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The Ultimate Melody

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"The Ultimate Melody"
Short story by Arthur C. Clarke
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published in If
Publication typeMagazine
PublisherQuinn Publications
Publication dateFebruary 1957
Chronology
SeriesTales from the White Hart
 
Critical Mass
 
The Pacifist

"The Ultimate Melody" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1957. The story describes the work of a physiologist who attempts to discover the connections between music and the rhythms of the electrical pulses in the brain. He believed that all "hit-tunes" were merely poor reflections of an "ultimate" melody, and he built a machine to search for this tune. By the end of the story, he succeeds, but the influence of the melody is so powerful that he becomes completely catatonic.

The piece was later published as the sixth story in Clarke's collection Tales from the White Hart.[1]

References

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  1. ^ Clarke, Arthur C. (1957). Tales from the White Hart. London: Ballantine Books. p. Forward.
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