Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein | |
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Born | Robert Anson Heinlein July 7, 1907 Butler, Missouri, U.S. |
Died | May 8, 1988 Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, U.S. | (aged 80)
Pen name |
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Occupation |
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Alma mater | |
Period | 1939–1988 |
Genre | Science fiction, fantasy |
Notable works | |
Spouse | Elinor Curry
(m. 1929; div. 1930)Leslyn MacDonald
(m. 1932; div. 1947) |
Signature | |
Robert Anson Heinlein (
Heinlein became one of the first American science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as
Heinlein used his science fiction as a way to explore provocative social and political ideas and to speculate how progress in science and engineering might shape the future of politics, race, religion, and sex.[12] Within the framework of his science-fiction stories, Heinlein repeatedly addressed certain social themes: the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships, the obligation individuals owe to their societies, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought. He also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices.
Heinlein was named the first
Life
Birth, childhood, and early education
Heinlein, born on July 7, 1907, to Rex Ivar Heinlein (an accountant) and Bam Lyle Heinlein, in
He spent his childhood in Kansas City, Missouri.[18] The outlook and values of this time and place (in his own words, "The Bible Belt") had an influence on his fiction, especially in his later works, as he drew heavily upon his childhood in establishing the setting and cultural atmosphere in works like Time Enough for Love and To Sail Beyond the Sunset.[citation needed] The 1910 appearance of Halley's Comet inspired the young child's life-long interest in astronomy.[19]
In January 1924, the sixteen year old Heinlein lied about his age to enlist in Company C,
Heinlein's experience in the
Marriages
In 1929, Heinlein married Elinor Curry of Kansas City.[24] However, their marriage lasted only about one year.[3] His second marriage, to Leslyn MacDonald (1904–1981) in 1932, lasted 15 years. MacDonald was, according to the testimony of Heinlein's Navy friend, Rear Admiral Cal Laning, "astonishingly intelligent, widely read, and extremely liberal, though a registered Republican",[25] while Isaac Asimov later recalled that Heinlein was, at the time, "a flaming liberal".[26] (See section: Politics of Robert Heinlein.)
At the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Heinlein met and befriended a chemical engineer named
Ginny undoubtedly served as a model for many of his intelligent, fiercely independent female characters.[32][33] She was a chemist and rocket test engineer, and held a higher rank in the Navy than Heinlein himself. She was also an accomplished college athlete, earning four letters.[1] In 1953–1954, the Heinleins voyaged around the world (mostly via ocean liners and cargo liners, as Ginny detested flying), which Heinlein described in Tramp Royale, and which also provided background material for science fiction novels set aboard spaceships on long voyages, such as Podkayne of Mars, Friday and Job: A Comedy of Justice, the latter initially being set on a cruise much as detailed in Tramp Royale. Ginny acted as the first reader of his manuscripts. Isaac Asimov believed that Heinlein made a swing to the right politically at the same time he married Ginny.
California
In 1934, Heinlein was discharged from the Navy, owing to
After his discharge, Heinlein attended a few weeks of graduate classes in mathematics and physics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), but he soon quit, either because of his ill-health or because of a desire to enter politics.[35]
Heinlein supported himself at several occupations, including real estate sales and silver mining, but for some years found money in short supply. Heinlein was active in
Author
While not destitute after the campaign—he had a small disability pension from the Navy—Heinlein turned to writing to pay off his mortgage. His first published story, "
As the war wound down in 1945, Heinlein began to re-evaluate his career. The
Heinlein used topical materials throughout his juvenile series beginning in 1947, but in 1958 he interrupted work on The Heretic (the working title of Stranger in a Strange Land) to write and publish a book exploring ideas of civic virtue, initially serialized as Starship Soldiers. In 1959, his novel (now entitled Starship Troopers) was considered by the editors and owners of Scribner's to be too controversial for one of its prestige lines, and it was rejected.[43] Heinlein found another publisher (Putnam), feeling himself released from the constraints of writing novels for children. He had told an interviewer that he did not want to do stories that merely added to categories defined by other works. Rather he wanted to do his own work, stating that: "I want to do my own stuff, my own way".[44] He would go on to write a series of challenging books that redrew the boundaries of science fiction, including Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966).
Later life and death
Beginning in 1970, Heinlein had a series of health crises, broken by strenuous periods of activity in his hobby of stonemasonry: in a private correspondence, he referred to that as his "usual and favorite occupation between books".[45] The decade began with a life-threatening attack of peritonitis, recovery from which required more than two years, and treatment of which required multiple transfusions of Heinlein's rare blood type, A2 negative.[citation needed] As soon as he was well enough to write again, he began work on Time Enough for Love (1973), which introduced many of the themes found in his later fiction.
In the mid-1970s, Heinlein wrote two articles for the
Beginning in 1977, and including an episode while vacationing in Tahiti in early 1978, he had episodes of reversible neurologic dysfunction due to transient ischemic attacks.[47] Over the next few months, he became more and more exhausted, and his health again began to decline. The problem was determined to be a blocked carotid artery, and he had one of the earliest known carotid bypass operations to correct it.
In 1980, Robert Heinlein was a member of the Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy, chaired by
Heinlein's surgical treatment re-energized him, and he wrote five novels from 1980 until he died in his sleep from emphysema and heart failure on May 8, 1988.
In 1995, Spider Robinson wrote the novel Variable Star based on an outline and notes created by Heinlein.[48] Heinlein's posthumously published nonfiction includes a selection of correspondence and notes edited into a somewhat autobiographical examination of his career, published in 1989 under the title Grumbles from the Grave by his wife, Virginia; his book on practical politics written in 1946 and published as Take Back Your Government in 1992; and a travelogue of their first around-the-world tour in 1954, Tramp Royale. The novel Podkayne of Mars, which had been edited against Heinlein's wishes in their original release, was reissued with the original ending. Stranger In a Strange Land was originally published in a shorter form, but both the long and short versions are now simultaneously available in print.
Heinlein's archive is housed by the Special Collections department of
Written works
Heinlein published 32 novels, 59 short stories, and 16 collections during his life. Nine films, two television series, several episodes of a radio series, and a board game have been derived more or less directly from his work. He wrote a screenplay for one of the films. Heinlein edited an anthology of other writers' SF short stories.
