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The author analyzes the theme of the first contact in Arthur Clarke’s fictional world. The most important characteristic of this theme is the existence of two generically different kinds of protagonists: human and non-human, and the most important question is whether a non-human entity which is not anthropomorphic to a lesser or greater extent is at all imaginable. This question arises within the framework of two different anthropomorphic perspectives which may appear in fiction. One of them is the perspective of human characters, and the other one is the author’s perspective, or that of the omniscient narrator. By examining four of Clarke’s best works with the first contact motif – the short stories “Report on Planet Three”, “Crusade” and “History Lesson”, and the novella “A Meeting with Medusa” – we can notice three different types of anthropomorphism: anthropocentrism, anthropochauvinism and anthropomorphism in a narrow sense. The author concludes that in the story “A Meeting with Medusa” Clarke came as close as possible in a work of fiction to the construction of a non-human character unburdened with anthropomorphic characteristics.

The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works of Arthur Clarke