Science and Literature; Ron Miller and Rick Dunning, 1993. Wrote Foreword.
The First Men in the Moon; H.G. Wells, 1993. Wrote Introduction to the 1993 edition of this 1901 novel.
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Unearthing Atlantis: An Archaeological Odyssey to the Fabled Lost Civilization; Charles R. Pellegrino, 1993. Wrote Foreword.
Seize the Moment: The Autobiography of Britain's First Astronaut; Helen Sharman, 1993. Wrote Introduction.
The War of the Worlds; H.G. Wells, 1993. Wrote Introduction to the 1993 edition of this 1898 novel.
Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation; Yvonne Fern, 1994. Wrote Foreword.
The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps; Marshall T. Savage, 1994. Wrote Introduction.
Only Visiting This Planet: The Art of Danny Flynn; Nigel Suckling, 1994. Wrote Introduction.
The Ultimate Egoist; Theodore Sturgeon, 1994. Wrote Foreword.
2001: Filming the Future; Piers Bizony, 1995. Wrote Foreword.
Aliya: Stories of the Elephants of Sri Lanka; Teresa Cannon and Peter Davis, 1995. Wrote Foreword.
Bright Messengers; Gentry Lee, 1995. Wrote Introduction to this novel set in the Rama universe.
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An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural (a.k.a. The Supernatural A-Z: The Truth and the Lies); James Randi, 1995, St. Martin's Press (Online Version). Wrote Introduction.
Frontline of Discovery: Science on the Brink of Tomorrow; National Geographic Society, 1995. Wrote Epilogue.
Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets:The Search for the Million Megaton Menace That Threatens Life on Earth; Duncan Steel, 1995. Wrote Foreword.
The Dechronization of Sam Magruder; George Gaylord Simpson, 1996. Wrote Introduction.
Encounter with Tiber; Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes, 1996. Wrote Foreword.
Survival Kit: How to Reach Ninety and Make the Most of It; William MacQuitty, 1996. Wrote Preface.
The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must; Robert Zubrin and Richard Wagner, 1997. Wrote Foreword.
The Roving Mind: New Edition, Isaac Asimov, 1997. Wrote Tribute.
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Arthur C. Clarke & Lord Dunsany: A Correspondence. ed. Keith Allen Daniels. Palo Alto, CA, USA: Anamnesis Press, 1998. Letters reprinted.
Hal's Legacy : 2001's Computer As Dream and Reality; David G. Stork, 1998. Wrote Foreword.
Intelligent Software Agents; Richard Murch, Tony Johnson, 1998. Wrote Foreword.
Arthur C. Clarke's Mysteries; Simon Welfare and John Fairly, 1998. Wrote foreword.
Welcome to the Wired World: The New Networked Economy; Anne C. Leer, 1999. Wrote Preface.
Arthur C. Clarke's Mysteries; John Fairly and Simon Welfare, 2000. Wrote Foreword.
e-Sphere: The Rise of the World-Wide Mind; Joseph N. Pelton, 2000. Wrote Foreword.
Excess Heat: Why Cold Fusion Research Prevailed; Charles G. Beaudette, 2000. Wrote Foreword.
Sri Lanka, the Emerald Island; Tissa Devendra, 2000. Wrote Foreword.
The Art of Chesley Bonestell; Ron Miller, 2001. Wrote Foreword.
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Literary Trips 2: Following in the Footsteps of Fame; Victoria Brooks (editor), 2001. Wrote Foreword and is profiled in chapter 1.
Macroshift: Navigating the Transformation to a Sustainable World; Ervin Laszlo, 2001. Wrote Foreword.
The Search for Free Energy (a.k.a. The Scientist, the Madman, the Thief and Their Lightbulb); Keith Tutt, 2001. Wrote Foreword.
Visions of Spaceflight: Images from the Ordway Collection; Frederick I. Ordway III, 2001. Wrote Introduction, technical advisor.
The Web Between the Worlds; Charles Sheffield, 2001. Wrote Introduction to the 2001 edition of this 1979 novel.
The Worlds of Galileo; Michael E. Hanlon, 2001. Wrote Foreword.
Business 2010: Mapping the New Commercial Landscape; Ian Pearson, Michael Lyons, 2002. Wrote Foreword.
The Conquest of Space; David Lasser, 2002. Wrote Introduction to the 2002 edition of this 1931 work of non-fiction.
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Creating Space: The Story of the Space Age through the Models; Mat Irvine, 2002. Wrote Introduction.
Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001: A Space Odyssey; Dan Richter, 2002. Wrote Foreword.
From Narnia to A Space Odyssey: The War of Ideas Between Arthur C. Clarke and C. S. Lewis. Edited with an Introduction by Ryder W. Miller. Ibooks (distr. by Simon & Schuster), 2003. Letters, essays and short stories reprinted. Republished in 2005 with new sub-title "Stories, letters, and commentary by and about C. S. Lewis and Arthur C. Clarke".
To the Edge of Doom; Tyronne Fernando, 2003. Wrote Introduction.