Three nonfiction books and two poems have been published posthumously. For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs was published posthumously in 2003;[50] Variable Star, written by Spider Robinson based on an extensive outline by Heinlein, was published in September 2006. Four collections have been published posthumously.[38]
Series
Over the course of his career, Heinlein wrote three somewhat overlapping series:
Early work, 1939–1958
Heinlein began his career as a writer of stories for Astounding Science Fiction magazine, which was edited by John Campbell. The science fiction writer Frederik Pohl has described Heinlein as "that greatest of Campbell-era sf writers".[51] Isaac Asimov said that, from the time of his first story, the science fiction world accepted that Heinlein was the best science fiction writer in existence, adding that he would hold this title through his lifetime.[52]
Alexei and Cory Panshin noted that Heinlein's impact was immediately felt. In 1940, the year after selling 'Life-Line' to Campbell, he wrote three short novels, four novelettes, and seven short stories. They went on to say that "No one ever dominated the science fiction field as Bob did in the first few years of his career."[53] Alexei expresses awe in Heinlein's ability to show readers a world so drastically different from the one we live in now, yet have so many similarities. He says that "We find ourselves not only in a world other than our own, but identifying with a living, breathing individual who is operating within its context, and thinking and acting according to its terms."[54]
The first novel that Heinlein wrote,
I'm not about to suggest that if Heinlein had been able to publish [such works] openly in the pages of Astounding in 1939, SF would have gotten the future right; I would suggest, however, that if Heinlein, and his colleagues, had been able to publish adult SF in Astounding and its fellow journals, then SF might not have done such a grotesquely poor job of prefiguring something of the flavor of actually living here at the onset of 2004.[55]
For Us, the Living was intriguing as a window into the development of Heinlein's radical ideas about man as a
It appears that Heinlein at least attempted to live in a manner consistent with these ideals, even in the 1930s, and had an
After For Us, the Living, Heinlein began selling (to magazines) first short stories, then novels, set in a
Heinlein's first novel published as a book,
The novels that Heinlein wrote for a young audience are commonly called "the Heinlein juveniles", and they feature a mixture of adolescent and adult themes. Many of the issues that he takes on in these books have to do with the kinds of problems that adolescents experience. His protagonists are usually intelligent teenagers who have to make their way in the adult society they see around them. On the surface, they are simple tales of adventure, achievement, and dealing with stupid teachers and jealous peers. Heinlein was a vocal proponent of the notion that juvenile readers were far more sophisticated and able to handle more complex or difficult themes than most people realized. His juvenile stories often had a maturity to them that made them readable for adults. Red Planet, for example, portrays some subversive themes, including a revolution in which young students are involved; his editor demanded substantial changes in this book's discussion of topics such as the use of weapons by children and the misidentified sex of the Martian character. Heinlein was always aware of the editorial limitations put in place by the editors of his novels and stories, and while he observed those restrictions on the surface, was often successful in introducing ideas not often seen in other authors' juvenile SF.
In 1957, James Blish wrote that one reason for Heinlein's success "has been the high grade of machinery which goes, today as always, into his story-telling. Heinlein seems to have known from the beginning, as if instinctively, technical lessons about fiction which other writers must learn the hard way (or often enough, never learn). He does not always operate the machinery to the best advantage, but he always seems to be aware of it."[62]
1959–1960
Heinlein decisively ended his juvenile novels with Starship Troopers (1959), a controversial work and his personal riposte to leftists calling for President Dwight D. Eisenhower to stop nuclear testing in 1958. "The 'Patrick Henry' ad shocked 'em", he wrote many years later of the campaign. "Starship Troopers outraged 'em."[63] Starship Troopers is a coming-of-age story about duty, citizenship, and the role of the military in society.[64] The book portrays a society in which suffrage is earned by demonstrated willingness to place society's interests before one's own, at least for a short time and often under onerous circumstances, in government service; in the case of the protagonist, this was military service.
Later, in
Middle period work, 1961–1973
From about 1961 (
Heinlein did not publish Stranger in a Strange Land until some time after it was written, and the themes of free love and radical individualism are prominently featured in his long-unpublished first novel, For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress tells of a war of independence waged by the Lunar penal colonies, with significant comments from a major character, Professor La Paz, regarding the threat posed by government to individual freedom.
Although Heinlein had previously written a few short stories in the
Later work, 1980–1987
After a seven-year hiatus brought on by poor health, Heinlein produced five new novels in the period from 1980 (The Number of the Beast) to 1987 (To Sail Beyond the Sunset). These books have a thread of common characters and time and place. They most explicitly communicated Heinlein's philosophies and beliefs, and many long, didactic passages of dialog and exposition deal with government, sex, and religion. These novels are controversial among his readers and one critic, David Langford, has written about them very negatively.[69] Heinlein's four Hugo awards were all for books written before this period.
Most of the novels from this period are recognized by critics as forming an offshoot from the Future History series and are referred to by the term World as Myth.[70]
The tendency toward authorial self-reference begun in Stranger in a Strange Land and Time Enough for Love becomes even more evident in novels such as The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, whose first-person protagonist is a disabled military veteran who becomes a writer, and finds love with a female character.[71]
The 1982 novel Friday, a more conventional adventure story (borrowing a character and backstory from the earlier short story Gulf, also containing suggestions of connection to The Puppet Masters) continued a Heinlein theme of expecting what he saw as the continued disintegration of Earth's society, to the point where the title character is strongly encouraged to seek a new life off-planet. It concludes with a traditional Heinlein note, as in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress or Time Enough for Love, that freedom is to be found on the frontiers.
The 1984 novel Job: A Comedy of Justice is a sharp satire of organized religion. Heinlein himself was agnostic.[72][73]
Posthumous publications
Several Heinlein works have been published since his death, including the aforementioned
Spider Robinson, a colleague, friend, and admirer of Heinlein,[74] wrote Variable Star, based on an outline and notes for a novel that Heinlein prepared in 1955. The novel was published as a collaboration, with Heinlein's name above Robinson's on the cover, in 2006.
A complete collection of Heinlein's published work has been published[75] by the Heinlein Prize Trust as the "Virginia Edition", after his wife. See the Complete Works section of Robert A. Heinlein bibliography for details.
On February 1, 2019, Phoenix Pick announced that through a collaboration with the Heinlein Prize Trust, a reconstruction of the full text of an unpublished Heinlein novel had been produced. It was published in March 2020. The reconstructed novel, entitled The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel about Parallel Universes,[76] is an alternative version of The Number of the Beast, with the first one-third of The Pursuit of the Pankera mostly the same as the first one-third of The Number of the Beast but the remainder of The Pursuit of the Pankera deviating entirely from The Number of the Beast, with a completely different story-line. The newly reconstructed novel pays homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs and E. E. "Doc" Smith. It was edited by Patrick Lobrutto. Some reviewers describe the newly reconstructed novel as more in line with the style of a traditional Heinlein novel than was The Number of the Beast.[77] The Pursuit of the Pankera was considered superior to the original version of The Number of the Beast by some reviewers.[78] Both The Pursuit of the Pankera and a new edition of The Number of the Beast[79] were published in March 2020. The new edition of the latter shares the subtitle of The Pursuit of the Pankera, hence entitled The Number of the Beast: A Parallel Novel about Parallel Universes.[80][81]
Movies
Heinlein contributed to the final draft of the script for Destination Moon (1950) and served as a technical adviser for the film.[82] Heinlein also shared screenwriting credit for Project Moonbase (1953).
Influences
The primary influence on Heinlein's writing style may have been Rudyard Kipling. Kipling is the first known modern example of "indirect exposition", a writing technique for which Heinlein later became famous.[83] In his famous text on "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction", Heinlein quotes Kipling:
There are nine-and-sixty ways
Of constructing tribal lays
And every single one of them is right
Stranger in a Strange Land originated as a modernized version of Kipling's The Jungle Book. His wife suggested that the child be raised by Martians instead of wolves. Likewise, Citizen of the Galaxy can be seen as a reboot of Kipling's novel Kim.[84]
The Starship Troopers idea of needing to serve in the military in order to vote can be found in Kipling's "The Army of a Dream":
But as a little detail we never mention, if we don't volunteer in some corps or other—as combatants if we're fit, as non-combatants if we ain't—till we're thirty-five—we don't vote, and we don't get poor-relief, and the women don't love us.
Poul Anderson once said of Kipling's science fiction story "As Easy as A.B.C.", "a wonderful science fiction yarn, showing the same eye for detail that would later distinguish the work of Robert Heinlein".
Heinlein described himself as also being influenced by
Views
Heinlein's books probe a range of ideas about a range of topics such as sex, race, politics, and the military. Many were seen as radical or as ahead of their time in their social criticism. His books have inspired considerable debate about the specifics, and the evolution, of Heinlein's own opinions, and have earned him both lavish praise and a degree of criticism. He has also been accused of contradicting himself on various philosophical questions.[87]
The critic Elizabeth Anne Hull, for her part, has praised Heinlein for his interest in exploring fundamental life questions, especially questions about "political power—our responsibilities to one another" and about "personal freedom, particularly sexual freedom".[89]
Edward R. Murrow hosted a series on CBS Radio called This I Believe, which solicited an entry from Heinlein in 1952. Titled "Our Noble, Essential Decency". In it, Heinlein broke with the normal trends, stating that he believed in his neighbors (some of whom he named and described), community, and towns across America that share the same sense of good will and intentions as his own, going on to apply this same philosophy to the US, and humanity in general.
I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime. Yet for every criminal, there are ten thousand honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but it is a force stronger than crime.
Politics
Heinlein's political positions shifted throughout his life. Heinlein's early political leanings were
Of this time in his life, Heinlein later said:
At the time I wrote Methuselah's Children I was still politically quite naïve and still had hopes that various libertarian notions could be put over by political processes… It [now] seems to me that every time we manage to establish one freedom, they take another one away. Maybe two. And that seems to me characteristic of a society as it gets older, and more crowded, and higher taxes, and more laws.[85]
Heinlein's fiction of the 1940s and 1950s, however, began to espouse conservative views. After 1945, he came to believe that a strong world government was the only way to avoid mutual nuclear annihilation.[citation needed] His 1949 novel Space Cadet describes a future scenario where a military-controlled global government enforces world peace. Heinlein ceased considering himself a Democrat in 1954.[90]
The Heinleins formed the
When Robert A. Heinlein opened his
Colorado Springs newspaper on April 5, 1958, he read a full-page ad demanding that the Eisenhower Administration stop testing nuclear weapons. The science fiction author was flabbergasted. He called for the formation of the Patrick Henry League and spent the next several weeks writing and publishing his own polemic that lambasted "Communist-line goals concealed in idealistic-sounding nonsense" and urged Americans not to become "soft-headed".[63]
Heinlein's response ad was entitled "Who Are the Heirs of Patrick Henry?". It started with the famous Henry quotation: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!!". It then went on to admit that there was some risk to nuclear testing (albeit less than the "willfully distorted" claims of the test ban advocates), and risk of nuclear war, but that "The alternative is surrender. We accept the risks." Heinlein was among those who in 1968 signed a pro–Vietnam War ad in Galaxy Science Fiction.[92]
Heinlein always considered himself a libertarian; in a letter to Judith Merril in 1967 (never sent) he said, "As for libertarian, I've been one all my life, a radical one. You might use the term '
Stranger in a Strange Land was embraced by the 1960s counterculture, and libertarians have found inspiration in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Both groups found resonance with his themes of personal freedom in both thought and action.[66]
Race
Heinlein grew up in the era of
In a number of his stories, Heinlein challenges his readers' possible racial preconceptions by introducing a strong, sympathetic character, only to reveal much later that he or she is of African or other ancestry. In several cases, the covers of the books show characters as being light-skinned when the text states or at least implies that they are dark-skinned or of African ancestry.[100] Heinlein repeatedly denounced racism in his nonfiction works, including numerous examples in Expanded Universe.
Heinlein reveals in
Race was a central theme in some of Heinlein's fiction. The most prominent example is
Heinlein summed up his attitude toward people of any race in his essay "Our Noble, Essential Decency" thus:
And finally, I believe in my whole race—yellow, white, black, red, brown—in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being.
Individualism and self-determination
In keeping with his belief in
Heinlein claimed to have written Starship Troopers in response to "calls for the unilateral ending of nuclear testing by the United States".[106] Heinlein suggests in the book that the Bugs are a good example of Communism being something that humans cannot successfully adhere to, since humans are strongly defined individuals, whereas the Bugs, being a collective, can all contribute to the whole without consideration of individual desire.[107]
The Competent Man
A common theme in Heinlein's writing is his frequent use of the "competent man", a stock character who exhibits a very wide range of abilities and knowledge, making him a form of polymath. This trope was notably common in 1950s U.S. science fiction. [108] While Heinlein was not the first to use such a character type, the heroes and heroines of his fiction (with Jubal Harshaw being a prime example) generally have a wide range of abilities, and one of Heinlein's characters, Lazarus Long, gives a wide summary of requirements:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Predecessors of Heinlein's competent heroes include the protagonists of George Bernard Shaw, like Henry Higgins in Pygmalion and Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra, as well as the citizen soldiers in Rudyard Kipling's "The Army of a Dream".