The Colours of Infinity: The Beauty, The Power and the Sense of Fractals; Clear Books, 2004. Contributor. Reprinted in 2010 as The Colours of Infinity: The Beauty and Power of Fractals
Are We Alone?: The Stanley Kubrick Extraterrestrial Intelligence Interviews; Anthony Frewin (editor), 2005. Wrote Preface.
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Freedom on the March: An American Voyage to Explore Globalization; Patrick Mendis, 2005. Wrote Introduction.
'S' Is for Space; Ray Bradbury, 2005. Wrote Introduction.
Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits; Dr. Gary Westfahl (editor), 2005. Wrote Foreword.
Beautiful Living: Buddha's Way to Prosperity, Wisdom, and Inner Peace (a.k.a. The Buddha's Teachings on Prosperity: At Home, At Work, In the World); Bhikkhu Rahula, 2006. Wrote Foreword.
Jules Verne: The Definitive Biography; William Butcher, 2006. Wrote Introduction.
The World of Jules Verne; Gonzague Saint Bris, 2006. Wrote Preface.
The Rise of Animals: Evolution and Diversification of the Kingdom Animalia; Mikhail A. Fedonkin, James G. Gehling, Kathleen Grey, Guy M. Narbonne and Patricia Vickers-Rich, 2008. Wrote Foreword.
SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History; Dan Linehan, 2008. Wrote Foreword.
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From the Pen of Paul: The Fantastic Images of Frank R. Paul; Stephen D. Korshak (editor), 2009. Wrote Preface.
The Story of Astronomy; Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest, 2012. Wrote Foreword.
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References
Clarke, Arthur C.
Clarke, Arthur C.
Clarke, Arthur C.
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William Alexander Paterson (born 23 February 1948) known professionally as Bill Alexander is a British theatre director who is best known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and as artistic director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He currently works as a freelance, internationally as a theatre director and most recently as a director of BBC Radio 4 drama.
Early years
William Alexander Paterson was born in Hunstanton, Norfolk, England, on 23 February 1948 to William and Rosemary Paterson (née McCormack). He was a boarder at St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate, Kent before going on to Keele University (1969–1973) where he studied English and founded an experimental theatre group called Guerilla Theatre based on the principles of the Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski.
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Early career
In 1974, Alexander began his career as a Trainee Director at the Bristol Old Vic. His productions included Butley by Simon Gray, How the Other Half Loves by Alan Ayckbourn, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Blythe Spirit by Noël Coward. In 1975 he joined the Royal Court Theatre as an assistant director. His production of Class Enemy by Nigel Williams won the Binkie Beaumont Award for Best New Director.
At the Royal Shakespeare Company
Alexander joined the RSC in 1977 as assistant to Trevor Nunn and John Barton. Initially, he worked in the RSC's two studio theatres: The Warehouse in London (primarily devoted to new plays) and The Other Place in Stratford (dedicated to a mixture of new plays and the re-discovery of classics by performing them on a small scale). He also worked at The Pit studio space which replaced The Warehouse when the RSC moved to the Barbican.
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In 14 years at the RSC, Alexander's studio productions included Factory Birds by James Robson (Warehouse), Captain Swing by Peter Whelan (TOP), Tartuffe by Molière (PIT), Volpone by Ben Jonson (TOP and PIT), The Accrington Pals by Peter Whelan (Warehouse), Cymbeline by William Shakespeare (TOP and PIT) with Harriet Walter as Imogen.
Alexander's first production on the RSC main stage was Richard III (with Antony Sher as Richard) in 1984. This production, for which Anthony Sher won the Olivier Award for Best Actor later transferred to the Barbican.
In 1980 he directed Harold Pinter's Betrayal at the Cameri Theatre, Tel Aviv.
In 1986, Alexander's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor won him the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director. In 2014, Michael Billington, the Guardian's theatre critic chose this production as one of his 'Best'.
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Alexander's other productions for the RSC included A Midsummer Nights Dream (1986) with Sean Bean as Robin Starveling, Twelfth Night with Harriet Walter as Viola, and Deborah Findlay as Olivia 1987/88,The Merchant of Venice with Antony Sher as Shylock in 1987, Cymbeline with David Bradley and Harriet Walter in 1998, Much Ado About Nothing in 1991, The Taming of the Shrew in 1992, and Titus Andronicus in 2003. About the latter Alexander said,"I've also discovered what I like about Titus: it's the best play about revenge that I can think of. Revenge is such a difficult idea to deal with. Everyone knows it's "a bad thing", yet everyone understands the phrase "revenge is sweet". Titus shows revenge's seductiveness, the impulse in us all that the law is there to control. It is a work of lurid genius because it reminds us of the fundamental truths about the role of law in a just society."
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Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Alexander left the RSC to become Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1992. His productions there included:
1993 Othello
1993 The Snowman adapted from the book by Raymond Briggs
1993 The Merchant of Venice
1993 Old Times by Harold Pinter
1994 The Tempest
1995 Macbeth with James Purefoy
1995 The Servant by Robin Maugham
1995 The Way of the World by William Congreve
1996 The Alchemist (later transferred to the National Theatre)
1996Divine Right by Peter Whelan
1998 Hamlet
1998 Frozen by Bryony Lavery (later transferred to the National Theatre)
1999 Nativity by Peter Whelan
2000 Twelfth Night
2000 Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn
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