Sexual issues
For Heinlein, personal liberation included
By his middle period, sexual freedom and the elimination of sexual jealousy became a major theme; for instance, in
According to Gary Westfahl,
Heinlein is a problematic case for feminists; on the one hand, his works often feature strong female characters and vigorous statements that women are equal to or even superior to men; but these characters and statements often reflect hopelessly stereotypical attitudes about typical female attributes. It is disconcerting, for example, that in Expanded Universe Heinlein calls for a society where all lawyers and politicians are women, essentially on the grounds that they possess a mysterious feminine practicality that men cannot duplicate.[113]
In books written as early as 1956, Heinlein dealt with incest and the sexual nature of children. Many of his books including Time for the Stars, Glory Road, Time Enough for Love, and The Number of the Beast dealt explicitly or implicitly with incest, sexual feelings and relations between adults, children, or both.[114] The treatment of these themes include the romantic relationship and eventual marriage of two characters in The Door into Summer who met when one was a 30-year-old engineer and the other was an 11-year-old girl, and who eventually married when time-travel rendered the girl an adult while the engineer aged minimally, or the more overt intra-familial incest in To Sail Beyond the Sunset and Farnham's Freehold. Heinlein often posed situations where the nominal purpose of sexual taboos was irrelevant to a particular situation, due to future advances in technology. For example, in Time Enough for Love Heinlein describes a brother and sister (Joe and Llita) who were mirror twins, being complementary diploids with entirely disjoint genomes, and thus not at increased risk for unfavorable gene duplication due to consanguinity. In this instance, Llita and Joe were props used to explore the concept of incest, where the usual objection to incest—heightened risk of genetic defect in their children—was not a consideration.[115] Peers such as L. Sprague de Camp and Damon Knight have commented critically on Heinlein's portrayal of incest and pedophilia in a lighthearted and even approving manner.[114] Diane Parkin-Speer suggests that Heinlein's intent seems more to provoke the reader and to question sexual norms than to promote any particular sexual agenda.[116]
Philosophy
In To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Heinlein has the main character, Maureen, state that the purpose of metaphysics is to ask questions: "Why are we here?" "Where are we going after we die?" (and so on); and that you are not allowed to answer the questions. Asking the questions is the point of metaphysics, but answering them is not, because once you answer this kind of question, you cross the line into religion. Maureen does not state a reason for this; she simply remarks that such questions are "beautiful" but lack answers. Maureen's son/lover Lazarus Long makes a related remark in Time Enough for Love. In order for us to answer the "big questions" about the universe, Lazarus states at one point, it would be necessary to stand outside the universe.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Heinlein was deeply interested in
When Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead was published, Heinlein was very favorably impressed, as quoted in "Grumbles ..." and mentioned John Galt—the hero in Rand's Atlas Shrugged—as a heroic archetype in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. He was also strongly affected by the religious philosopher P. D. Ouspensky.[18] Freudianism and psychoanalysis were at the height of their influence during the peak of Heinlein's career, and stories such as Time for the Stars indulged in psychological theorizing.
However, he was skeptical about Freudianism, especially after a struggle with an editor who insisted on reading Freudian sexual symbolism into his
Pay it forward
On that theme, the phrase "pay it forward", though it was already in occasional use as a quotation, was popularized by Robert A. Heinlein in his book Between Planets,[118] published in 1951:
The banker reached into the folds of his gown, pulled out a single credit note. "But eat first—a full belly steadies the judgment. Do me the honor of accepting this as our welcome to the newcomer."
His pride said no; his stomach said YES! Don took it and said, "Uh, thanks! That's awfully kind of you. I'll pay it back, first chance."
"Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it."
He referred to this in a number of other stories, although sometimes just saying to pay a debt back by helping others, as in one of his last works, Job, a Comedy of Justice.
Heinlein was a mentor to Ray Bradbury, giving him help and quite possibly passing on the concept, made famous by the publication of a letter from him to Heinlein thanking him.[119] In Bradbury's novel Dandelion Wine, published in 1957, when the main character Douglas Spaulding is reflecting on his life being saved by Mr. Jonas, the Junkman:
How do I thank Mr. Jonas, he wondered, for what he's done? How do I thank him, how pay him back? No way, no way at all. You just can't pay. What then? What? Pass it on somehow, he thought, pass it on to someone else. Keep the chain moving. Look around, find someone, and pass it on. That was the only way…
Bradbury has also advised that writers he has helped thank him by helping other writers.[120]
Heinlein both preached and practiced this philosophy; now the Heinlein Society, a humanitarian organization founded in his name, does so, attributing the philosophy to its various efforts, including Heinlein for Heroes, the Heinlein Society Scholarship Program, and Heinlein Society blood drives.[121] Author Spider Robinson made repeated reference to the doctrine, attributing it to his spiritual mentor Heinlein.[122]
Influence and legacy
Honorifics
Heinlein is usually identified, along with
In the 1950s he was a leader in bringing science fiction out of the low-paying and less prestigious "pulp ghetto". Most of his works, including short stories, have been continuously in print in many languages since their initial appearance and are still available as new paperbacks decades after his death.He was at the top of his form during, and himself helped to initiate, the trend toward social science fiction, which went along with a general maturing of the genre away from space opera to a more literary approach touching on such adult issues as politics and human sexuality. In reaction to this trend, hard science fiction began to be distinguished as a separate subgenre, but paradoxically Heinlein is also considered a seminal figure in hard science fiction, due to his extensive knowledge of engineering and the careful scientific research demonstrated in his stories. Heinlein himself stated—with obvious pride—that in the days before pocket calculators, he and his wife Virginia once worked for several days on a mathematical equation describing an Earth–Mars rocket orbit, which was then subsumed in a single sentence of the novel Space Cadet.
Writing style
Heinlein is often credited with bringing serious writing techniques to the genre of science fiction. For example, when writing about fictional worlds, previous authors were often limited by the reader's existing knowledge of a typical "space opera" setting, leading to a relatively low creativity level: The same starships, death rays, and horrifying rubbery aliens becoming ubiquitous.[citation needed] This was necessary unless the author was willing to go into long expositions about the setting of the story, at a time when the word count was at a premium in SF.[citation needed]
But Heinlein utilized a technique called "indirect exposition", perhaps first introduced by Rudyard Kipling in his own science fiction venture, the Aerial Board of Control stories. Kipling had picked this up during his time in India, using it to avoid bogging down his stories set in India with explanations for his English readers.[124] This technique—mentioning details in a way that lets the reader infer more about the universe than is actually spelled out[125] became a trademark rhetorical technique of both Heinlein and generation of writers influenced by him. Heinlein was significantly influenced by Kipling beyond this, for example quoting him in "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction".[126]
Likewise, Heinlein's name is often associated with the
Rules of writing
When fellow writers, or fans, wrote Heinlein asking for writing advice, he famously gave out his own list of rules for becoming a successful writer:
- You must write.
- Finish what you start.
- You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
- You must put your story on the market.
- You must keep it on the market until it has sold.
About which he said:
The above five rules really have more to do with how to write speculative fiction than anything said above them. But they are amazingly hard to follow—which is why there are so few professional writers and so many aspirants, and which is why I am not afraid to give away the racket![128]
Heinlein later published an entire article, "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction", which included his rules, and from which the above quote is taken. When he says "anything said above them", he refers to his other guidelines. For example, he describes most stories as fitting into one of a handful of basic categories:
- The gadget story
- The human interest story
- Boy meets girl
- The Little Tailor
- The man-who-learned-better
In the article, Heinlein proposes that most stories fit into either the gadget story or the human interest story, which is itself subdivided into the three latter categories. He also credits L. Ron Hubbard as having identified "The Man-Who-Learned-Better".
Influence among writers
Heinlein has had a pervasive influence on other science fiction writers. In a 1953 poll of leading science fiction authors, he was cited more frequently as an influence than any other modern writer.[129] Critic James Gifford writes that
Although many other writers have exceeded Heinlein's output, few can claim to match his broad and seminal influence. Scores of science fiction writers from the prewar Golden Age through the present day loudly and enthusiastically credit Heinlein for blazing the trails of their own careers, and shaping their styles and stories.
— Robert A. Heinlein, A Reader's Companion, p. xiii
Heinlein gave Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle extensive advice on a draft manuscript of The Mote in God's Eye.[130] He contributed a cover blurb "Possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." Writer David Gerrold, responsible for creating the tribbles in Star Trek, also credited Heinlein as the inspiration for his Dingilliad series of novels. Gregory Benford refers to his novel Jupiter Project as a Heinlein tribute. Similarly, Charles Stross says his Hugo Award-nominated novel Saturn's Children is "a space opera and late-period Robert A. Heinlein tribute",[131] referring to Heinlein's Friday.[132] The theme and plot of Kameron Hurley's novel, The Light Brigade clearly echo those of Heinlein's Starship Troopers.[133]
Words and phrases coined
Even outside the science fiction community, several words and phrases coined or adopted by Heinlein have passed into common English usage:
- Waldo, protagonist in the eponymous short story "Waldo", whose name came to mean mechanical or robot arms in the real world that are akin to the ones used by the character in the story.
- United States politics as a pejorative political epithet referring to progressives or leftists, was originally the name of a space ship in his story "Space Jockey".
- Grok, a Martian word for understanding a thing so fully as to become one with it, from Stranger in a Strange Land, whose root meaning in Martian is "to drink".
- Space marine, an existing term popularized by Heinlein in short stories, the concept then being made famous by Starship Troopers, though the term "space marine" is not used in that novel.
- Speculative fiction, a term Heinlein used for the separation of serious, consistent science fiction writing, from the pop "sci fi" of the day.
Inspiring culture and technology
In 1962,
Heinlein was influential in making space exploration seem to the public more like a practical possibility. His stories in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post took a matter-of-fact approach to their outer-space setting, rather than the "gee whiz" tone that had previously been common. The documentary-like film Destination Moon advocated a Space Race with an unspecified foreign power almost a decade before such an idea became commonplace, and was promoted by an unprecedented publicity campaign in print publications. Many of the astronauts and others working in the U.S. space program grew up on a diet of the Heinlein juveniles,[original research?] best evidenced by the naming of a crater on Mars after him, and a tribute interspersed by the Apollo 15 astronauts into their radio conversations while on the moon.[137]
Heinlein was also a guest commentator (along with fellow SF author Arthur C. Clarke) for Walter Cronkite's coverage of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.[138] He remarked to Cronkite during the landing that, "This is the greatest event in human history, up to this time. This is—today is New Year's Day of the Year One."[139]
Heinlein has inspired many transformational figures in business and technology including Lee Felsenstein, the designer of the first mass-produced portable computer,[140] Marc Andreessen,[141] co-author of the first widely-used web browser, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX.[142]
Heinlein Society
The Heinlein Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, to "pay forward" the legacy of the writer to future generations of "Heinlein's Children". The foundation has programs to:
- "Promote Heinlein blood drives."
- "Provide educational materials to educators."
- "Promote scholarly research and overall discussion of the works and ideas of Robert Anson Heinlein."
The Heinlein society also established the Robert A. Heinlein Award in 2003 "for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings to inspire the human exploration of space".[143][144]
In popular culture
Television
- In the 1967 flat cats in Heinlein's 1952 novel The Rolling Stones. Script writer David Gerrold was concerned that he had inadvertently plagiarized the novel which he had read fifteen years before.[145] These concerns were brought up by a research team, who suggested that the rights to the novel should be purchased from Heinlein. One of the producers phoned Heinlein, who only asked for a signed copy of the script and later sent a note to Gerrold after it aired to thank him for the script.[146]
Literature
- Author and Heinlein fan John Varley coined the term Heinleiner in his novels Steel Beach and The Golden Globe.[citation needed]
- In the 2001 novel The Counterfeit Heinlein by Laurence M. Janifer, Heinlein appears indirectly as the purported author of an ancient manuscript, supposedly one of his unpublished stories, "The Stone Pillow".[147][third-party source needed]
Music
- In 1971, novel of a similar name. Lyricist Jon Anderson said he got the idea of a "Starship Trooper being another guardian angel and Mother Earth".[148][149]
- In 1974, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress for his song of the same name.[150]
- Many people have collected the various parts of the Heinlein "song" "The Green Hills of Earth"—Heinlein used this trope in various stories, the characters occasionally mentioning the song and even quoting lines from it[clarification needed]—and put them to music.[151][152][153]
Honors
In his lifetime, Heinlein received four Hugo Awards, for Double Star, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and was nominated for four Nebula Awards, for The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Friday, Time Enough for Love, and Job: A Comedy of Justice.[154] He was also given seven Retro-Hugos: two for best novel: Beyond This Horizon and Farmer in the Sky; three for best novella: If This Goes On..., Waldo, and The Man Who Sold the Moon; one for best novelette: "The Roads Must Roll"; and one for best dramatic presentation: "Destination Moon".[155][156][157]
Heinlein was also nominated for six
The
There is no lunar feature named explicitly for Heinlein, but in 1994 the
The
In 2001 the United States Naval Academy created the Robert A. Heinlein Chair in Aerospace Engineering.[163]
Heinlein was the Ghost of Honor at the 2008
In 2016, after an intensive online campaign to win a vote for the opening, Heinlein was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians.[165] His bronze bust, created by Kansas City sculptor E. Spencer Schubert, is on permanent display in the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City.[166]
The Libertarian Futurist Society has honored eight of Heinlein's novels and two short stories with their
See also
- Robert A. Heinlein bibliography
- Heinlein Society
- Heinlein Centennial Convention
- List of Robert A. Heinlein characters
- "The Return of William Proxmire"
References
Citations
- ^ a b Woo, Elaine (January 26, 2003). "Virginia Heinlein, 86; Wife, Muse and Literary Guardian of Celebrated Science Fiction Writer". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2017. Also reproduced at The Heinlein Society Archived December 18, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman.
- ^ a b c d Houdek, D. A. (2003). "FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Robert A. Heinlein, the person". The Heinlein Society. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
- ^ "Say How? A Pronunciation Guide to Names of Public Figures". Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). September 21, 2006. Archived from the original on October 6, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-6205-0. Archivedfrom the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
Sometimes called the 'dean of science fiction writers,' Robert A. Heinlein was one of the leading figures of science fiction's Golden Age and one of the authors most responsible for establishing the science fiction novel as a publishing category.
- ISBN 978-1-78352-678-9.
- ^ "Robert Heinlein's softer side". The Guardian. January 12, 2009. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
- ^ "The Big Three—Asimov—Clarke—Heinlein—A Bibliography". SFandFantasy.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein are informally known as the 'Big Three'—the best known members of the group of authors who brought science fiction into a Golden Age in the middle years of the twentieth century
- ISBN 978-0-8223-2773-8.
This short discussion of Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein—the so-called Big Three, who largely dominated American (and, to a lesser extent, Anglo-American) science fiction during the 1940s, the 1950s and well into the 1960s—should serve to suggest the particularly complex affinity between science fiction and critical theory in its Blochian version.
- ^ "Science Fiction Writer Robert J. Sawyer: The Death of Science Fiction". SF writer. Archived from the original on May 2, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
And yet, the publishers do whatever they can to continue to milk the big three: Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein
- ^ "15 Things You Might Not Know About Stranger in a Strange Land". Mental floss. July 14, 2015. Archived from the original on April 14, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Was Robert A. Heinlein a Libertarian?". Mises Institute. May 18, 2010. Archived from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
- ^ Lord, M. G. (October 2, 2005). "Heinlein's Female Troubles". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b "Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master" Archived July 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Retrieved March 23, 2013.
- ^ a b "Robert A. Heinlein Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
- ^ "Robert A. Heinlein's technological prophecies". Tor. August 17, 2010. Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-7653-1960-9. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
- ^ a b c William H. Patterson Jr. (1999). "Robert A. Heinlein, a Biographical Sketch". The Heinlein Journal. 1999 (5): 7–36. Archived from the original on March 21, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2008. Also available at . Retrieved July 6, 2007.
- ISBN 9781908222183.
- ^ ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ Lucky Bag. Nimitz Library U. S. Naval Academy. First Class, United States Naval Academy. 1929.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Robert A. and Virginia G. Heinlein Papers". Online Archive of California. Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ James Gunn, "Grand Master Award Remarks" Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine; "Credit Col. Earp and Gen. Heinlein with the Reactivation of Nevada's Camp Clark", The Nevada Daily Mail, June 27, 1966.
- ^ "Social Affairs of the Army and Navy", Los Angeles Times; September 1, 1929; p. B8.
- ISBN 978-0-7653-1960-9
- ^ a b Isaac Asimov, I, Asimov.
- ISBN 978-0-7653-1960-9. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
- ^ "Colorado Voices: The festival of history". May 31, 2011. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- ^ "site: Robert A. Heinlein - Archives - PM 6/52 Article". www.nitrosyncretic.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
- ^ "Heinlein Society Photo Tour of Bonny Doon". Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
- ^ Heinlein, Robert A. Grumbles from the Grave, ch. VII. 1989.
- ^ "The Rolling Stone". Heinleinsociety.org. May 24, 2003. Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ "Heinlein's Women, by G. E. Rule". Heinleinsociety.org. May 24, 2003. Archived from the original on August 2, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ a b Expanded Universe
- For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs, 2004 edition, p. 245.
- ISBN 1-58288-184-7.
- ^ (afterword to For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs, 2004 edition, p. 247, and the story "A Bathroom of Her Own"). Also, an unfortunate juxtaposition of events had a Konrad Henlein making headlines in the Sudetenlands.
- ^ a b c Robert A. Heinlein at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved April 4, 2013.
- ^ Asimov, Isaac (1972). The early Asimov; or, Eleven years of trying. Garden City NY: Doubleday. pp. 79–82.
- ISBN 0-312-85523-0
- ISBN 0967987423.
- .
- ^ Causo, Roberto de Sousa. "Citizenship at War". Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved March 4, 2006.
- ISBN 978-1-4299-8796-7. Archivedfrom the original on January 1, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Virginia Heinlein to Michael A. Banks, 1988
- Expanded Universe, and it demonstrates both Heinlein's skill as a popularizer and his lack of depth in physics. An afterword gives a normalization equation and presents it, incorrectly, as being the Dirac equation.
- ^ "FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Robert A. Heinlein, the person". The Heinlein Society. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ Society, National Space (October 25, 2006). "Book Review: Variable Star - National Space Society".
- ^ "The Heinlein Archives". The Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Archives. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008. Retrieved October 21, 2008.
- ^ Gussow, Mel (March 10, 2004). "Heinlein's Prophetic First Novel, Lost and Found". The New York Times.
- ^ "Working with Robert A. Heinlein". Thewaythefutureblogs.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-307-57353-7. Archivedfrom the original on January 1, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Panshin, Alexei and Cory. "The Death of Science Fiction: A Dream, Part 1". Panshin.com. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Panshin, Alexei. "Heinlein and the Golden Age, 1". Panshin.com. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ "Electrolite: 'He was the train we did not catch.'". nielsenhayden.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ISBN 9780743261579.
- ^ Robert A. Heinlein, Expanded Universe, foreword to "Free Men", p. 207 of Ace paperback edition.
- ^ Alexei Panshin. "Heinlein in Dimension, Chapter 3, Part 1". Enter.net. Archived from the original on July 31, 2002. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ Panshin, Alexei. "The Story of Heinlein in Dimension, 6". Panshin.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
- ^ a b Perry, Thomas. "Ham and Eggs and Heinlein, 1". Panshin.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
- ^ The importance Heinlein attached to privacy was made clear in his fiction, e.g., For Us, the Living, but also in several well-known examples from his life. He had a falling out with Alexei Panshin, who wrote an important book analyzing Heinlein's fiction; Heinlein stopped cooperating with Panshin because he accused Panshin of "[attempting to] pry into his affairs and to violate his privacy". Heinlein wrote to Panshin's publisher threatening to sue, and stating, "You are warned that only the barest facts of my private life are public knowledge ...".[59] Heinlein was a nudist, and built a fence around his house in Santa Cruz to keep out the counterculture types who had learned of his ideas through Stranger in a Strange Land. In his later life, Heinlein studiously avoided revealing his early involvement in left-wing politics,[60] and made strenuous efforts to block publication of information he had revealed to prospective biographer Sam Moskowitz.[60]
- ^ James Blish, The Issues at Hand, p. 52.
- ^ a b John J. Miller. "In A Strange Land". National Review Online Books Arts and Manners. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
- ^ Centenary a modern sci-fi giant Archived July 8, 2012, at archive.today The Free Lance Star, June 30, 2007.
- ^ "Libertarian Futurist Society". Lfs.org. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- ^ Ludwig von Mises Institute. Archivedfrom the original on September 14, 2014. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
- ISBN 0-9679874-2-3
- ^ Gifford, James. Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion, Nitrosyncretic Press, Sacramento, California, 2000, p. 102.
- ^ See, e.g., Langford, David. "Vulgarity and Nullity. Robert A. Heinlein 'The Number of the Beast'". Ansible.uk. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Patterson, William H., Jr., and Thornton, Andrew., The Martian Named Smith: Critical Perspectives on Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, p. 128: "His books written after about 1980 ... belong to a series called by one of the central characters World as Myth." The term Multiverse also occurs in the print literature, e.g., Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion, James Gifford, Nitrosyncretic Press, Sacramento, California, 2000. The term World as Myth occurs for the first time in Heinlein's novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
- ^ "Robert A. Heinlein, 1907–1988". Biography of Robert A. Heinlein. University of California Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
- ISBN 978-1-58445-015-3.
Lewis converted me from atheism to Christianity—Rand converted me back to atheism, with Heinlein standing on the sidelines rooting for agnosticism.
- ISBN 978-0-7546-9360-4.
Heinlein, like Robert Anton Wilson, was a lifelong agnostic, believing that to affirm that there is no God was as silly and unsupported as to affirm that there was a God.
- ^ "Heinleinsociety.org". Heinleinsociety.org. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ "heinleinbooks.com". Heinleinsociety.org. Archived from the original on December 27, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
- ISBN 978-1647100018.
- ^ "Unseen Robert A Heinlein novel reworks 'awful' The Number of the Beast". The Guardian. February 8, 2019. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2021.
- ^ Brown, Alan (April 9, 2020). "Long-Lost Treasure: The Pursuit of the Pankera vs. The Number of the Beast by Robert A. Heinlein". Tor.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1647100032.
- ^ "six-six-six". Arc Manor Magazines. Archived from the original on February 4, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ "Pixel Scroll 6/20/19 Mamas, Don't Let Your Pixels Grow up to be Scrollers". June 21, 2019. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
- ^ "Destination Moon: A 70th Anniversary Appreciation". www.centauri-dreams.org.
- ^ Raymond, Eric (December 2, 2005). "Rudyard Kipling Invented SF!". ibiblio.org. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b Lerner, Fred (June 21, 2021). "A Master of our Art. Rudyard Kipling considered as a Science Fiction writer". The Kipling Society. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
But the best way to understand why Kipling has exerted so great an influence over modern science fiction is to read his own work. Begin with Kim, the most successful evocation of an alien world ever produced in English. Follow the Grand Trunk Road toward the Northwest Frontier, and watch the parade of cultures that young Kimball O'Hara encounters. Place yourself in his position, that of a half-assimilated stranger in a strange land; and observe carefully the uneven effects of an ancient society's encounter with a technologically advanced culture. SF writers have found Kim so appealing that several have told their own versions of the story: Robert Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy and Poul Anderson's The Game of Empire are two of the best.
- ^ a b J. Neil Schulman, The Robert Heinlein Interview, and other Heinleiniana (1973)[page needed]
- ISBN 9780786474981. Archivedfrom the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via Google Books.
- from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ "Robert Heinlein at 100". Reason.com. July 9, 2007. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- ^ Cusack, Carole. "Science Fiction as Scripture: Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and the Church of All Worlds". Reprinted in Lawrence J. Trudeau (Ed.), Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, Vol. 337, Detroit: Gale, Cengage, 2016, Pp. 282–293. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- ^ National Review Online. Retrieved December 29, 2022. (a review of William Patterson's Learning Curve: 1907–1948, the first volume of his authorized biography, Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century).
- ^ Cowan, M. E. (2004). "A Heinlein Concordance". www.heinleinsociety.org. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
- ^ "Paid Advertisement". Galaxy Science Fiction. June 1968. pp. 4–11.
- ISBN 978-0-7653-1961-6.
- ^ Erisman, Fred. "Robert Heinlein's Case for Racial Tolerance, 1954–1956." Extrapolation 29, no. 3 (1988): 216–226.
- ^ Pearson, Wendy. "Race relations" in, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, Volume 2 Gary Westfahl, ed.; Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005; pp. 648–50
- ^ Heinlein, Robert A. (1954). The Star Beast. Charles Schribner's Sons. p. 31.
- ^ Heinlein, Robert A. (1954). The Star Beast. Charles Schribner's Sons. p. 249.
- ^ "FAQ: Heinlein's Works". Heinleinsociety.org. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
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- black?" (see[98]). The Heinlein scholar and critic James Gifford (see bibliography) states: "A very subtle point in the book, one found only by the most careful reading and confirmed by Virginia Heinlein, is that Rod Walker is black. The most telling clues are Rod's comments about Caroline Mshiyeni being similar to his sister, and the 'obvious' (to all of the other characters) pairing of Rod and Caroline."[99]
- ^ Robert A. Heinlein, Expanded Universe, foreword to Solution Unsatisfactory, p. 93 of Ace paperback edition.
- ^ Citations at Sixth Column.
- S2CID 1643086.
- from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved May 30, 2021.
- ^ For example, recruitment officer Mr Weiss, in Starship Troopers (p. 37, New English Library: London, 1977 edition.)
- ^ Robert A. Heinlein, Expanded Universe, p. 396 of Ace paperback edition.
- ^ Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers, p. 121 of Berkley Medallion paperback edition.
- ISBN 978-081-420892-2
- ISBN 978-0-441-81076-5
- ^ Heinlein, Robert A., The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, G.P. Putnam's Sons. (paperback edition, 1978). SBN 399-12242-7
- ^ William H Patterson jnr's Introduction to The Rolling Stones, Baen: New York, 2009 edition., p. 3.
- ^ Jordison, Sam (January 12, 2009). "Robert Heinlein's softer side". The Guardian. London. Books Blog. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
- ^ Gary Westfahl, "Superladies in Waiting: How the Female Hero Almost Emerges in Science Fiction", Foundation, vol. 58, 1993, pp. 42–62.
- ^ a b "The Heinlein Society". The Heinlein Society. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ Bright, Robin. "Self Begetting Ourobouros: The Science Fiction of Robert A. Heinlein". page 167. Harvard
- ^ Parkin-Speer, Diane. "Robert A. Heinlein: The Novelist as Preacher". Extrapolation 20, no. 3 (1979): 214–222.
- ^ "Gulf—Heinlein Concordance". www.heinleinsociety.org. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ^ "Pay It Forward". The Heinlein Society. Archived from the original on March 18, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (September 14, 2011). "Amazingly Touching 1976 Letter from Ray Bradbury to Robert Heinlein: 'Your influence on us all cannot be measured.'". io9. Archived from the original on September 27, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ^ Moss, Tyler (August 26, 2016). "Writers Helping Writers: Interview With Jonathan Maberry". Writer's Digest. Archived from the original on September 5, 2019. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
- ^ "Pay It Forward". The Heinlein Society. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
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- ^ Kipling had learned this trick in India. His original Anglo-Indian readership knew the customs and institutions and landscapes of British India at first hand. But when he began writing for a wider British and American audience, he had to provide his new readers with enough information for them to understand what was going on. In his earliest stories and verse he made liberal use of footnotes, but he evolved more subtle methods as his talent matured. A combination of outright exposition, sparingly used, and contextual clues, generously sprinkled through the narrative, offered the needed background. In Kim and other stories of India he uses King James English to indicate that characters are speaking in Hindustani; this is never explained, but it gets the message across subliminally.[84], quoted in esr (December 2, 2005). "Rudyard Kipling Invented SF!". Armed and Dangerous. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ The Writer's Writing Guide: Exposition Archived December 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
With indirect exposition, the writer gives the reader the data in subtle but clear ways, thereby allowing the reader to be a partner when it comes to laying the foundation of the story. For instance, the narrator of Mona Simpson's story "Lawns" begins by telling us: "I steal. I've stolen books and money and even letters. Letters are great. I can't tell you the feeling walking down the street with 20 dollars in my purse, stolen earrings in my pocket." With this opening, we learn about the narrator's obsession with theft but, equally important, we learn the narrator's gender. This is done indirectly, by referring to the narrator's purse and the desire for stolen earrings. - ^ "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction—Robert A. Heinlein—Science Fiction—Science". Scribd. Archived from the original on June 25, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
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- ^ Panshin, p. 3, describing de Camp's Science Fiction Handbook
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- ^ The New York Times Magazine, "On Language", by William Safire, September 3, 2006
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I'm one of the few people I know who thinks that late Robert Heinlein was better than early Robert Heinlein. That had a really big effect on me.
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- ^ Gerrold, David (1973). The World of Star Trek. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 271.
- ^ Gerrold (1973): p. 274
- ^ Janifer, Laurence M. (2001). The Counterfeit Heinlein. Wildside Press.
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- ISBN 9781617133756.
- ^ Torem, Lisa (October 20, 2009). "Jimmy Webb: Interview". Penny Black Music. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
- ^ Kelly, Lisa Anne (January 5, 2012). ""The Green Hills of Earth"". Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ Jonnyb213 (January 20, 2012). "Green Hills of Earth". YouTube. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Bernstein, Mark (April 13, 2016). ""The Green Hills of Earth" at FKO 2016". Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2019 – via YouTube.
- ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: Nebula Award Nominees". Archived from the original on April 24, 2012.
- ^ "1941 Retro-Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. December 29, 2015. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
- ^ "1943 Retro-Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. March 30, 2018. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
- ^ "1951 Retro-Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. July 26, 2007. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
- ^ Inkpot Award
- ^ Chamberlin, Alan. "SSD.jpl.nasa.gov". SSD.jpl.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
- ^ "site: Robert A. Heinlein—Archives—Heinlein Crater (Mars)". www.nitrosyncretic.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ "Heinlein Crater". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
- ^ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame" Archived May 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. Retrieved March 23, 2013. This was the official website of the hall of fame to 2004.
- ^ "The Robert A. Heinlein Endowed Chair in Aerospace Engineering". SFWA News. May 2, 2015. Archived from the original on May 2, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
- The Colorado Springs Gazette.
- ^ "Robert Heinlein to be inducted into Hall of Famous Missourians". Missouri House of Representatives. Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
- ^ "Hall of Famous Missourians". Missouri House of Representatives. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
- ^ "Libertarian Futurist Society: Prometheus Awards". Lfs.org. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
Other sources
Critical
- Bellagamba, Ugo and Picholle, Eric. 2008. Solutions Non Satisfaisantes, une Anatomie de Robert A. Heinlein (in French). Lyon, France: Les Moutons Electriques. ISBN 978-2-915793-37-6.
- James Blish, writing as William Atheling, Jr. 1970. More Issues at Hand. Chicago: Advent.
- ISBN 0-19-502746-9.
- A critique of Heinlein from a Marxist perspective. Includes a biographical chapter, which incorporates some original research on Heinlein's family background.
- ISBN 0967987407(trade paperback).
- A comprehensive bibliography, with roughly one page of commentary on each of Heinlein's works.
- Farah Mendlesohn (2019). Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein. ISBN 978-1-78352-678-9.
- OCLC 7535112.
- Patterson, William H., Jr., and Thornton, Andrew. 2001. The Martian Named Smith: Critical Perspectives on Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. Sacramento: Nitrosyncretic Press. ISBN 0-9679874-2-3.
- Powell, Jim. 2000. The Triumph of Liberty. New York: Free Press. See profile of Heinlein in the chapter "Out of this World".
- ISBN 0-312-23604-2.
- OCLC 2910839.
- OCLC 3186521.
Biographical
- Heinlein, Robert A. 2004. For Us, the Living. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0-7432-5998-X.
- Includes an introduction by Spider Robinson, an afterword by Robert E. James with a long biography, and a shorter biographical sketch.
- Patterson, William H. Jr. (1999). "Robert Heinlein—A biographical sketch". The Heinlein Journal. 1999 (5): 7–36. Also available at "'Robert A. Heinlein': A Biographical Sketch" (Archived August 14, 2001, at the Wayback Machine). Retrieved June 1, 2005.
- A lengthy essay that treats Heinlein's own autobiographical statements with skepticism.
- The Heinlein Society (Archived March 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine) and their FAQ (Archived April 22, 2019, at the Wayback Machine). Retrieved May 30, 2005.
- Contains a shorter version of the Patterson bio.
- Heinlein, Robert A. 1989. Grumbles from the Grave. New York: Del Rey.
- Incorporates a substantial biographical sketch by Virginia Heinlein, which hews closely to his earlier official bios, omitting the same facts (the first of his three marriages, his early left-wing political activities) and repeating the same fictional anecdotes (the short story contest).
- Heinlein, Robert A. 1980. ISBN 0-441-21888-1.
- Autobiographical notes are interspersed between the pieces in the anthology.
- Reprinted by Baen, hardcover October 2003, ISBN 0-7434-7159-8.
- Reprinted by Baen, paperback July 2005, ISBN 0-7434-9915-8.
- Reprinted by Baen, hardcover October 2003,
- Autobiographical notes are interspersed between the pieces in the anthology.
- Patterson, William H., Jr. 2010. Robert A. Heinlein in Dialogue With His Century: 1907–1948: Learning Curve. An Authorized Biography, Volume I. Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 0-7653-1960-8
- Patterson, William H., Jr. 2014. Robert A. Heinlein in Dialogue With His Century: 1948–1988: The Man Who Learned Better. An Authorized Biography, Volume II. Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 0-7653-1961-6
- Stover, Leon. 1987. Robert Heinlein. Boston: Twayne.
- Vicary, Elizabeth Zoe. 2000. American National Biography Online article, Heinlein, Robert Anson. Retrieved June 1, 2005 (not available for free).
- Repeats many incorrect statements from Heinlein's fictionalized professional bio.
External links
- The Heinlein Society
- site:RAH
- Heinlein Archives
- Robert & Virginia Heinlein Prize
- Centennial Celebration in Kansas City, July 7, 2007.
- Heinlein Nexus Archived October 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, the community continuation of the Centennial effort.
- 1952 Popular Mechanics tour of Heinlein's Colorado house. accessed June 3, 2005
- Heinleinia.com, an interactive exploration of Heinlein's life and works
- Heinlein giving the Guest of Honor speech at the 34th World Science Fiction Convention, on YouTube
Biography and criticism
- "Robert A. Heinlein biography". Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
- Frederik Pohl on Working with Robert A. Heinlein
- Review & biographical essay on Heinlein by Lee Sandlin, The Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2014. "Heinlein was the best sci-fi writer of all time—and then mysteriously he became the worst."
Bibliography and works
- Robert A. Heinlein at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Robert A. Heinlein at the Internet Book List
- Works by Robert A. Heinlein at Open Library
- Works by or about Robert A. Heinlein at Internet Archive
- Robert A. Heinlein at IMDb
- Finding aid for the Robert A. and Virginia G. Heinlein Papers